Pity poor Key West City Manager Julio Avael. A family he first tried to help two years ago could end up helping themselves to a big chunk of change from the city's treasury.
But for the City's top boss, dealing with allegations of doctored timesheets, impersonating an officer, and threats in his own home may be all in a day's work.
But the Bogoeffs, an old established "Conch" family, is probably giving Key West city manager Julio Avael more indigestion than usual these days— as he mulls over whether to sue the mother, hide from the father or turn the son into a policeman.
Things began to get a little out of hand about a year ago, when James Bogoeff Sr., a former Key West cop showed up at Avael's home while the family was having dinner and, according to Avael, cursed him in front of his family, threatened to sue the City and, perhaps worst of all, threatened to contact the "Blue Newspaper" and tell all.
The city manager, who's been on the job since 1996, used to have an amicable relationship with Bogoeff. "I've been invited to his house on many occasions," Bogoeff said this week. A cold day in hell will probably be the date for his next invitation.
Bogoeff said that he was upset that his son had not been selected to attend the Police Academy.
After the altercation at his home, Avael fired off a memo to City attorney Bob Tischenkel. "Frankly, I resented Mr. Bogoeff's demeanor and his storming into my home and threatening the city and me at the dinner table in front of my family. I found him to be rude, disrepectful, ill-mannered, vulgar and extremely unprofessional in front of my family," he wrote.
Bogoeff admitted this week he may have been a tad demonstrative in presenting the case for his son, but he said a lot of it was a result of the months of frustration in dealing with the city.
"Both Avael and (Chief Buz) Dillon lied to me," he said, claiming he'd had assurances his son was next in line. "My son was strung along for months."
Bogoeff Jr. was 19 at the time. He is currently employed as a communications officer in police dispatch.
Some have speculated that young Bogoeff's law enforcement career may have been slowed by an incident on July 4, 1999. Bogoeff Jr., then 18, and fellow Police Explorer Scout David "Little Dave" Lariz Jr., 17, also the son of a former policeman, were accused of flashing their badges at a 19-year-old girl and representing themselves as policemen.
A month later, both a police internal investigation and the state attorney's office cleared the young men of any "criminal acts."
But just two months later, Avael was going to bat for young Bogoeff. He wrote Chief Dillon a scathing memo, chastizing him for failing to hire Bogoeff as a police dispatcher. Avael threatened to transfer the police hiring responsibilities away from Dillon and into the city's Human Resources Department.
The Chief wimped out. Bogoeff was hired the next month.
Subsequently, young Bogoeff attended the Police Academy and is awaiting assignment.
Now comes Bogoeff's mother, who retired from her job in the Fire Department on Feb. 18 of this year, under a cloud of accusations that she may have padded her overtime on her time cards for the last three years— to the tune of an extra $40,000!
Denise Bogoeff, 43, retired after 25 years and two months with the Key West Fire Department. She was the assistant to Key West Fire Chief Tim "Buddha" Fahey for approximatelyt 20 of those years.
The approximate amount of the "discrepancy" was withheld from her severance package upon her retirement in hopes, City Attorney Tischenkel said this week, of a quiet settlement between herself and the city.
Tischenkel said the city is deciding whether or not to file a lawsuit against Bogoeff. According to city documents, approximately $20,000 in annual leave and sick leave due the long-time employee is being held by the city as part of the potential settlement.
Apparently, the "quiet settlement" has been exceedingly quiet. "The city has heard nothing from the other side (Bogoeffs or their attorney, Ted Herzog)," said Tischenkel, which in his view, may be a good thing.
In fact, the City Attorney noted, the case may be closed, if the silence from the other side over making any claims to Bogoeff's leave money means acceptance of the settlement agreement. "If that's the case, there will be no need of a civil suit," he said.
The senior Bogoeff, however, said he could say little on the record because of the "delicate negotiations involving attorneys." He said there is "a lot more I can't talk about on why Julio is pressing this action against Denise."
He did take issue with Avael's memo about him barging into the city manager's house, saying he was invited in and had kissed his wife on the cheek and that his actual anger had been directed toward police chief Buz Dillon— but he admitted he may have dropped some F-bombs in the process "and hurt Avael's feelings."
As for the current problems between the city and Mrs. Bogoeff, KWTN has learned that more than leave pay had been withheld by the city. Apparently, Denise Bogoeff's retirement pay also took a hit.
Attorney Herzog is not in perfect agreement with Tischenkel's version of events. "But we did have settlement conversations with (attorney for the city) Andrea Margalli," Herzog said.
But the city's offer was unacceptable, he said. "And besides, last week, we were informed the city was planning to file a lawsuit against my client. So, we decided to wait for that," he said.
Herzog said all of his client's time sheets were signed by the appropriate supervisor, adding "we would be most pleased to do several things, including to discuss the city's claim, as well as our counterclaim of years of uncompensated overtime, a reimbursement of annual and sick leave and an adjustment of Denise Bogeoff's retirement."