In a blow to appointed Broward Sheriff Greg Tony's fledgling administration, Tony's hand-chosen undersheriff, Sean Zukowsky, abruptly left the agency today after just seven months on the job.
"It is after enormous thought and deliberation, with difficulty and disappointment, that I inform you I have resigned from the Broward Sheriff's Office," Zukowsky wrote in a letter to employees this morning.
While rumors are swirling about disagreements with Tony, Zukowsky cited "family first" as his reason for leaving the agency. He wrote that he wanted to spend more time with his two young sons, ages three and one, and do more to help his wife, whom he wrote suffers from chronic medical illnesses, run the home.
On his way out the door, Zukowsky, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve who served with Tony in the Coral Springs Police Department, voiced support for the sheriff.
"I want to reaffirm that I support Sheriff Tony and his objectives and have confidence that he will continue to guide this agency in a positive direction," he wrote.
But Zukowsky, who had little to no management experience in his less than ten years in law enforcement, indicated the job had challenges.
"I am certainly not perfect, and there are things in hindsight I would do differently," he wrote. "For those of you patient with that, thank you. For those of you less patient, I regret that I may have fallen short of your expectations."
BSO did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment from Tony. This post will be updated if the agency provides further comment.