FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is expanding its criminal investigation into Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony.
Court documents filed on Tuesday detail that the FDLE is including in their probe whether Tony lied to cover up he’s a convicted felon.
“It appears that he’s a felon, and if you’re a felon in Florida, you can’t hold office,” plaintiff H. Wayne Clark, the Republican candidate for Broward sheriff in November’s election, said.
The lawsuit, brought forth by four individuals, including Clark, former Broward Sheriff Scott Israel and other losing sheriff race candidates, states that on applications Tony declared under oath that he never had a criminal record concealed or expunged. They filed the suits to try to prevent the sheriff from being sworn in on Jan. 5.
The lawsuit claims Tony is a convicted felon — a status under Florida’s Constitution that would disqualify him from holding public office.
“The plaintiffs filed this complaint alleging that Mr. Tony may — keyword is may — have been convicted of a felony, which would disqualify him,” Mike Moskowitz, Tony’s attorney, said.
“The records we provided to court show that he was on adult probation for seven years,” Roger Powell, the plaintiff’s attorney, said.
In a sworn affidavit on Monday, a FDLE investigator said the department is actively investigating “allegations that Gregory Tony may have falsified required affidavits” … “or falsified official law enforcement employment applications.”
The department has “issued subpoenas … requesting disclosure of official court records … and criminal arrest records, pertaining to Gregory Tony,” according to the affidavit.
“What was interesting is they’re investigating our allegations in the lawsuit,” Clark said. “They’re looking into those allegations, as well as it also indicated there are other undisclosed investigations.”
The expanded investigation stems from a report disclosing Tony shot and killed a man in Philadelphia in 1993 when he was 14 years old.
Tony has publicly said that incident was self-defense. He was later found not guilty after a witness’ testimony.
“This wasn’t a secret,” Tony said in a prior interview. “There was no requirement to express that I survived a brutal attack where someone was trying to kill me.”
Tony was asked on an FDLE form if he has ever had “a criminal record sealed or expunged.” He checked false.
“Every background I went through, through FDLE, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the FBI clearances I’ve had to acquire to attain this position and many others, it’s never come up,” Tony said. “It’s never been something that was part of an application process.”
The sheriff has not yet publicly addressed the new accusations brought forth in the lawsuit.
7News reached out to Tony’s campaign, but they did not comment. 7News also reached out to Moskowitz, but we have yet to hear back.
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