Florida Department of Law Enforcement

Vote For Miami's Worst Cop of 2012

It's pretty hard to follow in the large boot steps of John Timoney, the one-time Miami police chief. In fact, ever since Miami New Times crowned Timoney "America's Worst Cop" in 2007, it's taken us five years to find suitable successors to the title.But the quintet of contenders in Miami this year u ... More >>

State Rep. Daphne Campbell's Former Secretary Arrested For Defrauding Her Haitian American Constituents

There's a reason we picked Daphne Campbell as the worst candidate on the August 14 Primary ballot. Even though she got reelected, Campbell can't escape scandals. The latest involves one of her former employees swindling Haitian American constituents who went to Campbell's Miami Shores district offic ... More >>

Owners of Allegedly Cancer-Causing Recycling Plant Were Charged in a Million-Dollar Racketeering Scheme

Read "Hialeah Residents Claim Local Recycling Plant Is Causing Increased Rates Of Cancer"Today, the Miami-Dade County Commission will vote on a resolution on whether to investigate a potential cancer cluster in Hialeah along NW 36th Avenue. Residents have pointed fingers at nearby King Metal Recycli ... More >>

Rick Scott Finally Caught a Foreigner Voting in Florida: A Damn Canadian

Gov. Rick Scott's Department of State recently amassed a list of 180,000 possible non-citizens who were registered to vote in Florida. Eventually that list was whittled down to 2,600, and even many on that list were found to be actual citizens.Turns out so far only a single person on that list of re ... More >>

Liberty City Elementary School Custodian Arrested For Plans to Prostitute 14-Year-Old Girl

Samuel Woodside, a custodian at Liberty City Elementary School, was arrested after allegedly making plans to transport a 14-year-old girl he met online from Louisiana to work as a prostitute in South Florida. That 14-year-old girl turned out to be an undercover cop.However, a parent at the school sa ... More >>

Miami, Miami Beach, and Coral Gables Experience Double Digit Increases In Crime Rate

Last week, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement reported the lowest crime rate across the state since the agency began tracking statistics in 1971. With population growth factored in, the overall crime rate dropped 0.8 percent from 2010 to 2011. In Miami-Dade, the crime rate dropped 0.3 percent ... More >>

David Rivera Cleared of State Charges Thanks to Lax Rules, Statute of Limitations

No one really disputes the facts: While he was a powerful state representative, David Rivera accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars for an obscure post as a state "committeeman." Investigators say he spent at least $65,000 from the funds on dry cleaning, dental bills, pet care, and even travel co ... More >>

Mayor Tomás Regalado and Daughter Raquel Fined for Campaign Finance Violations

​The family that pays fines together, binds together, we guess.Both Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado and his daughter Raquel Regalado, a Miami-Dade School Board member, have been fined for sloppy bookkeeping during his 2009 campaign for office.

FDLE Paid Employees to Get Drunk on Whiskey for Possibly Worthless Study

​The Florida Department of Law Enforcement spent $330 back in October on Jim Beam whiskey, mixers and some Doritos. Fifteen employees then proceeded to get drunk on company time. Sounds like the makings of an office party, no? Not so much. The ill advised plan was part of a makeshift study to ... More >>

FDLE Wanted to Arrest Doral Chief Ricardo Gomez, But Prosecutors Exonerated Him UPDATE

​Starting this past April, Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigators began looking into a half dozen allegations lodged against Doral Police Chief Ricardo Gomez, from charges of bid fixing to shady hires to illegally spending city cash on a lavish swearing-in ceremony. By this fall, the ... More >>

FAMU Band Probe Uncovers Fraud and Law Breaking

​As part of probe into the Florida A&M University marching band sparked by the hazing-linked death of member Robert Champion last month, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has announced they've uncovered possible fraud and misconduct at the school. Details on the allegations however ha ... More >>

Opa-Locka Sgt. German Bosque: Sarasota Herald-Tribune's Epic Takedown of Florida's Dirtiest Cop

Facebook​When a Sarasota daily newspaper went looking for Florida's dirtiest cop, they landed in our very own Middle Eastern-themed, bullet-riddled, corruption-crazy backyard. The most surprising aspect of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune's epic exposé of Opa-Locka Sgt. German Bosque's history on th ... More >>

Emerson Callum and Lavont Flanders Arrested for Drugging Women and Selling Videos of Rapes

​Two Miami Gardens men, Emerson Callum and Lavont Flanders Jr., have been arrested for drugging woman, engaging in forced sex acts with them, videotaping the acts, and then selling the videos. Both were similarly charged in 2007, but those claims were dropped just weeks ago.

Opa-locka Police accused of massive corruption

Opa-locka Cops Accused of Massive Corruption

via NowPublic​State authorities are probing what could be the most significant police corruption in years in perpetually troubled Opa-locka.According to city memos obtained by Miami New Times and confirmed by manager Clarance Patterson, officers have told internal investigators that city cops: 1. ... More >>

To Catch a Predator

Alex Diaz de la Portilla Accused of Stalking Estranged Wife

Claudia Davant claims her estranged husband and state Sen. Alex Diax de la Portilla has State Sen. Alex Diax de la Portilla "can be extremely explosive and violent," says estranged wife. ​repeatedly stalked her since she filed for divorce five months ago. And the Florida Department of Law Enforcem ... More >>

FDLE intelligence analyst gets caught snooping in a work database

An Intelligence Analyst Could Be Illegally Looking Up Your Data

Jeanette Espinosa's snooping tactics were about as effective as Spy vs. Spy.​Jeanette Espinosa was snooping in places she wasn't supposed to. The 44-year-old intelligence analyst for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement admitted to investigators from her agency that she used law-enforcement d ... More >>

John Timoney Says, "In Your Face!" to FOP President

Alex IzaguirreFor once, Miami Police Chief John Timoney can brush off his haters. The city's top law enforcer hosted a press conference today to announce that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has cleared the Miami PD of "cooking the books."A year and a half ago, Fraternal Order of Police Pr ... More >>

Radar Love on the Miami-Dade PD

Cops, sex, and an unfortunate lack of videotape.

When Internal Affairs Gets Too Cozy

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement recently ended an investigation into the onetime commander of the Miami-Dade Police Department's internal affairs unit, concluding Donald Rifkin was hoping to get laid by talking to county cop Carmen Pichardo about sensitive information in the internal affa ... More >>

The Grow Me State

Toke It Easy

Snap out of it, 4/20 revelers: Florida legislators want to stomp on your buzz.

Free Gambling

A casino theft ring at Gulfstream spooks the Sun-Sentinel

Letters from the Issue of November 15, 2007

"He taught me things that some of these robot teachers would never dare"

Slot Machine Ripoff at Gulfstream

A casino theft ring spooks the Sun-Sentinel

Miami Gun Rhapsody

Who's packing heat in the Magic City? You don't have to conceal your curiosity a second longer

Heller Returns?

Powers That Be

It's nice to have wealthy and influential friends, especially when you need loads of campaign cash

From the Cradle to the Rave

Etiquette for the glow stick set

Things to Do in Miami When You're Dead

Clove cigarettes and Italian slang

The Avenging Angel of North Bay Village

Fane Lozman can't seem to stay away from trouble, and this time it involves the police chief

The Calvo Case

A recently released report suggests that investigators are trying to implicate Denise Calvo in the murder of her husband

BEST LOCAL BOY GONE BAD

Antonio Verdugo

Letters to the Editor

From the issue of August 9, 2000

A Bullet Dodged

All agree that Hialeah Police Chief Rolando Bolaños lied under oath, and all agree he apparently got away with it

The Chief's Retreat

Rolando Bolaños lied and got away with it, but stay tuned

Deadly Cargo

Big payoffs. Gruesome murders. Nosy feds. Life as a cargo handler at MIA just ain't what it used to be.

Tales from the Script

Fraud Buster!

Want to know what makes Miami's mayor really mad? Voter fraud, that's what.

The Old Gringos

With local interest on the wane, a graying biker gang resolves to head south of the border. Como se dice "raisin' hell"?

Copping an Excuse

Faced with evidence their cop shop is in disarray, town fathers practice some first-rate denial

Rapist with a Badge?

A caller to emergency 911 says she was sexually assaulted by two Metro-Dade police officers

Dante's Inferno

When Metro cop Dante Starks was found to have groped several female colleagues, his bosses knew just what to do: Transfer him.

Meet the New Boss, Same As the Old Boss

Opa-locka is flush with a new corps of officials itching to clean up the scandal-plagued town. But why do so many of them look so familiar?

As Sweetwater Turns

There was nepotism on the police force and a councilman got busted for hawking fake IDs. But a slew of investigators haven't even begun to sort out the perpetual brouhaha that masquerades as city government.

To Catch a Cop: Part 2

Janet Reno didn't file charges against Opa-locka cop Charles Jones, but the city manager fired him anyway. Guess who's smiling now.

Falcon and Magluta