Tampa’s code enforcement director was fired Tuesday after an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement ended without charges, according to a text message to the Tampa Bay Times from a city spokesperson.
“Though the FDLE investigation concluded and the State Attorney’s Office declined to file criminal charges due to insufficient evidence, O’Connor’s supervisors determined that his poor judgment merited dismissal,” wrote the spokesperson, Adam Smith.
A Nov. 19 memo from the State Attorney’s Office in Hillsborough County obtained by the Tampa Bay Times confirms that O’Connor will not face criminal charges.
“This case presents an example of what the State strongly believes happened versus what it can actually prove in court,” read the memo from Michael R. Lennon, the chief of the office’s economic crimes unit.
O’Connor’s lawyer, Ralph Fernandez, said in a phone call Tuesday evening that neither he nor his client were aware of the dismissal. He said O’Connor was not given the opportunity to “present his side of the story.”
“Common decency dictates that you don’t blindside someone like this,” Fernandez said. “I had to find out from the media, rather than his employer.”
The memo laid out the details of the case.
O’Connor, a former deputy police chief, has decades-long ties to another former code enforcement employee, Aubrey Pierce, who was arrested in August on unrelated charges.
O’Connor cashed a winning $20,000 scratch-off Florida Lottery ticket on behalf of Pierce, who owes more than $70,000 in past-due child support payments, read the memo, which did not specify the dates of the events.
If Pierce had cashed the ticket, his winnings would have gone to the Florida Department of Revenue to contribute to his outstanding payments. Instead, the memo stated, O’Connor cashed the ticket and “the mothers of Pierce’s children did not receive funds from the winnings to which they were entitled.”
Records obtained by the Times show that O’Connor claimed a $20,000 lottery prize from a scratch-off ticket purchased at a 7-Eleven in Tampa on March 7. It is not clear what he did with that money.
“Given the longtime and extremely close relationship between Pierce and O’Connor, a strong presumption may exist that O’Connor knowingly participated in a scheme to ensure that the mothers of Pierce’s children would not receive any child support from the winnings,” the memo read. “This conduct is suggestive of theft.”
But, Lennon wrote, a strong presumption “does not meet the criminal standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt of theft.”
In one statement to a special agent with the law enforcement department, Pierce claimed to have “given” the winning ticket to O’Connor, the memo stated. A search of O’Connor’s cell phone yielded no definitive evidence that showed O’Connor knowingly participated in theft.
O’Connor’s firing comes three years after his wife, former Tampa police chief Mary O’Connor, resigned amid criticism from a viral golf cart traffic stop.
“Our organization is built on professionalism, accountability and integrity,” Mayor Jane Castor said in a statement Tuesday. “The community we serve expects and deserves the highest standards from all City employees, especially those in leadership positions.”