Sheriff Ric Bradshaw Critic Targeted in Arrest of Internal Affairs Lieutenant

Posted by Jose Lambiet , March 2, 2012 Print

The real target of a super-secret operation by the Palm Beach County State Attorney and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office to plug leaks to two websites about Internal Affairs investigations potentially damaging to Sheriff Ric Bradshaw‘s administration tells Gossip Extra that yesterday’s arrest of a longtime lieutenant smacks of political vendetta.

State Attorney Michael McAuliffe announced that Internal Affairs Lt. Dean Johnson was charged with four felonies pertaining to his alleged disclosure of supposedly secret information published on Gossip Extra and the law enforcement site pbsotalk.com.

The probable cause affidavit against Johnson put out by McAuliffe spells out the role of an unidentified confidential informant – a PBSO sergeant, Gossip Extra has learned — and a John Doe described as a “former sheriff’s deputy who’s the subject of the criminal investigation.”

That John Doe is Mark Dougan, owner and operator of the often outrageous pbsotalk. The site allows deputies to post anonymously their beef with PBSO.

Dougan is also the sponsor of an anti-Bradshaw campaign that kicked off yesterday with the flying of a banner above the Honda Classic that read: “Our sheriff is a thief.”

He is planning to continue flying banners through the summer. Another one reading “The sheriff commits felonies” is scheduled to go up over Sunday’s finale of the golf tournament.

Dougan, a former deputy who worked in the Belle Glade district, says he figured out he was the target when he matched the dates and times of phone calls from the confidential informant to him with what’s documented in the affidavit.

“What the state attorney and the sheriff are doing is plain ugly,” Dougan said. “It’s tax-funded attack on the press.”

Dougan’s lawyered up.

“This is a clear infringement of the freedom of speech,” said Robert Gershman, Dougans’ attorney. “Mark found out he was the target by piecing things together. I’m reaching out to prosecutors right now to try to figure out what’s going on.”

Three months ago, Gossip Extra revealed how investigators of the State Attorneys office had tried to hack Dougan’s website and tried to access his databases with Dougan’s old passwords from his time at PBSO.

Bradshaw’s second-in-command, Chief Deputy Mike Gauger, said the investigation that already netted Johnson is continuing and couldn’t comment.

Lt. Johnson, a PBSO insider tells me, is accused of leaking to Gossip Extra the blockbuster stories about former SWAT Team Commander Dan Burrows alleged theft of drugs from a dying ex-deputy.

The Burrows scandal has been particularly damaging to Bradshaw, who’s in the middle of his reelection campain. The sheriff didn’t order a criminal investigation into Burrows’ actions until the day after Gossip Extra revealed that Burrows was allowed to go to rehab for an addiction to oxycodone.

Privately, PBSO sources were telling Gossip Extra that higher ups in the department were tried to cover up the accusations that Burrows, a union representatitve, stole pain killers and a rifle from his former deputy in the last stage of his battle against cancer.

Developing . . .

For more:

– Former PBSO SWAT boss loses command

– PBSO drug scandal: Ex-SWAT commander stole drugs from deputy dying of cancer

– Ex SWAT commander arrested in drug scandal

– State Attorney accused of hacking into website

In Depth Palm Beach corruption, Dan Burrows, drugs, Gossip Extra, Internal Affairs, investigation, Jose Lambiet, Lieutenant Dean Johnson, Mark Dougan, Michael McAuliffe, Mike Gauger, pbsotalk, Ric Bradshaw, Robert Gershman, SWAT

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Truth Prevails, 1 year ago Reply

The information source utilizd by Jose in this article is an individual not known for his veracity. Though it makes for a “good story” the facts have been skewed to dramatize.
The truth is, Dougan’s website was viewed from the State Attorney’s Office, but the “hacking” accusation is far fetched from an individual not known for his veracity.
Dougan’s website has posts from a relatively small number of individuals who display a lack of candor and spread vicious lies and rumors. It doesn’t take one long to identify the posts on his blog are by the same people who use vile, profane and disgusting lies. It speaks volumes on who posts and what there personalities and behaviors are.
One only has to consider Dougan’s history to understand why he operates this web site and is retaliating against the Sheriff for being held accountable for his actions while he served as a deputy for a brief period. Leaving the department, while under a work performance plan for being substandard and having active open Internal Affairs investigations, he went to a small community in Maine where he was dismissed for not making probation and for outrageous accusations against him from his co-workers. In other words, nothing is ever his fault, but always that of someone else. Let me attack them and it won’t be my fault.
- Jose Lambiet, 1 year ago Reply
  
  Whether Mark Dougan has skeletons in his closet is irrelevant in this case. PBSO has spent more energy going after alleged leaks than after legitimate cases. This is an attack against the first amendment. First, Dougan. Then Lambiet. Then the Palm Beach Post. Oh, wait. You’re in bed with the Post. What was I thinking. Bottom line: This is the worst case of abuse of power I’ve seen in 25 years in this biz. And the worst is that you’ll be allowed to carry on because TV and the Post are asleep at the switch.
- Gerald Henner, 1 year ago Reply
  
  From what I have read on Duggans site, the facts are all there, documented and ready for anyone to dispute. I have seen documentation about the Sheriff stealing. I have seen documentation about the Sheriff falsifying records. I have seen documentation about all this corruption that is swept under the rug and when it is posted, the only thing I dont see is the Sheriff answering to those documents.
  
  I have yet to see anyone dispute the fact the Sheriff stole a gun. I have yet to hear why the Sheriff falsified that document to get a new P card. I have yet to hear why the Sheriff hasn’t produced a DD-214. I have yet to hear why the Sheriff tried to cover up the Burrows case.
  
  You can make all the personal attacks you want but any intelligent person sees it as an attempt to turn the focus away from the actual, true documents that are posted on Duggans web site.
Truth Prevails, 1 year ago Reply

Jose, You know that isn’t the truth, or maybe it’s just a matter of perception. Let’s say I start attacking your family members, I refer to you as a pervert of the vilest kind, I call you a liar on everything you write and post the tinest of facts to prove my point. I take excerpts from your previous employers or information related to things your involved in and call you a thief and a felon.
Let’s say you are writing articles, but everytime you get ready to finalize one, it is scooped by someone else. Then you place cameras in your office and discover it is your trusted housekeeper…I guess it would be different then, wouldn’t it? Yet you were only writing a story and not conducting a criminal investigation… What would you do with your housekeeper who was peddling your information to another gossip columnist…
- Jose Lambiet, 1 year ago Reply
  
  You got a point, truth. I, however, am not in government. I run a private business. PBSO is government, and government is there to uphold the constitution.
  - Truth Prevails, 1 year ago Reply
    
    No, you’re not in government, I agree. Yet, I’m one of those folks who believe that private enterprise should follow the same rules and regulations as the government. By your words, it’s only those in government that must follow the Constitution. Don’t we all need to follow its tenents, practicing under the parameters of openess, following the parameters of decency, and working with the dictates of ethics. I haven’t seen that in the case of our web site owner who seems that rules, decency and respect for the constitution and others just doesn’t count.
    - Jose Lambiet, 1 year ago Reply
      
      That, too, is a fair criticism. But remember: for each National Enquirer, there’s a New York Times. For each Fox News, there’s a CNN. For one to exist, the others need to be safe.
- Gerald Henner, 1 year ago Reply
  
  Here is the problem with your argument.
  
  “Let’s say you are writing articles, but everytime you get ready to finalize one, it is scooped by someone else. Then you place cameras in your office and discover it is your trusted housekeeper…I guess it would be different then, wouldn’t it?”
  
  In the case of Sheriff Ric Bradshaw he wasn’t finalizing any kind of case against Burrows. He was ordering IA to sweep it right under the rug. A druggie who was stealing from a dying man was going to get away with no punishment.
  
  Your argument is wrong here. It is readily apparent the arrested party did what he did to put pressure on the Sheriff to take action and do the right thing.
JP, 1 year ago Reply

I know there are /or is un-ethical issues at the sheriff’s office administration, but you “reap what you sew”. These behaviors were going on a long time under Bradshaw leadership, however Dugan is no choir boy, and he needs to take responsibility for his actions. Many of you don’t have a clue of Dugan behaviors and treatments to the citizens of Palm Beach County, he has no place in Law Enforcement, and he should not have been a cop.
He failed and he’s blaming everyone for his mistakes, I am not saying there are not issues at PBSO, I know firsthand. But Karma is wonderful……..Sitting back with a BIG Smile.
Anonymous Insider, 1 year ago Reply

Well let’s see here.Lt. Dean Johnson is related to D/S Anthony Johnson.Well now.I guess we know how that also those I.A. investigations against D/S were all unfounded.Except the for him leaving his service weapon in a Port St. Lucie walmart.I hope Ric Bradshaw doesnt hear about that one.He’ll flip his lid.
Internet Free Speech Cop Faces Trumped-Up Charges, 11 months ago Reply

[...] Coming For You! Posted by Jose Lambiet on May 15, 2012 Controversial web site operator and former Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Deputy Mark Dougan has been told officially he is under criminal investigation and asked to talk with a sheriff’s [...]