Chapter 22

As of July, 2000, I was still waiting for the results of the police investigation which began March 17, 2000.  Police Chief Potts had stated that Investigator Stone was the best they had when he assigned him to the case. 

After the investigation started, Inspector Stone was hard to reach, seemed upset when I gave him documentation or tried to talk to him and reluctantly and randomly returned some of my phone calls.  He seemed to be otherwise engaged as he was the father of toddler triplets.  Perhaps he should have been given family leave and not have been assigned to this case as he was too busy and too frequently not at work to do a good job even if he were so inclined.

The initial interview, on March 27, 2000, with Investigator Stone had been confusing as his questions were disorganized and not sequenced by chronology or order of importance but the correspondence, invoices, payment records, City Ordinances, State Statutes and Federal Regulations I had submitted should have been more than enough for him to see the illegal acts committed against us and should have been more than enough to substantiate my testimony.

I explained to him that the biggest problem and the apparent basis for all other problems we encountered while simply improving the maintenance of the house downtown and making small repairs, as noted in the Professional Property Inspector Report, was the apparent refusal of City Officials, mainly Mr. Bonfield and Mr. Wilkinson, to obey the law.

Investigator Stone took 5 months to complete his investigation which I received on August 18, 2000.  The Pensacola Police Department Investigation, performed by Investigator Stone, appeared to be a cover-up of illegal activities on the part of City Officials and the building contractor.  It was not a serious investigation to determine the level of law breaking, who was doing it and a determination of charges to be made to prevent this from happening again as the results were that great harm was done to hundreds of law-abiding people in Pensacola, including us.

I decided to prepare a response to this investigation to point out the fatal flaws, the evidence which I had supplied to Investigator Stone which was ignored, Investigator Stone quoting rumors and gossip which had no foundation or documentation, etc., in an effort to stop the apparent criminal/illegal actions freely committed by public officials – since the Pensacola Police Department refused to do so.

I requested, under the Public Information Act, the documentation that Investigator Stone had used in his investigation.  I was given the run around.

I wrote a letter, dated August 25, 2000, to the City Manager, Mr. Bonfield, stating:

     “In my letter of August 20, 2000, I stated “I would like a copy of the interview tape and a copy of all interview reports and other evidence collected as I will pursue this on my own.”  I told Ms. Brown, by phone, that Detective Stone told me that I could just stop by and pick this material up from the Records Section.  I went to the Police Department Records Section and these items were not on file there.  Only reports on police calls and arrest records are kept there.  They referred me to the Property Management section.  I went there and they said that Detective Stone still retained the material I had asked for, that they had not received it.  I asked to see Detective Stone but when he was phoned from the front desk, he said he was too busy to see me.  So I am again requesting these items under the public records law.”

I was eventually given the materials I had requested, went over them carefully and prepared a response to Investigator Stone’s false report.

This investigation report has raised serious doubts, in most people I have shown the report, about other investigations done by the Pensacola Police Department. 

I received a copy of a Committee Memorandum from the City Manager, Mr. Bonfield, to the Economic and Community Development Committee, dated August 14, 2000, Subj:  520 North Spring Street – Responses to Ms. Mary Mead’s Complaints.  This memorandum stated the results of the investigation on the part of Pensacola City Officials and the Pensacola Police Department (Investigator Stone). 

This memo and the Official Police Investigation can be viewed at ci.pensacola.fl.us under council files for the date 08/14/2000. 

This document contained statements from various City Officials (pages 1-23) reporting their investigative results and Investigator Stone’s official report (pages 24-32) which was approved by his supervisors all the way up to the Police Chief, Chief Potts.  On pages 33-34 was a memo from Mr. Wilkinson, subj:  Contractor Licensing.  This seriously flawed report was now in official records and also online, but the written response I made to this investigation was not printed online for people to see the problems with Investigator Stone’s investigation.

I wrote the Police Department, the City Manager and each Council Member a response to Investigator Stone’s official report, pointing out the numerous false statements, erroneous legal facts and apparent hostility directed at me.  I again reported our concerns about a grand theft ring, especially against historic properties.

It appeared that Investigator Stone refused to properly investigate the apparent illegal/criminal actions against us.  He did not compare statements made by those he interviewed with the documentation I submitted to him as proof of wrongdoing.  He freely accepted and then repeated false statements in his report from the individuals he interviewed.  Most statements appeared to sidestep the matter in question, and appeared to be false statements, gossip and rumors.  I had expected a professional investigation and not a cover-up of City Officials apparently committing illegal/criminal actions.

Chief Potts accepted Investigator Stone’s report and sent it to his boss, the Pensacola City Manager, Mr. Bonfield, who accepted the report and included it in his report to the Pensacola City Council and published it online. 

Investigator Stone’s Investigation Report consisted of a telephone log, diary, rumors, unfounded gossip and false statements and assumptions.  Investigator Stone quoted, without verifying, Mr. Wilkinson, Mr. Aaron, a felon, Mr. Miller, a career criminal who has an extensive record of bad checks and unpaid judgments, etc. and Mr. McFatter who enabled Mr. Miller and Mr. Aaron to continue to cheat their creditors by receiving money for them so it could not be garnished. 

In his report, Investigator Stone presented what he incorrectly supposed or assumed what I “thought and felt” instead of reporting the City correspondence, Florida Statutes, City Ordinances, invoices, paid receipts and documented facts that I had given him as evidence to support my statements.  I did not break the law and have no criminal record.

I diligently studied Investigator Stone’s official report which was supposed to be a professional investigation of the apparent illegal/criminal actions I had reported to him.  Below are the violations of the law that I reported to Investigator Stone and his investigation relating to the situation I had reported to him. 

INVESTIGATOR STONE’S OFFICIAL POLICE REPORT

1.  Violation of the law I reported:  City Officials illegally required a new Certificate of Occupancy on each change of tenant which was against The Standard Building Code (SBC), the official law for construction in Pensacola.  Chapter 3401.2.2 Change of occupancy states “It is not applicable for change of tenant within the same occupancy classification.”  We were officially exempt from this requirement as the classification of the house was commercial and remained commercial.

City Officials appeared to use this illegal requirement, which appeared to be a scam, to illegally and criminally separate property owners from their money, building materials and artifacts and to deny property owners the legal use of their property.  To enforce the illegal requirement, City Officials pushed through a change to the Land Development Code, the zoning ordinance, (not the SBC) hidden under the description of “minor changes” and demanded that property owners comply with this illegal ordinance. 

This violated Pensacola City Ordinances, Florida State Statutes, and the United States Constitution. 

I submitted, to Investigator Stone, a copy of the legal Standard Building Code regulation, a copy of the illegal City Ordinance, issued February 11, 1999, copious amounts of correspondence recording the City Officials’ illegal demands and proof of our purchase of the property (our deed) in June, 1998, showing that we had no change of tenant after the effective date of the ordinance.

Investigation:  The only reference in Investigator Stone’s Official Report to this major apparent illegal/criminal action on the part of City Officials, the illegal demand for a Certificate of Occupancy on change of tenant, is part of paragraph 2, on page 4 of 9, where Investigator Stone stated, “Wilkinson said, in reference to the issue concerning Mead’s claim of unlawful charges for Certificate of Occupancy permits that his office was going by the City Ordinance which had been in place for some time….”

The documentation I had given Investigator Stone clearly showed that this was a false statement as the ordinance, which Mr. Wilkinson stated, “had been in place for some time” was secretly pushed through by City Officials, hidden under “minor changes”, in 1999, to change the Land Development Code (LDC) and did not change the Standard Building Code, the Pensacola construction law.  City Officials apparently did this to continue their apparent illegal/criminal activities against property owners. 

Even though it appeared the only reason for City Officials to pretend that they had changed the SBC was to have a basis to keep alive or justify the illegal procedure, Investigator Stone did not expose that City Officials appeared to commit illegal/criminal acts but chose, instead, to repeat the false statements, unfounded gossip and rumors supplied by Mr. Wilkinson. 

There is no copy of any City Ordinance in Investigator Stone’s records other than the one I supplied dated February, 1999, which did not change the Standard Building Code but modified the Land Development Code which was not legal to use for construction. 

2.  Violation of the law I reported:  City Officials illegally required that we meet the requirements of the Florida Accessibility Law when we were clearly exempted as it applied only to buildings constructed after 1997 and our building was constructed in 1883.  In addition, a special paragraph exempted buildings officially identified and recorded as historic structures, which ours was.

Investigation:  Investigator Stone did not address this issue at all although City Officials’ actions in this matter violated Florida State Statutes since the Florida Legislature had set a beginning date, 1997, where buildings constructed before this date were exempted and they also exempted historic buildings, which ours was.

City Officials used this illegal requirement to continue to keep our business closed down thereby preventing us from earning income from our business property.

This violated Florida State Statutes, and the United States Constitution. 

3. Violation of the law I reported:  City Officials appeared to have committed extortion against us and the people of Pensacola in two ways:  (1) required illegal fees; (2)forced us to do construction and hire people against our will.

             (1) Florida State Statute “839.11 Extortion by officers of the state. – Any officer of this state who willfully charges, receives, or collects any greater fees or services than the officer is entitled to charge, receive, or collect by law.” 

City officials appeared to have committed extortion by illegally demanding a Certificate of Occupancy on change of tenant, to include a Temporary Electrical Service fee I paid.

Investigation:  Investigator Stone did not address this issue at all although City Officials’ actions in this matter violated Florida State Statutes regarding extortion on the part of public officials.  As I had stated to Investigation Stone, the fees charged for the illegal Certificate of Occupancy, to include Temporary Electrical Service which we paid, appeared to fall into this category.

             (2)  Florida State Statute 836.05 Threats; extortion.--Whoever, either verbally or by a written or printed communication, maliciously threatens to accuse another of any crime or offense, or by such communication maliciously threatens an injury to the person, property or reputation of another, or maliciously threatens to expose another to disgrace, or to expose any secret affecting another, or to impute any deformity or lack of chastity to another, with intent thereby to extort money or any pecuniary advantage whatsoever, or with intent to compel the person so threatened, or any other person, to do any act or refrain from doing any act against his or her will, shall be guilty of a felony of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.

History.--s. 42, sub-ch. 3, ch. 1637, 1868; RS 2420; GS 3261; RGS 5092; CGL 7194; s. 1, ch. 57-254; s. 991, ch. 71-136; s. 1307, ch. 97-102.

Both Mr. Bonfield and Mr. Wilkinson repeatedly and maliciously threatened to accuse us breaking the law if we used our property without doing unneeded, destructive construction work, against our will, or if we refused to hire the contractor, Mr. Miller.  This appeared to constitute extortion.

Investigation:  Official correspondence in the package I submitted to Investigator Stone showed that Mr. Wilkinson had refused building permits to me (I was authorized under Florida State Statutes and under Escambia County Ordinances to be my own contractor as I fell within the authorized parameters)  and had refused building permits to qualified building contractors I had selected and insisted that we hire Mr. Miller or we would not get a building permit.  Mr. Wilkinson stated that a commercial contractor was required – that a building contractor would not do.

He also stated that Mr. Miller had restored many historic properties and was an excellent contractor with no complaints.  Mr. Wilkinson made many false statements in order to force me to hire Mr. Miller.  After research, I found that there was no category of “Commercial Contractor” and that Mr. Miller was a Building Contractor just like the Building Contractors Mr. Wilkinson had refused building permits to as he said they were not qualified.  Mr. Miller was forced on us under threats and false pretenses.

On Page 7 of 9, paragraph 5, Investigator Stone stated, “they could not do the work because it required someone with a commercial contractor’s license to pull the permits.  They referred McFatter to Doug Miller.”  This appeared to verify my statement that Mr. Wilkinson refused to issue building permits to building contractors as he said someone with a commercial contractor’s license must be hired and that Mr. Miller was the best commercial contractor in the area and should be hired – that he would issue him a building permit so we could complete the construction on our house required by Mr. Wilkinson.  Mr. Wilkinson issued a building permit to Mr. Miller even though there was no such category as commercial contractor - Mr. Miller had a building contractor’s license, just like the contractors I hired but to whom Mr. Wilkinson would not issue a building permit.  Mr. Miller should have never received a contractor’s license in the first place as he had an extensive record concerning illegal activities in the contracting business.

Investigator Stone blindly repeated the above statements and did not ascertain that my written statement was correct – that there was no contractor category called commercial contractor-  and that this was another ruse, on the part of Mr. Wilkinson, to deny me and building contractors I hired a building permit but continued to insist on Mr. Miller being hired or a building permit would not be issued and, once again, threatened that our house would sit until it rotted. 

Investigator Stone ignored the scope of the crimes committed against us and other property owners, by  City Officials who repeatedly stated, verbally and in writing, that we would be charged with an offense for actions which did not constitute an offense in order to force us into actions against our will:

             Certificate of Occupancy fraud:  We would be charged with an offense if
             we obeyed the construction law and opened without submitting to the
             illegal demands of City Officials who required a new CO on change of 
             tenant with the purpose of keeping us illegally closed apparently in
             order to facilitate committing grand theft against us of building
             materials, money and historic artifacts.  

             Illegal refusal of building permits to legitimate recipients:  We were
             denied building permits for ourselves and qualified building contractors
             in order to force us to hire Mr. Miller apparently to facilitate stealing our
             building materials, money and historic artifacts.

             False Florida Accessibility Requirement:  We would be charged with an 
             offense if we obeyed the construction law, complied with the SBC, and 
             the Florida Accessibility Code as we fell under their definition of 
             exempted categories.  City Officials forced us to submit to the Florida
             Accessibility Code even though we did not meet the criteria for using the
             Florida Accessibility Code apparently with the purpose of keeping us 
             illegally closed in order to facilitate robbing us of building materials,
             money and historic artifacts.

4.  Violation of the law I reported:  I submitted to Investigator Stone specific incidences of Mr. Miller, Mr. McFatter, Mr. Aaron and other contractors/ subcontractors committing apparent criminal acts against us.

On Page 2 of 9, paragraph 4, Investigator Stone stated, “Miller states in the record he has some material of Meads (sic) he is holding because Mead owes him money.  Mead said this is not true but there has not been anything provided to substantiate this claim.” 

Investigation:  Investigator Stone did not require anything from Mr. Miller to make this accusation of not being paid but I had given Investigator Stone a copy of invoices from Mr. Miller on completed projects annotated, by Mr. Miller, paid in full and paid far in advance on unfinished projects.  I gave Investigator Stone another copy of the invoices indicating that I did not owe Mr. Miller any money but that he was paid in full on completed projects and paid far ahead on projects he had subsequently abandoned.  Investigator Stone was supplied material to substantiate my claim on several occasions but this fact was never reflected in his official report.

I had given Investigator Stone a copy of the Escambia County Contractor Competency Board Investigation report which covered a secret hearing held by Mr. Wilkinson, which Mr. DeStefano attended, and included in his official report that Mr. Miller confessed to having property belonging to us.  This report prepared by the investigator for the Escambia County Contractor Competency Board, was the “in the record” referred to by Investigator Stone.  I had repeatedly asked Mr. Wilkinson, Mr. Bonfield, the City Manager, Ms. Ustick, the Assistant City Manager, and Investigator Stone for a list of the materials (historic artifacts, building supplies, etc.) stolen by Mr. Miller and Mr. McFatter.  Investigator Stone did not address this secret hearing on March 6, 1999, where I was deliberately excluded, and did not obtain a list of the stolen items which I had requested. 

Investigator Stone did not attempt to locate the stolen artifacts.  When he interviewed Mr. Wilkinson, Investigator Stone did not show him a copy of Mr. DeStefano’s official report (which I had given him) of the meeting between Mr. Wilkinson, Mr. DeStefano, Mr. Miller and Mr. McFatter where Mr. Miller admitted to taking and “holding” property belonging to the Meads.  He did not ask Mr. Wilkinson to identify and put in writing the property Mr. Miller admitted to stealing from the Meads as evidence for future charges as I had specifically asked that he do.  Investigator Stone did not interview Mr. DeStefano to obtain an inventory of the historic artifacts Mr. Miller boasted of “holding.”
 

In violation of Florida State Statutes, the property illegally held by Mr. Miller, historic artifacts and building materials, was never returned to us.  Holding another’s property and denying them the use of it is theft and since the value of this stolen property was in the tens of thousands, maybe even more based on the value of the stolen historic overmantels, it constituted grand theft. 

Investigator Stone refused to arrest Mr. Miller and retrieve our property.  Even if we owed Mr. Miller, which we didn’t, he is not allowed self-help.  A mechanic’s lien is the legal avenue he should have taken instead of grand theft.