Subpoenas are flying in Broward, and so are juicy rumors.
Around lunchtime Wednesday, three heavily armed sheriff’s deputies were hovering outside the county commission offices in Fort Lauderdale, waiting to serve papers on two commissioners. The oddly aggressive show of force toward elected officials was one of many signs that something was just not right.
Mayor Mark Bogen and Commissioner Beam Furr were served first, and mostly by coincidence. They were at County Hall to take part in a photo-op with Rep. Jared Moskowitz for a symbolic presenting of a federal check for part of the cost of the new Port Everglades Bypass Road.
“I don’t even understand what it is (about),” Furr said of the subpoena, declining further comment. He quickly handed the five-page document to the county attorney.
As speculation intensified, Deputy County Attorney Annika Ashton circulated an email to staff that the Office of Statewide Prosecution, an arm of the attorney general, was demanding records that relate to a matter involving the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
In addition to all nine commissioners, the attorney wrote, nine top staff members are also named, including County Administrator Monica Cepero and three top assistants; county Aviation Director Mark Gale and two of his chief deputies; and two members of the county legal staff. The subpoena is essentially an elaborate demand for public records.
The subpoenas focus on the county’s hiring of the Jensen Hughes consulting firm to study replacing the sheriff with a new independent security agency at the airport and possibly at Port Everglades. The plan is in its early stages of study but the county is serious, and that’s an ominous sign for the sheriff’s office.
A change of this magnitude would dramatically shrink Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony’s police operation, so he does not think much of the idea as he has made clear in a flurry of social media postings, claiming a new agency would be vastly more expensive, though he told commissioners “Bravo!” in May, referring to its thoroughness, when it was first discussed at a May workshop.
So an investigation that would raise questions about the study would work in Tony’s favor.
“We understand that BSO, who is acting as a process server in connection with these subpoenas, will be back Thursday morning to complete service prior to the start of the commission meeting,” the attorney wrote. “We already have a team reviewing the subpoena, and we will be coordinating with each of you and with County Administration and staff to facilitate responses.
“Due to the nature of the matter, please avoid written communications on this matter at this time,” Ashton cautioned.
The subpoenas require production of documents by Sept. 28 at state offices in the 110 Tower downtown, a stone’s throw from the county Governmental Center.
Part of the document demand in the state subpoena served on Broward County commissioners on Sept. 9 and 10, 2026 (Broward County)
The Office of Statewide Prosecutor is a powerful tool controlled by Attorney General James Uthmeier, who has previously shown disdain for deep-blue Broward and who is up for election in less than two months. In the wrong hands, OSP could be easily weaponized against political opponents.
Uthmeier has been under siege for months over his role in mishandling $10 million of Medicaid money in the Hope Florida scandal, as detailed by a leaked grand jury report.
He desperately needs a distraction, and these subpoenas could do the trick.
That’s another oddity. Uthmeier routinely turns every official act into a publicity stunt to squeeze as much media exposure out of it as possible.
His silence in this case raises obvious suspicions. As for Sheriff Tony, he quickly issued a brief statement emphasizing that the subpoenas were issued “at the request of Florida’s Office of Statewide Prosecution.”
The selection of Jensen Hughes, a Maryland-based company, was done bureaucratically by the county Aviation Division in December 2025, according to records. The cost of the study is in the $200,000 range, county sources said.
If something sinister is at work here, it’s not obvious. Commissioner Steve Geller said the serving of subpoenas raises obvious suspicions.
“If they had done a public records request, we would have given them everything they’re asking for,” Geller said. “They (state officials) like to portray us as this outlaw, out-of-control county, just because we’re Democrats.”
Indeed, politics appear to be seriously afoot. It’s likely that the icy relationship between the county and the combative sheriff won’t be the same — not that it was any good to begin with.
Steve Bousquet is Opinion Editor of the Sun Sentinel and a columnist in Tallahassee and Fort Lauderdale. Contact him at sbousquet@sunsentinel.com or (850) 567-2240.