| VOLUSIA EXPOSED.COM |
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Jail Investigation Sustains Moral Character Violations On Officer Accused Of Having Sex With Inmate Investigation Took A Year And A Half To Complete - Officer Was NOT Criminally Prosecuted |
May 11, 2018 |
Joseph King
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According to a recently filed mandated report (CJSTC-78) to the Florida Criminal Justice Standards & Training Commission the Volusia County Division Of Corrections has sustained moral character charges against former Corrections Officer Joseph Coleman. The report (CJSTC-78) as well as the VCDC internal affairs report sustained the allegation that Officer Joseph Coleman engaged in sexual misconduct with an unidentified female jail inmate. VolusiaExposed.Com has also obtained the internal affairs report (see right of page) that further supports that Officer Coleman was engaging in romantic communications with this unidentified female inmate. According to a January 2017 Volusia County Sheriff's Office report - Officer Coleman was criminally charged with sexual misconduct - but court records indicate that the State Attorney opted not to prosecute. These court records are sealed as "confidential". |
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It was of great interest to VolusiaExposed.Com that it took the Volusia County Division of Corrections nearly one and a half years to complete their internal investigation. It fairness the internal investigative process was "tolled" for approximately sixty (60) days between when Coleman was criminally charged and the State Attorney opted not to prosecute (January 2017 - March 2017). For approximately the last year (April 2017 - April 2018) VolusiaExposed.Com sent a series of emails to Volusia County officials filing our official public record request for a copy of the completed internal affairs (IA) report regarding Officer Coleman's alleged misconduct. Initially - county officials would respond that the IA investigation was still on-going - therefore it was exempt from public inspection via a public record request. County officials were correct - on-going (ACTIVE) IA investigations are exempt from public record request while they are being investigated. However, recently (March-April 2018) county officials stopped responding to our email inquiries regarding the Coleman situation. Therefore on April 17, 2018 - VolusiaExposed.Com sent county officials an email reminding them that per Florida Statutes 112.533 an IA investigation shall be considered active as long as it is continuing with a reasonable, good faith anticipation that an administrative finding will be made in the foreseeable future. An investigation shall be presumed to be inactive if no finding is made within 45 days after the complaint is filed. It is noted (see above IA report) that Volusia County completed the Coleman IA on April 17, 2018 - the very day of our email. Imagine that ! We (VolusiaExposed.Com) invite our readers to read the Coleman IA report - what investigative actions were documented as transpiring during April 2017 & April 2018? We could find none - maybe you can - but absent any documented investigative action - we (VolusiaExposed.Com) hold the OPINION that this IA was being purposely withheld from public inspection for at least six month - and maybe up to a year - in apparent violation of Florida's public record laws. However, in fairness to Captain David Vanis - the internal affairs investigator for the Volusia County Department of Public Protection - he has a rather long and consistent history of addressing our questions & concerns in a very open and direct manner - all while still maintaining his professional obligations and responsibilities. Officer Joseph Coleman has been added to our list of Brady Cops. |
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