Ethics complaint against Fort Myers Police Chief Derrick Diggs faces dismissal Friday

The Florida Commission on Ethics is set this week to consider the advice of its attorney advocate and could vote to clear Fort Myers Police Chief Derrick Diggs of allegations that he violated state ethics rules.

A lawyer from the state Attorney General's Office, who serves as the commission advocate, has found that Diggs' use of a city purchasing card, called a P-card, for meals, boots and a subscription to a satellite radio service "cannot be attributed to a wrongful intent" and has filed a motion to dismiss the case.

In a filing with the ethics panel asking that the case be dismissed, Commission Advocate Melody Hadley, an assistant state attorney general, said then-City Manager Saeed Kazemi was "adamant that (Diggs') use of the P-card was for city's business" in a deposition taken under oath.

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The deposition was among three taken of city officials after the Division of Administrative Hearings declined to move forward and sent the case back to the commission.

Relying on deposition testimony from Kazemi and the city's deputy budget director, the commission's legal advocate filed a motion last month to dismiss the allegations against Diggs.

The advocate had convinced an administrative law judge to remand the case to the ethics panel for further investigation. It has been placed on the agenda for Friday's ethics commission meeting in Tallahassee.

In his deposition testimony, Kazemi backed Diggs' use the P-card and praised his performance as chief of police.

Kazemi said Diggs "helped a lot, the city to reduce the crime" that had the potential to scare visitors away, calling the chief's job performance "excellent," according to Hadley's motion to dismiss.

She also noted that Kazemi found that lunch and dinner meetings with other local officials "were essential to the business of the city."

After the allegations were raised, members of the city council rejected a request that it conduct its own investigation into Diggs.

Hadley was previously overruled by the ethics commission when she recommended last August that the allegations not be pursued by an administrative law judge. Commissioners voted to find probable cause for a public hearing to determine whether any sanctions would be levied against Diggs.

Did you know? Fort Myers Police Chief Derrick Diggs rejected for Ohio chief job

The allegations of improper use of city resources made by political activist and former city council candidate Anthony Thomas, have been hanging over Diggs since the case was filed two years ago this month and may have impacted a possible career move by Diggs.

Thomas is fighting cancer at a local hospital. Mayor Kevin Anderson led a prayer for him at a council meeting several weeks ago.

While the ethics complaint was pending, Diggs applied for the position of chief of police in Columbus, Ohio, and made it to the final decision-making level before the city's mayor dropped him from consideration despite a strong performance in public interviews. An aide to Mayor Andrew Ginther said three other finalists better represented what the mayor was looking for.

Elaine Bryant, a former deputy police chief in Detroit, was picked and started work in Columbus in late June. She is the first Black woman to head that city's police force. 

Diggs has been negotiating a new contract with Fort Myers; his current agreement expires in August.

The allegations against Diggs include claims that $10,000 was spent on meals. In her investigation, Hadley found that $3,156 was spent at 31 lunches at the upscale Veranda restaurant in downtown Fort Myers and that $494.91 was spent for what was termed an "extravagant" Italian dinner in New York City.

A city record of the dinner states that it was a meeting for nine people, including the mayor, city manager, police captains and "other dignitaries."

Other lunches at assorted eateries cost $5,654, according to the investigation.

Hadley found in her investigation that Diggs spent $155.98 on uniform boots while the  SiriusXM subscription cost $132.83 for the first year and $232.94 after that.

Diggs' charges were made between Sept. 23, 2016, and June 28, 2019.

In her filing, Hadley said that "City Manager Kazemi believed purchasing a meal showed appreciation for the agencies spending their own time and attending meetings to help the city."

Christine Tenney, the city's deputy budget director, said it is considered "city business" to describe the justification for the use of the P-card.

"It's not to do anything personally. It is not so you can take your wife out to dinner,"  Tenney said. "It needs to be city business. It is whatever it takes to run your operation that you are responsible for."

At Friday's hearing, the commission also is set to take up a recommendation to overturn a $325 fine levied against Lee County Housing Commissioner Christine Sardina. 

The fine for filing her statement of financial interests late was $25 per day.

A recommendation from the advocate said it could not be determined whether another person had signed for a certified letter advising Sardina that she had missed the deadline.