Broward deputy accused of falsifying HOA records

CORAL SPRINGS A Broward Sheriff’s deputy resigned several months into a criminal investigation of whether he falsified state documents to conceal his after-hours activities, according to records released Thursday.

Former Deputy Christopher Kapish could have been suspended without pay for 20 days, but he had retired with just three days’ notice in May.

Kapish, a 28-year veteran of the agency, told the Sun Sentinel on Thursday that “nothing was falsified, that didn’t happen” and blamed his homeowners association’s management company for a clerical error.

The investigation started when a resident complained Kapish was president of the Estates at Turtle Run Homeowners Association, but his wife was listed as the president in the annual reports filed with the state.

Kapish’s bosses had told him in November 2014 that he wasn’t allowed to be the association president or serve on the Turtle Run Foundation, which is the master association of the HOAs, because it was a conflict of interest with the agency.

Kapish argued the Sheriff ’s Office was violating his rights to tell him not to serve on the board: “You can’t tell somebody they can’t do something.”

Turtle Run, a Coral Springs Community Development District that can tax itself, has more than 500 single-family homes and 2,000 apartments and condos. Kapish has been president of Turtle Run for more than a decade through election or appointment, according to the sheriff’s Internal Affairs investigation.

Kapish used his wife’s name in the annual corporate records filed in 2015 and 2016 with the Florida Division of Corporations.

Although his wife, Lynn Kapish, told prosecutors it was her idea for her to be president in name only, Assistant State Attorney David Schulson said he and the Sheriff ’s detective “strongly suspect” it was Christopher Kapish “who formulated and implanted the charade,” there was insufficient evidence to be charged criminally for falsifying records, according to documents.

Kapish said he left the Sheriff’’s Office because “people were using my job to make complaints. They didn’t want to follow the rules in the HOA.”