The state’s top law enforcement officer will not shed any light on why subpoenas were recently served on a slew of Broward County officials regarding the county’s efforts to explore cutting ties with the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
The subpoenas focus on the county’s contracts with a consultant for law enforcement studies at the airport and seaport, as well as a review of what it would take to remove the Broward Sheriff’s Office from its control of Broward County Fire-Rescue.
Asked directly at a news conference on Thursday whether a crime was alleged that prompted the “lawful investigation” cited in the subpoenas, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said: “Because this is an ongoing inquiry, I can’t comment about it unfortunately. But I will direct you (to) the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.”
FDLE did not return a request for comment.
Combined, the airport and seaport studies cost less than $250,000 and were paid for by airport and seaport user fees. The fire-rescue review was handled in-house and did not generate a specific cost estimate.
Other than Uthmeier’s no-comment, prosecutors haven’t publicly discussed the Broward subpoenas, which were sent to the mayor, the entire commission, top members of the administration and aviation officials.
But seven months earlier, at a Miami news conference, Uthmeier outlined plans for a ramped-up push to ensure public funds aren’t misspent by governments across Florida, offering some insight into statewide prosecutors’ planned scrutiny of government business in various communities.
At the Feb. 19 news conference, Uthmeier stood at a lectern with a red, white and blue sign that read, “Combating Public Corruption.” He joined the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, as well as the special agent in charge of Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Miami Regional Operations Center, to announce the creation of a new “public integrity” unit aimed at finding and prosecuting misappropriations, and “abuse” of public funds and legislative appropriations.
Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia wasn’t at the Feb. 19 conference, but Uthmeier noted the CFO’s efforts in scrutinizing local governments. Over the past year, Ingoglia toured the state criticizing many local governments’ spending as “excessive” and “wasteful.” Uthmeier said taxpayers have a right to question how public funds are spent.
“The public at home has questions and loses trust in our government officials, the public servants that are supposed to be operating with the trust of the people, fighting and working for the people,” Uthmeier said Feb. 19. “We felt the need to develop a unit focused on this specifically.”
Uthmeier said the new unit would be doing a review audit of all legislative appropriations “over the last couple years as well as expenditures, grants, procurements at the local level to look out for evidence of criminal activity and wrongdoing.”
Uthmeier also announced the appointment of Richard Mantei, a veteran prosecutor, as head of the new public corruption unit within the Office of Statewide Prosecution.
Mantei explained why he felt the new unit’s work is important.
“It’s become necessary that people have someone to guard the guardians,” Mantei said. “Money and power are the most valuable currency we have as a political body and we all work together to make sure that currency is spent in service of the citizens.”
Officials on Feb. 19 said it’s necessary for multiple agencies to often work together because such cases are frequently complex and span across multiple jurisdictions. FDLE Miami Special Agent in Charge John Vecchio at the news conference said FDLE agents looked forward to working with Mantei and “seeing their investigative efforts brought to resolution.”
Looking into Broward
A copy of the prosecutors’ Broward-related subpoena, obtained by the South Florida Sun Sentinel, seeks county-related documents and information but it doesn’t allege any wrongdoing. The subpoena gave the county until Sept. 28 to provide the prosecutors’ requested information.
It was Mantei who signed the subpoenas, dated Sept. 9, that were issued to many local Broward officials demanding documents pertaining to the county’s reviews of the role of the Broward Sheriff’s Office at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Port Everglades and Broward County Fire-Rescue.
Jensen Hughes, a Coral Gables consulting firm, was hired by the county in late 2025, at a cost of $104,613.40, to look into the feasibility of establishing an independent law enforcement agency at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Because the contract was less than $500,000, the administration’s procurement division was empowered to enter the contract without permission from county commissioners.
Later, the commission asked county administration to look into an independent law enforcement agency at Port Everglades. Since Jensen Hughes was already working on the airport, Port Everglades “piggybacked” on the existing contract at a cost of $108,170. “Piggybacked” is the term used by the county and the subpoena.
In both cases, the costs of the contracts were covered by user fees, meaning no property tax dollars were spent, according to County Administrator Monica Cepero.
In April, the commission asked county administration to look into ending the 23-year relationship between the Sheriff’s Office and Broward County Fire-Rescue.
While the timing of the review coincided with Jensen Hughes’ work on the airport and seaport, Jensen Hughes was never tasked with that study. County Administration handled it in-house, county spokesman Greg Meyer said.
A spokesman for the Coral Gables-based Jensen Hughes declined to comment for this article.
Its results were presented to the County Commission on Aug. 20, when the commission set Sept. 22 as their date to decide whether to extend the Broward sheriff’s fire-rescue contract beyond 2028.
On the airport and seaport, Jensen Hughes ultimately found it would be “feasible” to cut ties with the Broward Sheriff’s Office, but in both cases more study was recommended to better assess the costs and benefits.
Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony warned the short-term cost of separation would be $440 million, compared to $261.4 million to continue with the Sheriff’s Office.
In a social media post, the Sheriff’s Office explained that at the request of statewide prosecutors’ office, the Sheriff’s Office started serving subpoenas on Sept. 9 to county officials. The Sheriff’s Office deferred questions about the subpoenas to the Office of Statewide Prosecution.
It’s not uncommon for law enforcement agencies to remain quiet during ongoing investigations.
Some Broward commissioners said they are baffled as to why statewide prosecutors would be concerned about the county contracts or their desire to save money by cutting ties with the Sheriff’s Office.
“None of us has a clue,” County Commissioner Steve Geller said. “We’re all in the dark. … We’re assuming it’s political.”
Broward Mayor Mark Bogen said prosecutors haven’t shared information.
“Why do they even need to serve us with subpoenas when they could have gotten the same information with a public records request?” Bogen asked.
Staff writer Juan Ortega contributed to this news article.
Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457.