Monroe County State Attorney Dennis Ward joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on in the county.
One case that happened recently was the conviction of a man who posed as an Uber driver and kidnapped a woman in the Lower Keys.
Ward said, “He had the whole fake Uber light and everything, you can just buy them online, it’s crazy, and she was on the sidewalk looking for an Uber, and he picked her up and drove her out to Blimp Road, where he tried to sexually assault her. She fought him off, ran into the mangroves, and worked her way back to the highway, and walked to the Monroe County Sheriff’s substation there in Cudjoe, and reported it. And the sheriff and his investigators, as they always do, did a great job in locating this guy, and placed him under arrest. And there was a second incident also involving another woman, and they tracked that victim down. They charged him with sexual battery and false imprisonment, kidnapping, battery, indecent exposure and his first trial came up. Well, he was let out on bond, and he fled, and we got information that he was out in New Mexico, and we called the United States Marshals, they do a fantastic job in locating these defendants that flee our jurisdiction, as well as other places, too, all over the world. They do a fantastic job, and they found him out there and brought him back here, and we took him to trial, and a Key West jury found him guilty of kidnapping and a sexual battery, so there’s a sentencing date coming up, and hopefully this guy will be leaving prison in a box, an illegal alien. So I have no intention of letting this guy off the hook and let him go back to his country, he’ll just come back in with a different administration comes into office, so I prefer keeping a guy like this in prison for the rest of his life.”
Another incident involved an inmate who assaulted a corrections officer at the Monroe County Detention Facility.
Ward said, “We’re just not going to tolerate any assaults or batteries on law enforcement officers, and that goes for corrections officers too. Those people that work in the jails, they have a tough job, that could be one of the worst jobs in America, working in a jail, and to be assaulted and beat up by prisoners, that’s just unacceptable, and we prosecute them, and we convicted this guy too, and he’s due for sentencing here, coming up, and hopefully they’ll give him at least a double the sentence of what he’s presently serving, and we’ll go from there.”
In another recent case, a defendant who rejected a plea agreement and proceeded to trial was convicted of resisting arrest. Following the verdict, Circuit Judge Mark Jones sentenced the defendant to 10 months in jail, exceeding the four-month plea offer previously extended by prosecutors.
There was also a conviction in a cocaine overdose death recently.
Ward said, “This gentleman was sentenced to four years in the Florida state prison system, followed by an additional four years of probation. He pled no contest to manslaughter by culpable negligence in the sale of cocaine in connection with a ‘22 drug-related death. Judge Lewis in Marathon adjudicated him guilty, and also ordered him to pay $713 in court costs. This investigation started after the sheriff’s office responded to a residence in Marathon and found the decedent unresponsive in a bathroom by a friend, and once again the sheriff’s office did a great job on this, tracking down text messages on telephones and telephone calls, and the guy was very cooperative, and he indicated that he had purchased the drugs from another individual, and he gave us that information. So we have that case coming up soon.”
The office also recently concluded a boating negligence case involving a crash in Safe Harbor Channel near Stock Island. A defendant entered a plea of no contest to culpable negligence in connection with the October 2023 incident.
Beyond criminal prosecutions, Ward addressed ongoing scrutiny involving the City of Key West following a second grand jury report examining city government operations.
Ward said, “The grand jury made recommendations to the city, and there was a discussion, maybe at the last meeting, some of the commissioners weren’t too receptive of any grand jury recommendations, and that’s fine, but the grand jury’s going to issue these reports. They listen to a lot of experts in the field of municipal, county, state government in the different fields that were involved in some of these prior investigations and some pending litigation that are going, and quite frankly, I’m not telling the city of Key West how to run their government, and then the grand jury makes recommendations, and they can make whatever recommendations they want, and the commissioners can take them for whatever it’s worth, and they can sit up there in their seats on the dais, and criticize grand juries, but the grand jurors aren’t an investigation. They didn’t create this situation, the city of Key West did. So, I mean, these are citizens that are taxpayers that live in our communities that are given the facts of what is going on, and spoke to experts, and they came out with the recommendations, and it’s an election year, and certainly there’s some opponents here that are taking advantage of some of these grand jury reports, and it’s up to them.”
Ward confirmed his office is reviewing a complaint involving members of the Key West City Commission, the mayor, and city administration.
He said, “We got a complaint from the commissioner, and you know we’re going to investigate it, and we’re in the evidence gathering mode presently, looking for reports, and probably text messages, and emails, and probably going to subpoena some records from the city and some people that are instrumental or part of this process in making complaints and posting things on Facebook and we’ll have them probably come in and talk to us, maybe our investigators. This is in its infancy, and once we get all the paperwork that we need to move forward, we’re going to do that, and and see what this new grand jury comes back with, so this will be like at least the third grand jury that will be reviewing issues that are taking place in Key West government.”
Property tax reform proposals under consideration in Florida could be a big issue.
Ward said, “I want to thank the mayor and the county commission for sending a letter to the president of the Senate to get some clarification on what’s going to be impacted by this, and I can see their concern because they’re required by statute to support certain government functions, and one of those government functions is my office, and they’re responsible for finding office space for us, they’re responsible for our telephone system, and they’re responsible for our IT, our computers. So that’s kind of expensive, and I was concerned about it, but the mayor and commission sent a letter up there to get some clarification, and that’s a good thing. I saw that in response to that, their obligations are still going to be there to have to fund these things. The other thing I was interested in, because I’m the commander of the VFW post up here in the Upper Keys in Key Largo, and we do a lot of work with veterans, and the county spends a lot on our veterans, and rightfully so, I mean, they’re the people that went out and fought for this country and fought for our rights and our freedom of speech and all the other things that we have, and to just terminate programs because of a tax cut, I’m sure that most people, probably every one of them, certainly don’t want to see an impact on veterans, but I mean it’s a good thing when you lighten the load on people, and with the influx of all these people coming from all these states that have different restrictions, and basically, since COVID, the amount of people moving in to Monroe County increased, the free state of Florida, but the free state of Florida is not free, right? I mean, a good thing for people that want to sell their house was the increased value, but with the increased value comes increased taxes, and I think the move is to try and do something, maybe even with the millage rate there, which the county says they were cutting taxes, but you get your tax bill and it’s higher than it was the year before, but there are certain ramifications from things like this, and that was two of the issues that were concerning me, and and now, because the mayor and the commission did that, now they’re being accused of being against the tax reduction, which is not true, they’re not against the tax reduction, they just want to see it and how it impacts and get a clearer vision of what they need to do going forward. I think this is all going to get worked out here, hopefully before November, so people have an idea what’s going on, and how it impacts renters and people that aren’t homesteaded. I mean, are the landlords going to get hammered? There’s, I think, a portion in there that says businesses can only go 5%.”
Ward also expressed concern about ongoing workforce recruitment and retention challenges in Monroe County, citing the high cost of living as a barrier to attracting prosecutors, law enforcement officers, and investigators.
“We need seasoned investigators and prosecutors down here,” Ward said. “People want to come, but many can’t find anywhere they can afford to live.”
Despite the challenges, Ward said his office remains focused on prosecuting crimes, supporting victims, and working closely with law enforcement agencies throughout the Florida Keys.