Thursday, April 26, 2007

Timeline of recent problems in state prison system


April 1, 2005: A brawl breaks out at a Department of Corrections softball banquet in Tallahassee. Three employees, including Regional Director Allen Clark, are arrested.

June 8, 2005: Two DOC employees charged in federal court with conspiring to steal recyclable materials and money from the DOC's recycling program.

Aug. 30, 2005: Clark resigns amid reports that his name had come up in an investigation by the FBI and the FDLE into activities by Department of Corrections employees.

Oct. 2005: Mark Guerra arrested and charged with grand theft after FDLE investigators alleged he failed to perform work at Apalachee Corrections Institution. Investigators said Guerra, a former minor league baseball player, was hired to play softball in a DOC tournament in Jacksonville.

Oct. 3, 2005: New River Corrections Capt. Keith Davison fired for conduct unbecoming an officer after a party at the Florida State Prison's Bachelors Officer Quarters where a woman was sexually assaulted. Davison later died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Oct. 11, 2005: Vehicles and utility trailers belonging to six prison administrators and guards are seized by state law-enforcement officers in an investigation into allegations that prison employees misused labor and state equipment.

November 2005: Four off duty corrections officers arrested after being involved in fight at a bar in Starke.

Jan. 24, 2006: Four Department of Corrections officers charged with misdemeanor counts of possession of steroids from alleged incidents in August 2002, February 2003 and August 2003.

Jan 31, 2006: Bryan Griffis, who managed a center that recycles prison trash, pleaded guilty to embezzling from the center. He had also pleaded guilty in December 2004 for his role in an anabolic steroid ring in which he sold the drugs to fellow officers and others.

Feb. 10, 2006: Gov. Bush asks Crosby to resign.

July 5, 2006: Crosby and Clark agree to plead guilty in federal court to taking kickbacks from a contractor. Seven other prison employees are charged in state court with theft and another with accepting unauthorized compensations.

April 24, 2007: Crosby is sentenced to eight years in federal prison for his part in kickback scheme.

April 25, 2007: Clark is sentenced to two years and seven months in prison.

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