VOLUSIA EXPOSED

Only violations of VCSO policies were investigated - Why?

Only criminal violations and violations of Florida's moral character standards, by the officer / deputy, must be reported to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE). Mere violations of agency policies (in this case - the VCSO), do NOT require any reporting to FDLE. FDLE / CJSTC has the authority to decertify any law enforcement officer that has violated criminal statutes or moral character standards (FAC 11B-27).

We invite you to review the below linked CJSTC 78 form. It's the form that ALL law enforcement agencies MUST file and forward to FDLE, should the subject officer be found in violation of criminal statutes or moral character standards. We encourage you to review that form, and its instructions, which clearly spell out what MUST be reported to FDLE.

Many law enforcement agencies attempt to manipulate charges of misconduct against their officers / deputies, by purposely investigating the allegations as mere agency policy violations. In doing so, the agency avoids reporting any sustained violations against their officer / deputy to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Such case manipulation is clearly evident in the Deputy Galarza internal affairs (IA) investigation. We suggest you review the above linked Internal Affairs report on the Galarza investigation. Upon your review, you will note that the investigation indicates that they only investigated Deputy Galarza for violations of VCSO or Volusia County policies.

While the Galarza's IA report does indicate that he violated the VCSO policy that mandates that deputies comply with Florida's Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees (Florida Statutes 112.311 to 112.326), it is important to understand that the Florida Code of Ethics is separate from, and not inclusive to, the Florida Police officer's moral character standards, as found in Florida Administrative Code 11B-27.0011.

VolusiaExposed.Com contacted the Public Information Officer, for the VCSO - Gary Davidson. Mr Davidson sent us the below email response, whereas he clearly states that the sex on duty allegation was included in the VCSO internal investigation. Mr. Davidson also stated that the sex on duty charge was not sustained against Deputy Galarza.

A review of the Galarza Internal Affairs report, clearly indicates that all allegations were sustained against Deputy Galarza, with the exception of the charge of:

VCSO Policy - 26.2.129 - Misdemeanor Injurious to the department

It is of investigative significance that the IA report did NOT indicate (on page 1 of the report) that Policy 26.2.129 was being considered or investigated, as a possible policy violation attached to the Galarza investigation. Further, according to the IA report (see page 6), the investigator questioned Deputy Galarza on whether he believed he had violated several enumerated policies. Policy 26.2.129 was not included in that line of questioning.

In fact, the only time VCSO Policy 26.2.129 is mentioned in the IA report, is when it concludes that Deputy Galarza was not in violation of that particular policy.

It is clear, that this investigation was "managed" from it's beginning, to it's conclusion. The IA report does NOT list any suspected violations of the Florida Law Enforcement Officer's Moral Character Standards (FAC11B-27) that were inclusive to the investigative process.

Why not? - Well remember, absent any sustained violations of criminal statutes or moral character standards (FAC11B-27), the sheriff department was NOT required to notify the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Instead, Deputy Galarza was found in violation of some VCSO policies and given a 30 day suspension. Sheriff Johnson avoided the embarrassment of having to explain to FDLE how a deputy could be out of his patrol zone 50 times, having sex with his girlfriend, and the department not realizing it. Also, the public, or the media might start asking hard to answer questions - and after all, it's an election year.

Other concerns with the internal investigation

According to the IA report, Ms. Ashley Dobbins advised VCSO Captain Paul Adkins on April 3, 2012, that she and Deputy Roy Galarza had engaged in sex while he was on duty.

However, when Ms. Dobbins was contacted by VCSO internal affairs to obtain a sworn statement from her, she had a reluctance to cooperate with the investigation, apparently fearing that Deputy Galarza would be fired, and then unable to provide for the child conceived during the sexual encounters. Ms. Dobbins documents her reluctance in her below linked emails to the VCSO investigator.

No sworn statement from Captain Adkins - why?

When Ms. Dobbins became reluctant to provide a sworn statement to the IA investigator, why didn't the investigator take a sworn statement from Captain Paul Adkins? Instead, the investigator took sworn statements from many of Deputy Galarza's work partners, asking them if they knew of Deputy Galarza engaging in misconduct. Obviously, the other deputies had self preservation reasons not to have any knowledge of Deputy Galarza's misconduct. However, Captain Adkins had no such obvious veracity concerns surrounding any statement he could have provided.

Read Sheriff Johnson's Letter of Suspension
Does this letter tend to sustain that Deputy Galarza was engaging in sex while on duty, and outside his patrol zone?

How other local law enforcement agencies handle similar allegations.

Recently, the Melbourne Police Department discovered that they had an officer engaging in sex with prostitutes, while on duty.

Not only did Melbourne PD fire the officer, but they filed several criminal charges against him. We invite you to review the video news article on the Melbourne incident (see right of page).

Yes, VolusiaExposed realizes that Deputy Galarza was NOT engaging in sexual activities with a prostitute - but in the end, sex on duty, is sex on duty - as so indicated in FAC 11B-27.

Further, Deputy Galarza was visiting his girlfriend on duty time, outside his patrol zone. Could that possibly be the crime of fraud? The taxpayers of Volusia County were providing Deputy Galarza with a salary in exchange for his law enforcement services. However, it would possibly appear that the only person he was servicing was Ms. Dobbins.

By the way - Property Tax Notices are in the mail - think about that when you are writing out that check to the County of Volusia.

Media account of a Melbourne, Florida officer being fired for engaging in
sex on duty.

Can the public really expect proper external law enforcement investigations,
from an agency that can not apparently properly self investigate itself?

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