Florida Sheriff Faces Backlash Over Past Mismanagement and Bullying Tactics

BROWARD COUNTY, FL- It isn’t often that someone who shot and killed someone, even as a 14-year-old, will later have the opportunity to become a police officer, and then the sheriff of the largest sheriff’s department in Florida. But that is precisely what Sheriff Gregory Tony has been able to achieve.

Tony now finds himself in the middle of a burgeoning controversy as he stands accused of trying to run roughshod over cities and towns located in the jurisdiction of the Broward County Sheriff’s Department (BSO). 

According to the Florida Bulldog in a May 2020 report, Tony shot and killed a young man as a teenager in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, claiming it was self-defense.

Tony admitted the incident to the outlet but claimed he was “growing up in a neighborhood in Philadelphia filled with violence and gang activity.” 

He was acquitted at trial by a Pennsylvania juvenile judge. The only issue is that Tony conveniently left out that tiny little detail when he applied to be a Coral Springs, Florida, police officer, and before Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) appointed him to succeed embattled sheriff Steve Israel, whom DeSantis fired after the botched Parkland school shooting response.

Since juvenile records are sealed, a simple background check would not have revealed the juvenile arrest. Tony’s problems have continued since his 2019 appointment. 

According to information Law Enforcement Today has received, Tony’s term “has been marked by a consistent pattern of incompetence, malfeasance, and misfeasance, which included:

• Due process violations, including repeated suspensions, firing, and disciplinary action taken without compliance with standard procedures, resulting in lawsuits, financial liability, and workplace chaos; violations of the 180-day rule and officer’s bill of rights. 
• Fiscal mismanagement- doubling of costs for Broward County Sheriff’s Office training center, ballooned from $34M to $73.3M), misuse of funds for “vanity projects and command perks,” and other reallocations totaling nearly $40M. 
• Dishonesty and false statements- findings by the Florida Ethics Commission and FDLE confirming misleading disclosures, false forms, and concealment of his past, including the aforementioned homicide incident, as well as drug use.
• Hostility to Partner Governments- Bullying of city managers and commissioners, manipulation of union leadership, and coercive contract tactics. 
• Misuse of Resources- Exploitation of BSO assets for personal fitness and events, questionable vehicle deployments, and politicization of agency functions. 
• Failure to Uphold Traditions- Refusal to lower flags on September 11, defiance of Governors’ and Presidential directives on immigration enforcement, and selective suspension practices with racial disparities. 

Law Enforcement Today spoke with retired Sgt. Greg LaCerra, who previously worked for Tony at BSO, and served as union vice president. He told us that in April 2019, he and another deputy, Christopher Krickovich, were involved in a use-of-force incident against a 15-year-old in Tamarac, Florida.

A viral video showed him pepper-spraying the suspect and Krickovich slamming his head to the ground, with zero context. 

LaCerra told us that Tony immediately suspended Krickovich and him without the benefit of an internal investigation or due process.

LaCerra stated that Tony's actions were motivated solely by a desire to appease public outrage, reflecting a broader pattern of “knee-jerk” disciplinary measures taken by Tony against staff. 

He continued that Tony has a history of disciplining white deputies quickly, prosecuting some.

At the same time, three female jailers, all black, were involved in a separate use-of-force case and were charged by the state’s attorney’s office, however they were not suspended by Tony, a clear double-standard. 

In December 2019, Tony terminated Krickovich after internal affairs proceedings finally concluded, however, the firing was deemed improper under the Florida Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights. Tony and LaCerra were cleared of wrongdoing and had their jobs reinstated. 

LaCerra told LET that Tony tries to rule by intimidation. 

“Yeah, he’s using his typical Sheriff Tony things that we all found out about when Governor DeSantis made a huge mistake by putting him in office. And, you know, trying to rule by intimidation,” LaCerra said.

“He did it to employees at BSO numerous times, where he just gets up and starts yelling at people and, you know, throwing his weight around, that he’s the sheriff. And he’s doing the same thing with the elected officials in Broward County, that are either the city commissions or the county commissions.

“He’s gone in front of them and yelled at them and screamed at them. And you know, he’s just trying to bully his way into these cities, to, uh, you know, for the cities to give him more money. And that’s not how you lead an agency,” LaCerra said. 

“Whether it's to your employees or whether it's to your partners in the city or the county commission, right?” LaCerra continued. 

LET asked LaCerra why Gov. DeSantis, a law-and-order guy, would appoint someone like Tony with so much baggage, never mind tolerate his intimidation act. 

“Tony, if I remember correctly, he was a registered Republican, and he turned into the, he went to the Democratic Party after the governor appointed him after he removed [former Sheriff] Israel. Yeah, I mean, a lot of people in Broward do that because, unfortunately, the Broward County voters don’t really pay attention to whether someone’s qualified for a position or not.

They go down the line of who’s got a D next to their name when they’re in the voting booth. They just don’t pay attention to it,” LaCerra said. “It’s mind-boggling to me how people continue to do that…against their own self-interest. It’s amazing.” 

“Broward County is the most liberal county in Florida. So when the governor removed Scott Israel from sheriff after the MSD [Marjory Stoneman-Douglas] shooting down there. You know, Greg Tony was a friend of Andrew Pollack, whose daughter, Meadow, was killed in the shooting. 

“And Andrew Pollack started having the governor’s ear after the shooting. He was very outspoken about how Israel and BSO screwed up. And so he got the governor’s ear about Tony, whom a friend of his recommended. At the time he was appointed sheriff,” LaCerra said, Tony had only "about eight years of experience with Coral Springs."

LaCerra doesn’t believe that Andrew Pollack knew about Tony’s questionable history. 

“I mean, listen, you were a cop for 30-plus years, right? I was a cop for 25 years,” LaCerra said. “This guy should not be a cop. Whether you like him or don’t, he should not be a cop. He murdered someone when he was 15 years old. He calls it self-defense, but I’m sorry, you shoot the guy five times, and the last two times were in the back of the head. That’s not so.” 

“He lied on applications. You can’t lie as a police officer. You can’t commit murder. Okay? But even if you want to say that was self-defense, he hid it from everybody, including agencies that were hiring him,” LaCerra said. So drug use, check fraud. I mean, you name it, he’s probably done it. He can’t be the leader of a police department, much less one of the biggest, you know, sheriff’s offices in the country.” 

LET asked LaCerra why he thought Gov. DeSantis wasn’t removing Tony, which, as governor, he has the right to do, especially considering all the complaints against him as well as his hiding of his juvenile arrest. 

“Well, he is the law and order guy, until it comes to this guy, and he’s not the law and order guy. That’s really odd. It has to do with money. When it all comes down to it, it has to do with money,” LaCerra said. “There’s somethign going on where he won’t remove him. Governor DeSantis has removed public officials in the state of Florida over the last three years for much less.”

LaCerra then addressed an incident in Tamarack, Florida, where a man shot and killed his estranged wife, her father, and a neighbor during a domestic incident. Local 10 News reported on the Feb. 16, 2025, incident that deputies responded to the home several times after the wife, Mary Gingles, had obtained a restraining order against her estranged husband, Nathan Gingles. 

As a result of the incident, six deputies were fired, five received suspensions, and two deputies had charges against them dismissed. It was alleged that the deputies, after responding to a 911 call at the home reporting gunshots and screams, waited in their vehicles for 20 minutes before approaching the scene. 

LaCerra admitted that mistakes were made, however he alleged that Tony made up his mind before an investigation even started, where he held a press conference shortly after the murders and said “deputies will lose their jobs” over this, “people will be fired.” 

“You know, being a cop, that can’t be said. There’s due process for everyone, including police officers. But he went in and did that. He went in and said it,” LaCerra said. “And he’s saying it in fact, in front of the people that are in charge of the investigation, that are in charge, you know, his command staff. Right, so he’s basically inventing an expectation that heads are going to roll before he even knows the facts, the case.” 

LaCerra said the fact that “15 to 20” people were disciplined for the case makes it “an agency problem.” 

“There’s a problem with the agency. It’s not just one person or two people,” LaCerra said. “We’ve got 15 to 20 people that screwed up somewhere. We need to look at it as an agency. But my point is, when it started, he went into this and he said that ‘people are going to be fired.’ And guess what? They were.” 

“Where is the due process for these officers? They already knew that the were going to be fired, before anything even happened,” LaCerra said. 

LaCerra speaks from experience when it comes to Tony. In the case involving the 15-year-old, Tony had their back, but he soon caved in to public opinion. He ended up firing the other deputy and disciplining LaCerra. LaCerra said in the end, they were both found to have done nothing wrong, and the other deputy got his job back. 

“And an arbitrator, one of my guys who had gotten fired, our attorneys had written the sheriff an email, a letter saying, ‘you’re violating their rights by doing what you’re doing.’ And in the end, the arbitrator read that letter, and that was a big deal to the arbitrator,” LaCerra said.

“Like, you were warned that you were violating their rights and you did it anyway. He’s getting his job back,” the arbitrator told Tony. 

Tony also tries to run roughshod over his responsibilities under Florida state law mandating law enforcement cooperate with federal immigration authorities under 287g authority. Tony has been defying that order, drawing the attention of Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, Florida Bulldog reports. 

Uthmeier warned Tony that refusal to enforce federal immigration law could lead to his removal by Gov. DeSantis. 

Referring to a June 3 meeting of the Broward County Commission, Uthmeier wrote Tony:

“In that meeting, you stated that the Broward County Sheriff’s Office (BSO) has ‘other priorities in this community’ and that ‘immigration is not one of them.’ You went on to say that arresting illegal aliens is ‘not within our purview, it’s not within our responsibility, and I won’t participate in it.’ 

“I would hope your statements were mere political posturing, but if not, your expressed positions would constitute a failure of your statutory obligation to utilize ‘best efforts to support the enforcement of federal immigration law’ under 908.104(1), Florida Statutes,” Uthmeier wrote. 

[...]

“I request that you immediately clarify your remarks to affirm that your policy intention is to fulfill your obligations,” Uthmeier continued. “My office will use every tool available to ensure local officials obey Florida law and protect public safety. Penalties for failure to adhere to the obligations set forth…include declaratory and injunctive relief, being held in contempt, or removal from office by the Governor.” 

As of the publication date, Tony has continued to defy enforcement of Florida state law, and to LET’s knowledge, Gov. DeSantis has taken no action. LET has reached out to Attorney General Uthmeier’s office for clarification on the state’s position. As of publication, we have not received a response.

Tony has also drawn the ire of municipalities within Broward County.

Pembroke Park Police Chief Daniel DeCourse slammed Tony for making “false statements” about his police department, CBS News Miami reports. 

In September 2022, the town of 6,500 people split from the Broward County Sheriff’s office. 

“The false statements had to do with people that were fired for misconduct from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office,” DeCourse said. Tony claims the town is “begging for us to come back. We’re answering the majority of their calls.” DeCourse disputes that. 

“Not true,” he said, noting that the department is fully staffed, responsive, and saving the town money. 

Tony has also drawn the ire of Deerfield Beach officials, with Tony engaged in a war of words with the city manager over a contract impasse for the BSO to provide police and fire services to the community. 

At a meeting in August, Tony accused City Manager Rodney Brimlow, a former BSO captain, of withholding information from city leaders, including an allegation that Brimlow never told city leaders that the sheriff’s office came up with alternatives to reduce the city’s cost to taxpayers. Tony has said he will “destroy” Brimlow, CBS News Miami reported. 

Deerfield Beach, meanwhile, says that Tony has asked for over $7 million to cover raises for employees. 

Tony alleged at a news conference that, “Your city manager has zero credibility and has violated the law,” accusing Brimlow of allegedly filing a false report with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) that Tony threatened him. 

FDLE dismissed the complaint, writing that they “received an allegation from Brimlow that the sheriff threatened physical harm and to pay an individual a million dollars to take him out.” After reviewing the roll call meeting, FDLE wrote, “the sheriff did not make an overt threat” and that his comments were intended “to get members involved in the contract process.” 

Deerfield Beach issued a statement in which they said they “stand firmly by its previous statement to the press regarding recent allegations made by Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony against City Manager Rodney Brimlow.”

“What still remains is this: The Broward Sheriff’s Office requested a 10% increase in its contract for Fiscal Year 2026. When the City refused to agree to the increase, they informed the City that services would be terminated effective September 30, 2025.” 

CBS Miami reports that on Oct. 1, the city entered a transition period after ending a 35-year partnership with BSO. Deerfield Beach emphasized that severing the relationship wasn’t a knock on the deputies with BSO, emphasizing its appreciation for the “professionalism and dedication” of BSO personnel. 

Tony has also been butting heads with Broward County Mayor Beam Furr, Yahoo News reports, attempting to force the county into spending more for law enforcement, and went behind county government in publishing an op-ed in the Sun Sentinel that drew Furr’s ire. 

Furr said Tony asked the county for a $79 million budget increase this year, an 11% increase, while commissioners only granted $24 million, or 3%. Furr said the BSO receives over 50% of the county’s revenues. 

“We had asked every department in the county to have a 5% cut,” Furr said. “He [Tony] knew that, and he still came in high.” 

In his op-ed, Tony wrote:

“For seven consecutive years, as sheriff, I have submitted responsible and transparent budgets that reflected the real costs of keeping this county safe,” he wrote. “And for seven straight years, the Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO) has been denied full funding by the Broward County Commission.” 

He ended by threatening the BCC, saying he would ask Florida’s Administration Commission to review the budget allocation and force the county’s hand. 

“We can’t review his budget. We can’t audit his budget,” Furr complained. He said along the lines of the state’s Department of Government Efficiency, which came to Broward County over the summer to review the county’s spending, so too should Tony’s budget be reviewed. 

“I assume the Department of Government Efficiency would take a look at his entire budget. And we welcome that,” Furr said. 

Pembroke Park and Deerfield Beach aren’t the only communities having issues with Tony’s boisterous conduct. Cooper City, a quiet community of 36,000 located southwest of Fort Lauderdale, has also had problems with him, according to an editorial by the Sun Sentinel editorial board dated July 31, 2025. Weston and Pompano Beach are also having issues with Tony. 

Five years ago, Tony threatened to pull out of the town in a dispute over pension benefits, however the BSO is still there. Residents recently got a new police chief, Captain Andrea Tianga, a Cooper City native. 

As with Pembroke Park and Deerfield Beach, Cooper City is having contract issues with Tony, who refuses to communicate with city commissioners or provide backup documents, which the board says makes negotiations “impossible.” 

Things grew tense when City Manager Alex Rey suggested commissioners allow him to explore “options” such as joining forces with another city or starting its own police department. Commissioner Lisa Mallozzi praised local officers, but slammed Tony’s management style. 

“What I don’t support is Sheriff Tony,” Mallozi said at a July 22 meeting. “I don’t like bullies.” 

Law Enforcement Today spoke with Commissioner Mallozzi, who confirmed that she believes Tony is a bully. 

“I don’t acquiesce to a bully. And I feel like I’m getting bullied. I don’t back down. That’s when I charge first,” she told LET, referring to the July 22 meeting. 

“And then the next day, I received a phone call from the sheriff, and it was not a pretty phone call in any way, shape or form,” Mallozzi said. 

“The following day, he called my mayor, and my city manager happened to be in the room at the same time. And he told them how he had ‘reprimanded’ me. Those are the exact words. And I was like, ‘what?’” 

Mallozzi then told LET that there were incremental increases built into the contract between Cooper City and the BSO, in this case, 5% annually. Things had remained that way for a while, but soon changed. 

“Well, unless you’re the sheriff, who says, ‘Oh, you know what? I don’t care about these contracts. And whether you have a contract or not, you’re going to go up.’ So now, we’re paying 9% more and getting less things. I voted against it, but you know, I’m not the majority,” Mallozzi said. “And the mayor also voted against it, not because of the service we’re getting, just because of the way it was done.” 

Mallozzi stated that she needed backup from Tony to justify the increase, which has not been provided. She told LET she’s been seeking a forensic audit to determine exactly where the money is going and being spent. 

Mallozzi said that she’s not only been battling against Tony’s aggressive tactics, but also some members of the commission, who give in to Tony’s demands without putting up any resistance. She said all she’s seeking is some backup for expenses the BSO is seeking, known as a true-up. 

“You get a true-up where if you pay $30 something, there’s an actual backup that you paid $30 something. For example, I could turn around and say that my house is worth $8 million. It doesn’t mean it is,” she said. 

“And when we ask for that documentation, when the county asks for that documentation, no one gets it. We can’t get it. That’s when I brought this up at the meeting. One of the members of the BSO, whom I love dearly, said, ‘Commissioner, it’s in your contract.’ It could be in my contract, but it doesn’t mean we get it,” she continued. 

LET asked Mallozzi if the contract was just for police, and she said that it was for police and fire. 

“So, next year, if everything still stays the way it is, our fire is going to go up an additional, I believe, 6%, and police is going to go up 10.5%. And this is all, I’m ‘air quoting,’ because everybody is ‘underpaid,’ which is false. Everybody is not underpaid,” Mallozzi said. 

Mallozzi acknowledged the expense in hiring a new officer, putting them through the academy, and getting them to the position of being a solo capacity officer. She said she doesn’t believe a so-called “low salary” is the reason people are leaving the BSO. 

“People salary hop. And people go because they don’t like it down here. They’re moving there for a multitude of reasons, just like people are coming in for a multitude of reasons. So people are hopping. Florida’s a transient state. We’re probably one of the most transient states in the country,” she said.

“So I disagree that at BSO when you start out, you are on the lower end, without a doubt. But if I compare this to our captain, our chief, she’s making $220,000.” 

Mallozzi said one thing that caught her attention was when it was discovered that her city and another municipality were sharing an officer, and each community was paying 100% of the officer’s cost. 

She also mentioned that the BSO constructed a new gym at a cost of $70 million, which is only accessible to one-third of the officers. This is why she wants an accounting for all the money Tony is raking in for the BSO. 

“How do I know the money’s going to where it’s allocated? Is it going to the people? Because he doesn’t believe in contracts; he’s already broken the contracts from several municipalities by increasing it more. Where has the 5% gone that we’ve paid every year?” Mallozzi asked rhetorically. 

All told, Tony is asking for nearly $600,000 more next year, however Cooper City has no say on spending. 

“They’re not willing to negotiate,” the city manager told commissioners. “It is a one-way direction where they say, ‘This is it, period.’ I don’t know if, over the long term, that’s going to be productive and beneficial to Cooper City residents.” 

In Pompano Beach, the largest of the cities served by BSO, a consultant was hired to study the impact of parting ways with Tony and BSO after 26 years.

CBS Miami reports that the city believes the price tag for the BSO is “hefty.” 

“BSO, they’re doing a great job for us, but it’s a hefty price tag,” Mayor Rex Hardin said. “Public safety, it takes well over 50% of the taxes that come in every year, so it’s important that we look at this occasionally and make sure that we’re getting the bang for the buck that we really need for our residents and getting the outcomes that we really need.” 

The city of Weston has repeatedly attempted to organize a meeting between cities and Tony, which was ignored, the Sun Sentinel’s editorial read. 

“I did request a joint meeting with the contract cities and the sheriff on several occasions. The sheriff did not accept those invitations,” Weston City Manager Don Decker wrote in an email to the editorial board. 

When Greg Tony was appointed as sheriff, he promised to build “a culture of accountability.” What he’s proven is that he is accountable to nobody…not his deputies, the communities the BSO serves, Gov. Ron DeSantis, or President Donald Trump.