HB 999

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act for the relief of Lawrence Femminella by the Palm
3	Beach County Sheriff's Office; providing for an
4	appropriation to compensate Lawrence Femminella for loss
5	of consortium, false arrest, and the negligent training
6	and hiring of deputy sheriffs by the Palm Beach County
7	Sheriff's Office; providing a limitation on the payment of
8	fees and costs; providing an effective date.
9
10	WHEREAS, Lawrence Femminella was employed by the Palm Beach
11	County Sherriff's Office as a correctional officer and deputy
12	sheriff and resided in Palm Beach County, and
13	WHEREAS, in March, 2003, Willoughby Farr was confined to
14	the Palm Beach County jail awaiting sentencing on various felony
15	charges for which he was facing a long prison term. In an effort
16	to avoid a lengthy prison term and to garner favors from law
17	enforcement officers, Farr concocted a story in which he claimed
18	that several correctional officers were smuggling drugs into the
19	Palm Beach County jail, and
20	WHEREAS, to further his scheme, Farr enrolled the
21	assistance of Danny Negrych, who was a former correctional
22	officer from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. Together
23	Farr and Negrych fabricated a story in which Negrych claimed to
24	be a member of a ring of correctional officers who regularly
25	smuggled narcotic drugs into the jail. Farr then contacted the
26	Organized Crime Bureau of the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office
27	and told his fabricated story, and
28	WHEREAS, Detective Jeffrey Clarke and Sergeant Jones, who
29	were assigned to investigate Farr's drug smuggling allegations,
30	used Farr as a confidential informant. Deputy Clarke did not
31	have any prior training in investigating narcotics cases even
32	though he was designated as the lead detective in the
33	investigation, and
34	WHEREAS, Farr and the detectives agreed that if Farr
35	provided evidence of the drug smuggling activities involving the
36	correctional officers, the detectives would testify at Farr's
37	sentencing in order to get Farr a more lenient sentence, and
38	WHEREAS, on three separate occasions Negrych and Farr
39	arranged for cocaine and other illicit drugs to be delivered to
40	the jail, but Lawrence Femminella was not involved in any of the
41	deliveries, and
42	WHEREAS, in late June 2003, Farr was released on bond with
43	the help of the detectives. The purpose of the release was to
44	facilitate the criminal investigation regarding the alleged drug
45	smuggling activities that involved certain correctional
46	officers, and
47	WHEREAS, after his release, Farr claimed he could meet with
48	Lawrence Femminella to discuss drugs. Farr had Negrych contact
49	Femminella to arrange a meeting. The purpose of the meeting, as
50	stated by Negrych to Femminella, was to interest Lawrence
51	Femminella in starting a landscaping business. A meeting was
52	arranged for July 8, 2003, at a local restaurant, and
53	WHEREAS, Lawrence Femminella appeared at the scheduled
54	meeting expecting to meet Negrych, who failed to appear.
55	Instead, Farr met with Femminella claiming that Negrych was
56	unable to attend. The meeting was monitored and recorded by the
57	Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and there were no discussions
58	about narcotics at the meeting. Femminella and Negrych discussed
59	only the landscaping business, and
60	WHEREAS, in late July 2003, Farr was arrested again for
61	violating the terms of his bond. After his arrest, Farr
62	continued his role as an informant for the Palm Beach County
63	Sheriff's Office and placed telephone calls to Negrych regarding
64	the delivery of narcotics into the jail, and
65	WHEREAS, during this period Farr also placed several calls
66	to Lawrence Femminella's cellular telephone and on each occasion
67	left a message asking Lawrence Femminella to return the call. In
68	response to Farr's several messages, Lawrence Femminella
69	returned the call on a single occasion and left a message for
70	Farr to quit contacting him. Afterward, Femminella changed his
71	cellular telephone number in order to avoid Farr's calls, and
72	WHEREAS, in early September 2003, Farr also made several
73	telephone calls to a woman who identified herself as Lawrence
74	Femminella's wife Gayle, and they discussed the smuggling of
75	drugs into the jail. It was these telephone calls that led to
76	the arrest of Gayle Femminella, along with her husband Lawrence
77	Femminella. It was later determined that the woman was not Gayle
78	Femminella but an imposter hired by Farr and Negrych to further
79	their scheme, and
80	WHEREAS, during the telephone call between Farr and the
81	female impersonator posing as Gayle Femminella, the two would
82	discuss having Lawrence Femminella deliver drugs to Farr in
83	jail. The female impersonator then requested the moneys for the
84	drugs to be delivered to the Femminella's home and for
85	Femminella to deliver the narcotics to Farr, and
86	WHEREAS, on September 10, 2003, two undercover agents
87	wearing recording devices attempted to deliver moneys to the
88	Femminella's home. Gayle Femminella answered the door and the
89	agents told Mrs. Femminella that they were delivering money for
90	Farr. Not only did Gayle Femminella refuse to accept the money,
91	she was described by police as being confused as to why the
92	police were at her house. She immediately called her husband who
93	was at work at the jail and reported the incident to him. The
94	agents' encounter with Gayle Femminella was recorded by
95	detectives from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. The
96	detectives realized that the voice of Gayle Femminella was
97	completely different from the voice recording of the female
98	impersonator, and
99	WHEREAS, alarmed by the unusual events, including the
100	messages from Farr, the visit to his home by unknown persons
101	offering money from Farr, and the July 8th meeting with Farr,
102	Lawrence Femminella immediately wrote a letter to his supervisor
103	at the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office which explained the
104	events involving the meeting on July 8, 2003, the unsolicited
105	phone calls, and the visits to his home with the offer of money,
106	and
107	WHEREAS, on the evening of September 11, 2003, Lawrence
108	Femminella and his wife Gayle Femminella were arrested at their
109	home in the presence of their children, taken in handcuffs to
110	jail, and held in a jail cell at the Palm Beach County jail
111	where they were interviewed. When the detectives confronted
112	Gayle Femminella about tape recordings that appeared to
113	incriminated her, Mrs. Femminella asked to hear the tapes. When
114	the detectives played the tapes, it became readily apparent that
115	the female's voice on the tape was not the voice of Gayle
116	Femminella, and
117	WHEREAS, on September 12, 2003, the detectives interviewed
118	Farr and confronted him with the fabricated evidence against
119	Gayle Femminella. According to the detectives, Farr admitted
120	that he had fabricated much of the evidence in order to get a
121	more lenient sentence, and
122	WHEREAS, Deputy Clarke commenced the criminal investigation
123	of Farr's allegations of the smuggling of illicit drugs into the
124	Palm Beach County jail in May of 2003, which terminated in
125	November 2004. At the conclusion of the investigation, the
126	Femminellas were completely exonerated and received a personal
127	apology from the Sheriff, and
128	WHEREAS, at the conclusion of the criminal investigation,
129	the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office conducted an internal
130	affairs investigation. The internal affairs investigation
131	concluded that Deputy Clarke was guilty of neglect of duty and
132	that the accusations against the Femminellas were totally
133	unfounded and without merit, and
134	WHEREAS, on May 11, 2005, Lawrence Femminella filed an
135	Amended Complaint against the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office
136	for false arrest, negligent training and hiring of its deputies,
137	and loss of consortium, and
138	WHEREAS, the case of Lawrence Femminella was tried before a
139	jury, and on February 6, 2006, the jury returned a verdict in
140	favor of Lawrence Femminella, and a final judgment in favor of
141	Lawrence Femminella in the sum of $816,200 was entered against
142	the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office on February 8, 2006, and
143	WHEREAS, Lawrence Femminella has been paid $100,000 by the
144	Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, and he seeks satisfaction in
145	the amount of $716,200, the balance of the final judgment, NOW,
146	THEREFORE,
147
148	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
149
150	Section 1.  The facts stated in the preamble to this act
151	are found and declared to be true.
152	Section 2.  Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office is
153	authorized and directed to appropriate from funds of the county
154	not otherwise appropriated and to draw a warrant in the sum of
155	$716,200, payable to Lawrence Femminella, as compensation for
156	loss of consortium, false arrest, and the negligent training and
157	hiring of deputy sheriffs by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's
158	Office.
159	Section 3.  The amount paid by the Palm Beach County
160	Sheriff's Office and the amount awarded under this act are
161	intended to provide the sole compensation for all present and
162	future claims arising out of the factual situation described in
163	this act regarding Lawrence Femminella. The total amount paid
164	for attorney's fees, lobbying fees, costs, and other similar
165	expenses relating to this claim may not exceed 25 percent of the
166	amount awarded under this act.
167	Section 4.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.