Ethics board: Miami Beach employee used his position to enrich himself

Ethics board: Miami Beach employee used his position to enrich himself
  • Sumo

The Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust found probable cause that a civilian employee at the Miami Beach Police Department exploited his position and violated the outside employment sections of the county’s conflict of interest code.

Clifford Sparks, the former supervisor of the Crime Analysis Unit, was found to have used his position to facilitate an introduction between lifelong friend and business partner Richard Jerome, owner of Crime Suppression Technologies, and the police department “with the goal of developing a software program for MBPD’s record management system, creating a potential financial benefit for himself,” said a statement from the Ethics Commission last month.

A complaint was filed by the city of Miami Beach Inspector General Joseph Centorino and after a joint investigation with the COE, Sparks admitted to using his subordinates to test CST software during work hours and basically reporting to Jerome, not the chief, “devoting between 15-20 hours per week, including city work hours, in furtherance of CST’s software development,” the statement reads.

He not only worked on the project himself, he also ordered equipment on the city dime to test the project and ordered subordinate employees to test equipment related to that project while on city time.

Sparks also failed to file forms disclosing outside employment and the nature of work being done during two tax years, as required by the county’s Conflict of Interest Code.

For all of this, Sparks — whose last known salary at the city of Miami Beach was $106,000 a year — was fined $1,500 and given a “letter of instruction,” which basically says “don’t do it again.”

The whole investigation began in February when four female civilian employees of the crime analysis unit came to the city’s Office of the Inspector General to file complaints against Sparks, a former police officer who was their supervisor. They accused him of  sexual harassment and misuse of city resources in connection with private business activity.

Some called it his “get rich quick” scheme.

“During the initial and several subsequent meetings with the OIG, the complainants provided details on both matters, including personal observations and experiences, as well as documents such as texts, departmental purchase records, photographs and related material,” wrote Inspector General Joseph Centorino in his report.

“The sexual harassment allegations involved the subject’s texting the employees at night, engaging in inappropriate online and personal conversations and comments, unwelcome hugs, and, in the context of what the Subject suggested were surprise ‘Christmas gifts,’ driving each of them on separate occasions in his City vehicle to a massage parlor in the City for a complimentary massage arranged by him.”

Ew.

Yet, he just got a $1,500 fine for using his position to get a contract for his company.

The sexual harassment allegations had already been the subject of a police Internal Affairs investigation. They found Sparks had violated rules on “courtesy and respect” and “social media and social networking,” and he got a written warning, a demotion (without a reduction in salary) and mandatory counseling.

They taught him.