State starts preliminary probe into Broward sheriff

Florida’s top law enforcement agency on Friday said it has started a preliminary investigation into Sheriff Gregory Tony. The move comes just days after the agency confirmed it had begun reviewing a complaint about whether Broward’s top cop made misstatements about his past on law enforcement documents.

Tony signed an affidavit in January that asserts that he has never had a criminal record sealed or expunged, and where he pledged all his answers were “true and correct.”

He never revealed to the FDLE, the governor who appointed him, or his prior police job with the Coral Springs Police Department, that he had been cleared of shooting an 18-year-old man dead in the 1990s in Philadelphia, in an act of self defense.

The FDLE said Wednesday it was reviewing a complaint. But that changed Friday, when the agency said the matter has been moved up into a preliminary investigation.

“During a review, we look at all documents to determine if the complaint is within the purview of FDLE and if it is actionable by FDLE,” said spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger. “During a preliminary investigation, we start to obtain documents and conduct research.”

Once research is completed, investigators will “determine if sufficient facts are established to believe there is a reasonable possibility that the accused individual is involved in definable criminal activity,” she said. The next step could be “a full criminal investigation.”

Tony’s campaign consultant, Eric Johnson, said earlier this week that Tony made no mistake on the form. He said a question on the form asked if a “criminal” record had been sealed, and he said Tony had been found not guilty. “It was not a criminal record, because it wasn’t a crime,” he said.

The FDLE has declined to identify who filed the complaint, citing the active case, or elaborate about what the complaint entailed.

Earlier this week, Broward prosecutors sent the affidavit under scrutiny to the FDLE for review. The notarized document is kept in the sheriff ’s employment file. The form is meant to verify that a law enforcement officer meets the state’s qualifications. Any untruthfulness on the form would be a second-degree misdemeanor.

While Pennsylvania legal experts say Tony’s records might’ve been automatically expunged because he was a juvenile at the time of the killing, Tony’s spokesman said this week that the records were sealed.