If you've been around town for several years, you remember City Manager Julio Avael's vicious and embarrassing vendetta against then-Police Chief Ray Peterson.
Among the litany of allegations against Peterson in Avael's now-famous "Blue Book" was a charge that Peterson had sent a letter to a judge asking for leniency for a prominent citizen who had pled "no contest" to a charge of attempting a lewd and lascivious act involving a child at a school bus stop.
According to Avael, "This is an example of Mr. Peterson's . . . attempt to gain popularity despite the character of the individual." He held up this "charge" as one reason Peterson should be fired as Police Chief.
But last year, when it was time to fill an opening for captain within the Key West Police Department (KWPD), Avael and Police Chief Dillon selected Thomas "Bill" Fortune, an officer who had previously lost his job as a Monroe County Sheriff's Deputy in 1985 when it was learned that he had had a sexual "affair" with a 17-year-old boy.
Dillon told Key West The Newspaper that both he and Avael knew about Fortune's past when they approved his promotion.
Presumably they both also knew that Fortune had falsified his application when he applied for a job with the Key West Police Dept., representing that he had never been discharged or forced to resign because of misconduct or unsatisfactory service.
On March 5, 1985, Sheriff Billy Freeman gave Fortune the choice of resigning or being fired from his job as a Deputy Sheriff.
"It has become apparent that you do not meet the standards of efficiency, morale and reputation required . . . for the responsible position of Deputy Sheriff with this department," wrote Undersheriff Lawrence Meggs in a letter to Fortune.
Fortune's resignation letter was short and to the point: "I hereby submit my resignation effective March 5, 1985."
The forced resignation came one day after Sheriff's Dept. Inspector Mike Young reported the results of his internal affairs criminal investigation. The report concluded that Fortune had consensual sex with a 17-year-old male high school student on as many as four occasions. On one occasion, Fortune and the boy reportedly spent a weekend together.
The young man had been a participant in the Sheriff's Cadet Program.
On March 6, 1985— the day after he had resigned from the Sheriff's Dept.— Fortune applied for a job with the KWPD, representing that he had left the Sheriff's Dept. because of a "personality conflict." He answered "no" to the question, "Have you ever been discharged or forced to resign because of misconduct or unsatisfactory service?"
Apparently, KWPD officials conducted no background check and Fortune was hired.
In 1991, somebody blew the whistle on Fortune concerning the falsification of his application. There was an internal investigation— and he was given a 10-day suspension.
Fortune's "secret" has been rumored around the Police Dept. for months, but it has been difficult to investigate.
When Fortune was first promoted to captain, a source inside the Police Dept. speculated that it was because "Avael had something on him. He can control Fortune." But our source couldn't provide any specifics.
Early this year, we heard the rumor that Fortune had been involved in "some sort of child abuse maybe 10 years ago."
We called the local office of the State Dept. of Children & Families (DCF) and asked who we might contact to investigate child abuse allegations concerning "a high-ranking police officer." We never heard from anybody at the DCF— but we heard from Chief Dillon that same day.
He told us that there was, indeed, something in Fortune's past that he wasn't proud of— but that he had gotten his life together and that "he is a fine police officer." But Dillon refused to provide specific information.
He also asked us to kill any story we might be planning. But we didn't have a story planned. We didn't have enough information.
Dillon also refused to tell us who at the DCF tipped him off that we were sniffing around. We do know, however, that RaiEtte Avael, the City Manager's wife, is one of the managers there.
When we checked with the Sheriff's Dept., we were told that most of Fortune's records had been purged. But we did learn that an internal investigation had "sustained" an allegation that Fortune had "sexual activity with a juvenile" and that he had lost his job because of it.
Then we wrote to the Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement's Criminal Justice Professionalism Program. And we thought for awhile that our request for information had disappeared into that governmental black hole in Tallahassee. But not so.
This week, we received more than 200 pages of documents which provided detailed— very detailed— information of Capt. Fortune's ill-fated "affair," the investigation that led to his departure from the Sheriff's Dept., and the subsequent KWPD internal investigation into allegations that he falsified his employment application.
We have no reason to believe that Capt. Fortune is not a good police officer or that he is doing anything less than an excellent job as one of two captains on the force. The story here is not Fortune. It's Avael's demagoguery and double-speak.
On one hand, Avael argued that Peterson should be removed as Chief of Police— certainly a radical action— because he, along with many other civic, political and business leaders, appealed for leniency for a popular local figure who was in trouble for allegedly hitting on a young boy. Avael gave us all the impression that he was terribly offended and revolted by Peterson's odious and unsavory act.
Then, Avael does a major flip-flop. He actively participated in the promotion— to one of the highest-ranking positions in the Police Dept.— of a man he reportedly knew had had a sexual relationship with a male juvenile.
And, on top of that, Avael surely knew that Fortune had falsified his employment records in order to get his job with the KWPD in the first place. That information is— or should be— in Fortune's personnel file.
So . . . do you think Avael talks out of both sides of his mouth, or what?
EDITOR'S NOTE: Both Chief Dillon and City Manager Avael have been aware for months that we've been researching this story. And we know that there has been at least one "damage control" meeting involving Dillon, Avael and others.
Earlier this week, we informed both Dillon and Avael that we now had the information from the FDLE. We even included Mike Young's very-detailed internal investigation report. And we asked for comments.
On Wednesday, we informed Police Dept. spokeswoman Cynthia Edwards that we planned to go with the story this week— and we again asked for comments.