Spokesman files whistleblower lawsuit against Sheriff Gregory Tony

A spokesman for the Broward Sheriff ’s Office is suing the agency and his boss, Gregory Tony, accusing them of retaliating against him for blowing the whistle about the agency’s failure to protect deputies and the public at the onset of the COVID- 19 pandemic.

Donald Prichard, a 20- year veteran of the county’s largest law enforcement agency, was suspended with pay on Dec. 7 and placed under an Internal Affairs investigation, according to the lawsuit he filed Wednesday afternoon. Prichard is also a member of the bargaining unit for the deputies’ union.

Tony and the Sheriff ’s Office came under fire in the early days of the pandemic, accused by some deputies of failing to provide staff with enough masks, sanitizer and other PPE, or personal protective equipment. In his lawsuit, Prichard admits sending information to his superiors at the union.

While he is not named in the lawsuit, Deputy Jeff Bell, whose clash with Tony is ongoing, was the union president at the time and remains under an Internal Affairs investigation of his own. Bell likely relied on the information he received from Prichard when he authored an op- ed in the South Florida Sun Sentinel complaining about the sheriff ’s early response to the pandemic.

According to the lawsuit, Prichard reported “a complete lack of distribution of masks and PPE; lack of proper contact tracing notifications; the nonexistence of any cleaning of the Dispatch locations ( the hardest hit by Covid- 19); [ and] that people were coming back to work while awaiting test results,” among other concerns.

“He wasn’t giving that information to the media,” said Tonja Haddad Coleman, Prichard’s lawyer. “He was giving them to his union, which is what he’s supposed to do.”

The Sheriff ’s Office only became aware that Prichard was the source of union’s information early last week, about Dec. 6 or 7, according to the lawsuit. Prichard was suspended Dec. 7 and will continue to draw his $ 101,000 annual salary as the Internal Affairs investigation continues.

The lawsuit accused Tony and the Sher

iff ’s Office of violating the whistleblower’s act, which is supposed to protect employees from retaliation in such circumstances.

“Plaintiff has suffered damages and will continue to suffer irreparable injury and damages in the future, including the following: deprivation of his rights under the Act; enduring personal indignity, dishonor, and humiliation; suffering damage to his professional and personal reputation; enduring mental anguish and distress,” Haddad wrote in the lawsuit.

In his action against Bell, Tony argued that Bell made dishonest statements and conducted himself in an unbecoming manner, an argument that was rejected by a panel of the state’s Public Employee Relations Commission earlier this year.

The Sheriff ’s Office could not be reached for comment after hours on Wednesday. The agency typically does not comment on pending litigation.