Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Sheriff unconcerned about prospect of no longer being a cop
Sheriff Gregory Tony made his first public comments early Wednesday regarding the possibility he’ll lose his law enforcement license for untruths he made while filling out driver’s license applications, saying he wasn’t concerned about the prospect of no longer being a cop.
A panel, part of the state Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission, conducted a Probable Cause Determination hearing Tuesday and decided there is evidence to continue the case. That means that as early as August, the state will determine whether Tony can keep his law enforcement certification after a state investigator found he lied eight times on driver’s license applications.
Investigators wrote that in 1999 he correctly answered “yes” when asked if his driving privilege had ever been revoked, suspended or denied in any other state. But between March 2002 and February 2019, he submitted 11 applications and on eight of them he answered “no.”
On one of those applications he was already sheriff, having been appointed by the governor in January 2019. The time also overlaps with his employment with the Coral Springs Police Department, where he landed his first job as a
cop in 2005 when he was 26. He worked there through September 2016.
FDLE investigators found that Tony committed “false affidavit perjury,” a third-degree felony, when he obtained a replacement driver’s license, according to the FDLE case. But prosecutors
declined to pursue the case, saying the clerk’s memory of the incident is fuzzy.
Tony appeared on “First News with Jimmy Cefalo” on Wednesday and told the radio host that his email has been “blowing up” with support. He said it’s been years of “slander and attack.” And he
said he wasn’t concerned because there wasn’t precedence for his certification to be revoked.
“On my driver’s license applications I’ve said ‘yes’ a few times, I’ve omitted and missed one or two here and there . ... I’m actually happy this is coming to an end.”
Said Tony: “This is much deeper than just attacking me as a 14-yearold kid . ... There’s a nexus between racism, there’s a nexus between discrimination.
“What I have proven time and time again to this community is that I will endure and I will persevere. I have fought my way out of the hells of Philadelphia,” he said.
“There’s not a damn thing about me that says quitter so this community needs to keep its head up because my head is held high.”
“It’s a stupid thing what they’re doing,” Cefalo told him, saying “woke” people don’t take into consideration what he’s done for the agency.
“Thanks, Jimmy, love you,” he responded when he signed off.
When under attack, he has previously turned to Cefalo’s radio show to make his case.
For example, after revelations he was rejected for a police job after admitting he used LSD one time, but he concealed the drug use after that on police job applications, he told Cefalo: “I hate to say this, but for every time there is a minority candidate for any position of power, the first thing they want to do is portray you as having a gun in your hand, or needle in your arm, or some financial problems,” he said.