The details are under seal, but an arrest warrant was issued, and Dougan is now officially a fugitive. This fall's race for Palm Beach County Sheriff has four-term incumbent Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, a Democrat, being challenged by former Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Capt. Bradshaw is the most politically powerful persona in the county. I am your sheriff, he said. The encounter had begun with Paul playing her car radio too loud in violation of Floridas traffic code. A former Marine gunner, Dougan wanted to do real police work, make arrests, solve crimes and help people. PBSOtalk hosted countless false accusations about Bradshaw and other PBSO brass, some of them vile, and at one point a fake pedophilia confession appeared under the fraudulent byline of a top department official. His message to voters: Who do you trust to keep you safe?. Editors note: Sheriff Bradshaw completed this questionnaire for the Democratic primary in August. A PBSO deputy shot and wounded a man wielding two knives at a Boynton-area shopping plaza, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw says. We provide them with the best equipment, the best training, the best technology, which translates into the best service for the public, he said. Sheriff Ric Bradshaw is a career law enforcement professional responsible for leading the largest law enforcement agency in Palm Beach County. Both datasets included the unique parcel number, or APN, of each property. A fake-news site is nothing without real news, he wrote recently. Four years later, Freeman was named Victims Rights Officer of the Year by Palm Beach County Victim Services. On the other hand, a lot was known about the owner of the website where the data appeared. Once theyd patted him down and confiscated his cell phone, they told Dougan he was free to go. He said hes challenging Bradshaw because its time for new leadership in the county. Do you want the person with the most experience, has done the job and has proven himself over 16 years as the sheriff and has executive experience in actually running major law enforcement organizations? I am the person thats been keeping you and your family safe for the past 16 years.. Youd think they would give you some kind of warning so you could be more on alert., A retired cop says he knew about the incident from news reports, but did not know that his name and address were on the list until contacted by The Daily Beast. He has served as sheriff for 16 years. His tale ends with a big reveal that wont surprise anyone familiar with the deep lore built up around Russiagate on the alt-right. Palm Beach County commissioners, who complain privately about the ever-increasing share of county tax money that goes to PBSO, would not deign to publicly criticize the sheriff or his spending priorities, lest they run the risk of being tarred by him as soft on crime, a brand no politician wants to sport. Sylvester Stallone Set For 'Cliffhanger' Reboot From Director Ric Roman The Incumbent, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, is running in a Democrat primary next August, facing only Alex Freeman for nowthough the qualifying deadline is months away. Freeman has knocked Bradshaw for overseeing an agency that has had to make multimillion-dollar payouts to settle cases brought against people shot by deputies. ". Alex Freeman, who retired as a major in the Riviera Beach Police Department, is trying to unseat Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw in the Democratic Party primary. Just sit back and watch psychological mindfuck unfold when you mess with !. Are you a member of any civic groups? In October 2009 he was fired from the Windham police force for sexual harassment. Last year, Bradshaw announced that he was ending the seldom-used work-release program for all inmates. The investigations surround claims that the money manager was allowed to arrange for sex while on work-release at his West Palm Beach office. I couldnt stick around out of fear I would be missed, so I drove straight back to Palm Beach County before they realized I had taken my little trip.. In 2001, Borodin was briefly detained in New York on Swiss money-laundering charges en route to George W. Bushs inauguration. At a Friday afternoon news conference, Sheriff Bradshaw said this tragedy could have been avoided if someone had stepped forward and notified police about his strange behavior. The police believe it was a botched robbery, but the unsolved murder has fuelled waves of speculation that it was Rich who leaked the 44,000 DNC emails ultimately published by Wikileaks, and that he was murdered as a consequence. As Sheriff, I am chairman of Homeland Security for all of South Florida. One sheriffs official carried on an intimate 10-day telephonic flirtation with a woman who turned out to be Dougan using a voice changer. That's supposed to go to the division (Department) of Corrections.". During the last few weeks, demonstrations locally and nationwide have called attention to the issue of law enforcement reform. Sheriff who allowed Jeffrey Epstein liberal work release privileges When BadVolf was ever asked why a Russian hacker would care about a Florida sheriff, Dougan always had an answer at the ready. Still, Freeman has pounded Bradshaw for allowing Epstein to participate in it. None of the DNC emails did. There no way to know if Dougans entre into the Russiagate truther club is calculated to support Putins denials that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, or just to sell books. Im shocked how he is still alive., Jessica couldnt get enough of it. In truth, there was no Russian hackerand there were no hacks. Sheriff Richard Wille, who was first elected in 1976 and retired . Hed just gotten his kids off to school when he noticed a suspicious pickup truck with tinted windows idling in front of his house. If so, please explain. Years ago the Florida legislature recognized two classes of people who might face danger if their home address showed up in the states famously open public records repositories: abuse victims, and government officials like police and judges. And in 2006 he pepper-sprayed an off-duty deputy in the face, a move a judge later called gratuitous and which cost the county a $275,000 civil judgment. During our interview, he seemed more concerned about the potential loss of evidence from a search than the idea of harming someones life over a potentially needless arrest. Bradshaw has formed seven mental health teams, consisting of a deputy and a social worker. If the contract makes it difficult for supervisors to discipline officers, what can and should the sheriff do? His campaign slogan and key commitment is Citizens Before Politics., My opponent likes to say that I dont have the 50 years of experience that he has, Diaz told the Town-Crier. There really was a DC Leaks. Palm Beach County Sheriff candidates Ric Bradshaw and Alex Freeman. For months rumors have been circulating among Palm Beach County politicos that Sheriff Ric Bradshaw wouldnt run again due to health reasons. Dougan didnt appreciate how successful until the morning of March 14, 2016. Expand. Florida was the most prized swing state for decades. It took a few days for me to get my head on straight and apply for asylum. Sputnik News ran a lengthy piece on him highlighting his daring escape to Moscow. Hes The President and CEO of JoltMedia, Inc, a Trustee of BizPac, and a founder of BizPacReview.com, the conservative news website. This falls race for Palm Beach County Sheriff has four-term incumbent Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, a Democrat, being challenged by former Palm Beach County Sheriffs Office Capt. He was fired in 1998 for lying during an internal investigation, but he later won his job back after a hearing officer determined that the firing could not be justified because the police departments lawyer only relied upon hearsay evidence. But Dougan was an unusual cop. With his shaved head and stolid build, he looked every inch a career police officer, but his eclectic job history also included stints in horse transportation and database design, and he was a licensed pilot. Sturdy and wrought in steel, the tables resemble consoles from Star Trek or props from TRON and are primarily marketed to gamers. "People that come to the county jail are supposed to be here for a year or less. His new tale is set in a world where the official story about Russian election interference is a cover-up and a lie. On March 13 he sent Dougan a tranche of files over Tor, says Dougan, and Dougan agreed to put up an anonymous website to present them to the world. Lauro Diaz, the Republican nominee. I never make decisions based on a political party to start with, and I won't going forward.". Its fair to say he was a whistle-blower who used firsthand knowledge, inside sources and public records laws to expose violence and scandal inside the department. Dougan claims he was determined to follow through on his promise, so the following Saturday, he drove a rental car 1,000 miles to Washington, D.C., to meet the whistle-blower outside a high-school basketball court. One standoff between deputies and protesters in Wellington, which is patrolled by the sheriffs office, made news, as young protesters denounced what they saw as infringements on their right to march in opposition to law enforcement misconduct. But the DNC emails that Dougan says he raced to D.C. to get, the ones he claimed to have uploaded onto a website he created for that express purpose, never appeared there. Staff writer Chris Persaud and researcher Melanie Mena contributed to this story. The catfishing caper had been easy for Douganone of his many startups involved building business telephone systems. The biggest one weighs 200 pounds, he says. Whenever we have a bad contractor or person who attacks one of our judges or the sheriff or the state attorney, thats one of the things I do, Lewis told her. Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw challenged by Alex Freeman in Bradshaw said its strictly been a cost issue. Photo: Getty Images. DeSantis' move comes as Sheriff Ric Bradshaw has come under increasing scrutiny for his decision in 2008 to give Epstein, . Thats not the kind of experience I have or ever want to have, or the kind of leader I am.. Obscure as those details are from the outside, theyd likely be well known to the person who set up DC Leaks and secured its hosting. The agents had a search warrant to seize all his electronics and any and all records, data or materials pertaining to the computer networks of 24 different Florida county governments and confidential property records within these counties.. Dougan resurrected the site on a Russian web address. Raban and Woodside were immediately put on administrative leave. Fuck them. Some of the protesters who hit the streets this spring in the aftermath of the Floyd killing complained that Bradshaws deputies were less willing to work with them than were West Palm Beach police. A Channel 5 reporter said Lewis sounded more like a modern-day hatchet man than a cop in the recordings. The couple even decided on a nickname for Dougan, Mr. We are constantly evaluating our hiring practices. I start picking their life apart, and their businesses, their family., One target in particular had consumed much of Lewis time over the years, he explained. Woodside was fired for using a police PC to watch a movie while on duty, and another deputy was terminated for lying on a police report and surfing Facebook on department time. But the independent Maine Human Rights Commission ruled that Dougan did indeed sexually harass Nelson, and in January 2013 Nelsons lawsuit against the town of Windham was settled out of court on undisclosed terms. He began making arrangements for his escape immediately. Even without the Seth Rich tale, Russias state-controlled media outlets have already gotten mileage out of Dougan, whos portrayed as an honest ex-cop caught in a corrupt system, who had to flee to Russia to escape persecution by American authorities. He could imagined how it could unfold, a sheriffs officer holding a hushed conversation with an inmate: Hey dude, well drop your charges if you kill this guy.. If that was the plan, it worked. "I'm not gonna say bad bad, but I'm gonna say it's . Palm Beach County. Memes Endorsement: Easy call in Palm Beach County Sheriff's race: Ric Bradshaw Sheriff Bradshaw, Lauro Diaz Face Off In The General Election Dougan expected nothing but ass-covering from the sheriffs office anyway. In this we were able to hack their database and give all records confidential to public so their privacy is no more important as the people they hack.. It was just awful.. A recent one took the form of a mock treatment for an imagined TV series about the West Palm Beach FBI. Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw Marx is the chairman of the state commission for legal qualifications, which investigates complaints against judges. ROYAL PALM BEACH, Fla. - Palm County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw expressed outrage last week, saying that the murder-suicide at a Royal Palm Beach Publix could have been avoided if someone came forward . At the time of the Lewis catfishing episode, Dougan had been to Moscow two or three times, staying for a month on each visit. Education: Bachelor's in public administration, Barry University, Political: Ran unsuccessfully for sheriff in 2016, Money: Raised $29,827, including $13,655 of his own money, as of July 25. But he still did work for Sheriff Bradshaw. He won temporary political asylum in February 2017, and last December the Russian government made his status permanentan honor not even granted to Edward Snowden. All in all, a successful bit of trolling. Ron DeSantis has ordered an investigation into Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and a former Palm Beach state attorney. Freeman, 51, is pinning his hope on the moment. 2 The parties stipulated, and the district court ordered, that if the jury found that Deputy Lin had committed a battery, then Sheriff Bradshaw would be held vicariously liable. The talk of Russian hackers inspired Dougan as he was pondering how to release the 10 hours of recordings hed made while posing as Jessica. Rising Sheriff's Office salaries pose budget challenge Bradshaw asked Governor Ron DeSantis to have FDLE conduct an investigation and his agency has also been looking into whether any policies were violated. Dougan claims that Nelson made everything up to retaliate for complaints he made about her performance, and that Windham officials only fired him because theyd learned about his Belle Glade whistle-blowing. In the early morning of March 14, 2016, the hunt for a Russian hacker brought FBI agents to a condominium complex in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Rule two: Set up an RSS aggregator to continuously pull and post stories from authentic news outlets. In October 2017 Dougan posted a story to one his fake news sites claiming that Ric Bradshaws second-in-command was a white supremacist nursing fantasies about killing a black man or a Jew. The post was widely circulated, and proved convincing enough that the genuine news outlet RawStory picked it up and ran with it. The elder Freeman was sentenced in 2016 to three years in prison for trying to extort the head of Palm Beach County public schools. They all needed a taste of their own medicine, and he knew just how to deliver it. Versions of the Rich conspiracy story have been spread by Russias social media foot soldiers at the Internet Research Agency, and by the likes of Julian Assange, Infowars radio host Alex Jones and indicted piracy baron Kim Dotcom. Weve taken significant steps to ensure that our policies are identified as best practice, but we dont stop there. He could easily see being arrested now, and if he was thrown in Palm Beach County Jail he doubted hed ever make it to trial. We hope that four more years will bring even more progress. Sheriff Getting Proposal Together For Boynton Beach Regarding Merger And if so, what changes could be made to ensure that police are sent to where theyre truly needed? Keep us online. He claims the record shows otherwise only because Shinjuro outsources its domain registration service to the Romanian hosting company THCservers. It was too small a case for the FBI. Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, who faced blistering criticism for granting Jeffrey Epstein liberal work-release privileges while the sex offender was serving time in the county stockade, has . He arrived at the inescapable conclusion that the entire American system was broken, from street cops like Raban to the FBI to the judges overseeing it all. Phone:(561) 688-3000 Public safety is about a quarter of Palm Beach Countys 2020 fiscal year budget. 2023 www.palmbeachpost.com. The audio dump went off like a bombshell in Palm Beach County. But that day in the spring of 2016, his hoax backfired spectacularly, with FBI agents raiding his home and carting off his computers. Weve positioned our agency on the leading edge of change and we continue to work proactively in identifying better ways of providing great service to our community. Our command staff has an excellent relationship with our road-patrol deputies. In mid-2005 he moved up to the Palm Beach County Sheriffs Office, a department with 4,000 employees covering a territory the size of Delaware. Palm Beach County Sheriff Speaks Out On Recent Antisemitic Acts Sometimes called Putins mentor, Borodin had been Boris Yeltsins top aide. We have strict disciplinary rules that work at removing officers who do not uphold our values and mission. PDF Case: 16-10876 Date Filed: 01/10/2018 Page: 1 of 39 - United States Courts (PBSOtalk was hosted there for about six weeks in 2012.). It was so convincing that Bradshaws office had to issue a denial, leading to a cycle of real news headlines like Sheriff Bradshaw Wrongly Accused of Telling Boynton Residents to Run Over Protesters?, There are rules to making good fake news, Dougan learned. Dougan stands by his story about registering the domain through the Malaysian hosting firm Shinjuro. They could find no trace of this BadVolf character in their networks. Voters here in 2002 cast ballots in support of making the races for Sheriff, Property Appraiser and Supervisor of Elections non-partisan. He circled back with Lewis and asked for every scrap of information Lewis had on Jessica and her family. If so, which ones? Im just lucky that I have a place to go, and Im really grateful for that. Instead, The Daily Beast has learned exactly how Dougan used public information and sophisticated data analytics to blow holes in Floridas address confidentiality system without cracking a single network. On January 4, 2005, Sheriff Bradshaw was sworn in as Sheriff of Palm Beach County. The book offers a bold twist to the BadVolf mythos, one hes begun peddling on conspiracy-themed YouTube interview shows and podcasts, where he receives a warm and credulous welcome. He got fired, though he got his job back after a hearing. Bradshaw pulled in 65.7 percent of the vote. Another was scorched with accusations linking him to a white supremacist group, reported from a fake news site so convincing that the legitimate press picked up the false story. In the powerful position of state property manager he effectively reigned over billions of dollars in Russian assets, and paved the way for Vladimir Putins rise by appointing Putin as his deputy in 1996. Please tell us about your education and the highest degree you attained. "He's on. Little was known about BadVolf. The sheriff had and has had these funds.. Oh I bet, Jessica trilled. In one incident that year, one of Rabans deputies, Michael Woodside, pulled over a woman named Maria Paul, put her in a chokehold and slammed her to the ground, according to a subsequent lawsuit that the county settled, before dragging her in handcuffs to the back seat of his cruiser and punching her repeatedly in the face and body. Ill always have his back, said Kerner. 2022 Newspaper Publishers Inc. All rights reserved. Dougan says hed reached out to Borodin in advance of his trip, primarily because he wanted to meet as many interesting people as possible on his first visit to Russia. Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its members or a designee. He has raised $680,000 compared to roughly $27,000 for his challenger, Alex Freeman. Dougan started patrolling Belle Glade in 2008 after four years on easier turf. Its like magic, he said. He told Jessica that Borodin was related to a shadowy figure called Flyman. For about a decade ending in 2007, Flyman had led the Russian Business Network, a notorious cybercrime group that operated its own server farm. He says that when he started writing his book he hadnt yet decided to admit his supposed role in DC Leaks, so he left out the meeting at the basketball court. May 1, 2023 at 10:31 AM. Back then he said he created DC Leaks to help elect Trump; today he claims it was to expose the DNC for sandbagging Bernie Sanders in the primaries. Freeman was a major in the Riviera Beach Police Department, which at the time was one of the countys worst. "Let me make this cleareven though the court changed the way the elections system is, the court hasn't changed the way I will do business. We have in place an initial screening of anyone arrested and constant care while in custody. Using his web skills, he began erecting revenge websites like WindhamTalk.com, which claimed to have the real scoop on corruption in the town of Windham and featured a prominent photo of Nelson with the caption Liar at the top. Bradshaw, who was first elected in 2004, is being challenged by Alex Freeman in Tuesday's. Palm Beach County Sheriffs office follows the latest policies and procedures for hiring practices. (A spokesman for the FBIs Miami office declined comment.). Raban was found in violation of 11 different department regulations and demoted. Alex Freeman, who distanced himself from his father, took on Bradshaw in the Democratic Party primary four years ago and got smoked. If Bradshaw remains for the full four-year-term through 2024, he will earn the title of longest-serving sheriff in the county. In Mangonia Park, Dougan helped the DEA with a series of drug busts, and the agency praised him for his pronounced surveillance skill. Dougan later improvised a sting to collar a local fugitive, leading a Palm Beach County detective to enthuse about his creativity: This is a Deputy thinking outside the BOX., But Dougan faced controversies on the force too. Bradshaw also asked the independent Palm Beach County Criminal Justice Commission to conduct a formal review of the work release program. 2023 Florida Sheriffs Association // Privacy and Refund Policy, "The people of Palm Beach County, and the Sheriff's Office make a great team, which is why Palm Beach County is a great place to live, work, and raise a family. When Dougan traveled abroad, Lewis was able to electronically monitor his quarry from the comfort of Palm Beach County, even seeing the photos Dougan snapped before they appeared on Facebook. I am the only candidate who has the qualifications, experience and professionalism to lead the largest law enforcement agency in the county and continue to retain our countys position as the seat of Homeland Security for southeast Florida. What I dont have is 50 years of experience in reckless spending and arrogant behavior, such as providing special treatment to convicted pedophile sex offenders, like [Jeffrey] Epstein, or like losing important evidence in critical cases, or abandoning the troops to move to a high-priced executive office building to lead from the rear instead of the front, all on the backs of the taxpayers and their hard-earned money., Diaz added that Bradshaws leadership is based on political influence more than experience.
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