Corruption Investigation Confirmed

By JOHN W. ALLMAN and MICHAEL FECHTER
The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Contradicting the assertion of a sitting circuit judge who spent two years as an undercover FBI informant, a sweeping FBI investigation into allegations of widespread public corruption and organized crime activities in Hillsborough County is not over, the top FBI agent in Tampa said Friday.

Carl Whitehead said he broke with the bureau's long-standing policy of not discussing ongoing investigations because ``the integrity of the FBI has been challenged.''

Whitehead's comments, made in an interview with The Tampa Tribune, mark the FBI's first public acknowledgment of the investigation.

The probe is an outgrowth of a series of scandals that began to rock the Hillsborough County Courthouse in the late 1990s. It centers on allegations of case-fixing, bribery, prostitution, loan-sharking and money laundering. Its targets include public officials and members of local law enforcement agencies, according to documents obtained earlier in the week by the Tribune.

Among those documents was a scathing letter from Hillsborough Circuit Judge Gregory P. Holder to the U.S. Justice Department, in which Holder complained that the bureau had abandoned the investigation without following up on hard evidence and leads.

He accused the FBI of a ``deliberate avoidance of the truth'' and asked that the investigation be investigated.

The documents the Tribune obtained suggest that a probe is being conducted by agents from the office of the Justice Department's inspector general.

``We do have an ongoing investigation into [the corruption] allegations,'' Whitehead said, in response to Holder's letter. ``We don't want the trust of the public to feel like the FBI is not pursuing these matters.''

Whitehead refused to discuss whether Washington is investigating the probe. Officials with the Justice Department's inspector general's office also declined to comment this week, citing a standing policy not to confirm the existence of any investigation.

Whitehead said that people who help an investigation, such as informants, may not always know what activity is taking place.

``Unless you're a part of the investigative team, you may not or would not be aware of the scope of the investigation,'' he said. ``There's been no stoppage, no closure of the [corruption] investigation.''

`He's Pleased To Hear This'

Holder, through his attorney, declined to comment on Whitehead's acknowledgment of the corruption investigation.

``He's glad that the investigation is proceeding,'' said his attorney, Virginia Houser. ``He knew that the [Florida Department of Law Enforcement] was still in it, but he didn't know that it was still an open federal investigation. He's pleased to hear this. He is pleased that the evidence is being properly investigated.''

Holder is the subject of plagiarism charges by the Judicial Qualifications Commission, the agency that polices Florida's judges. He stands trial on the allegation, which could cost him his job, next month.

Holder denies the allegation. Friends and associates say the events leading to it were the direct result of his complaint to the Justice Department about the corruption investigation, and that Holder has been framed.

The commission accuses Holder of plagiarizing a research paper he wrote as an officer in the Air Force Reserve in the 1990s when he was seeking a promotion from lieutenant colonel to colonel.

A purported copy of Holder's paper, which included pages of text lifted from another paper previously turned in by another officer, was delivered anonymously to a federal prosecutor early in 2002.

But the prosecutor didn't forward it to the Air Force until after Holder's letter to the Justice Department, according to two veteran Tampa police detectives who have come to Holder's defense.

The prosecutor supervised corruption probes from the U.S. attorney's office in Tampa.

The detectives - James W. Bartoszak and Dolvin ``Bill'' Todd Jr. - wrote affidavits earlier this year alleging that Holder is being framed by targets of the corruption investigation because of his role as an FBI informant. Both have experience investigating organized crime and public corruption, and Bartoszak was a member of a team of federal and state agents assembled to conduct the corruption probe.

Bartoszak wrote in his affidavit that he was removed from the investigation and that the team was disbanded in 2002 ``for reasons that were not made clear.''

He also wrote extensively about Holder's role as an undercover informant. He said the judge met agents at secret locations for two years, gave them leads that always seemed to pan out and almost certainly was found out by those he was informing on.

Changes To The Probe

The investigation has undergone change since it began, but it has never ceased, Whitehead told the Tribune.

At one time, he said, it involved a multiagency ``working group,'' of agents from the FDLE, Internal Revenue Service, Postal Inspection Service and the Tampa Police Department.

Today, he said, it's down to the FBI and FDLE.

``We're going to do the best job we can to determine what occurred here,'' he said, referencing the allegations.

Whitehead refused to discuss details of the investigation and would not address whether all or only parts of it remain active. The FDLE would not address those questions Friday, either. An FDLE official said earlier in the week that the investigation is ongoing and that its agents are working alongside the FBI.

The probe is enormously complex and involves a number of avenues, the Tribune has reported. Some of those avenues have hit dead ends.

In his complaint to the Justice Department, Holder said he had provided evidence ``regarding public corruption involving state judicial officers.'' Included in the evidence, he wrote, was information about ``at least one bribe of a state circuit court judge in Tampa.''

To date, no indictments have been handed up against any current or former Hillsborough County judge.

Others have been charged, however.

In July, the former local head of the national letter carrier's union, Lenin Perez, was accused in a 33-count indictment of using his position to solicit and receive kickbacks from health care providers. A Tampa private investigator, Joseph Anthony Gonzalez, also was charged.

Last month, federal officials charged five individuals, including former Tampa housing chief Steve LaBrake, in a 60-count indictment of personally benefiting from their control of millions of dollars in public housing contracts. The indictment alleges a network of kickbacks and bribes lasting seven years.

Such cases are sensitive because they involve people in positions of public trust ``who have latitude in their actions,'' Whitehead told the Tribune. So sensitive, in fact, that public corruption investigations can only be authorized by the local FBI agent in charge, he said.

Corruption investigations often are ``long-term and complex,'' he said, and they are time-consuming in part because ``some people may view things as wrongdoing that may not be.''

Officials will not publicly name those targeted.

``Because we have an investigation does not mean these individuals are guilty of any crime,'' Whitehead said.

But the fact that some or all may no longer be in office does not mean any are off the hook, he said. He cited the LaBrake indictment as a case in point. LaBrake resigned from his housing job in 2001.

``If the acts were committed during a time they were in a position of trust,'' Whitehead said, ``that's what would be looked at.

``People need to have faith in the system,'' he added. ``The public needs to have a sense of confidence they can go to their courthouse, their police department, the FBI.''

Reporter John W. Allman can be reached at (813) 259-7915. Reporter Michael Fechter can be reached at (813) 259-7621.

This story can be found at: http://news.tbo.com/news/MGAELES7VND.html

· Go Back To The Story