Jesse Scheckner
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) is recommending that a judge suspend Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony’s law enforcement certification for six months because he lied on past driver’s license applications.
FDLE Assistant General Counsel Andrew Digby wrote that Tony violated the public’s trust by failing to disclose that his driver’s license had been suspended in Pennsylvania in 1993 and 1998.
“The offense of falsifying information on a driver license application is an act involving moral turpitude. Most importantly, (Tony, as) the Sheriff of Broward County, is inherently held to a higher standard due to his position being one of great power within the community,” the FDLE recommendation said.
Digby wrote that Tony’s actions were “calculated.” Tony and his lawyers, who filed a recommended order Tuesday asking Judge Robert Kilbride to dismiss the case, maintain the untruths were unintentional.
Kilbride has yet to rule on the case, which stems from one of two state investigations into Tony’s conduct.
The driver’s license case is the first to reach a ruling stage. It began in July 2023 after Dean Register, FDLE’s Director of Criminal Justice Professionalism, filed a complaint against Tony for allegedly making false statements eight times while applying for a driver’s license.
Another case began in September 2022, when the Florida Commission on Ethics found probable cause that Tony lied and omitted information on job application forms for his first law enforcement job in Coral Springs.
Both cases followed reporting by Florida Bulldog in early 2020 that Tony, whom Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed in January 2019, did not disclose that at 14 he’d shot and killed a man in Philadelphia. He was found not guilty of murder after witnesses failed to testify.
Tony signed an FDLE affidavit asserting, under oath, that he’d never had any criminal records sealed or expunged. His juvenile court records for the shooting had been sealed.
In June 2022, Florida’s Criminal Justice & Standards Training Commission determined there was probable cause to revoke Tony’s law enforcement accreditation after reviewing a 20-page FDLE report on the shooting and license suspension issues.
The day after the report’s release, DeSantis said he would review the findings and consider punishment.
Tony is running for re-election with a sizable funding advantage. He faces three Democratic Primary opponents: Steven Geller, David Howard, Alvin Pollock. No-party candidate Charles Whatley is also running.
