Internal Affairs opened an investigation. Does that mean that in a couple of years Dougan might start treating Putin to the same tactics he used on Sheriff Bradshaw? All in all, a successful bit of trolling. Bradshaw has expanded the PBSO empire over the years, taking over patrol duties in tiny cities such as Palm Beach Shores, Westlake and South Palm Beach in 2019 to add to a network that includes Lake Worth Beach, Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, Lake Park and the three Glades cities. During the last few weeks, demonstrations locally and nationwide have called attention to the issue of law enforcement reform. It reached the mainstream by way of a since-retracted Fox News story, and then on the back of Fox personality Sean Hannity. Years ago the Florida legislature recognized two classes of people who might face danger if their home address showed up in the states famously open public records repositories: abuse victims, and government officials like police and judges. Using his web skills, he began erecting revenge websites like WindhamTalk.com, which claimed to have the real scoop on corruption in the town of Windham and featured a prominent photo of Nelson with the caption Liar at the top. No other candidate running has run an agency or has the qualifications I have to serve. According to one report, he couldnt stand to look at PBSOtalk, so he had his people monitor the site and report daily on the latest outrage. Dougan spammed out an election-day email under the name of a prominent county commissioner slamming Bradshaw for immoral and criminal activities. Bradshaws second-in-command filed suit against Dougan for defamation, dragging him through years of litigation before the case was voluntarily dismissed by both parties. We hope that four more years will bring even more progress. Like the version he ultimately published, the draft opens with a tease about a Washington, D.C., meeting with a whistle-blower. For months rumors have been circulating among Palm Beach County politicos that Sheriff Ric Bradshaw wouldnt run again due to health reasons. Bradshaw has helped to secure reimbursement for those expenses. Dougan says he gets that a lot. Seth Rich conspiracy stories are most virulent of the narratives purporting to exonerate Russia of interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential race, and by extension clear the Trump campaign of collusion. In a majority-Democratic county, Bradshaw is a Democrat who enjoys support from key Republicans. Editors note: Sheriff Bradshaw completed this questionnaire for the Democratic primary in August. Alex Freeman, who distanced himself from his father, took on Bradshaw in the Democratic Party primary four years ago and got smoked. A recent case from Baltimore illustrates the potential benefits of mental health teams. But he has become a typical self-serving politician. Two weeks after he said that, in late May, Dougan offered The Daily Beast a peek at an early draft of his book. But that day in the spring of 2016, his hoax backfired spectacularly, with FBI agents raiding his home and carting off his computers. Hes saying that now. Hes also mentioned in former CIA officer Bob Baers 2002 autobiography See No Evil. Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription. The feds had evidently bought into Dougans game. It included current and retired federal agents, prosecutors, local cops and judges. Its like when your friend robs a bank and you're sitting at home. In 2001, Borodin was briefly detained in New York on Swiss money-laundering charges en route to George W. Bushs inauguration. Dougan was also hoping to interest Borodin in his business phone system venture, he says. Sheriff Ric L. Bradshaw is a career law enforcement professional responsible for leading the largest law enforcement agency in Palm Beach . A New Decade, A New Era And A New Culture of Law Enforcement, his campaign website proclaims. Similarly, when Bradshaw ran four years ago, the office faced a wave of lawsuits from deputy-involved shootings. Bradshaw would be seventy-six years old in 2024, and the assumption has been he would retire, but I have a lot of gas in my tank, said Bradshaw. The two exchanged photos and texted frequently, and before long they were talking until 1:00 in the morning. Dougan resurrected the site on a Russian web address. Bradshaw asked Governor Ron DeSantis to have FDLE conduct an investigation and his agency has also been looking into whether any policies were violated. Staff writer Chris Persaud and researcher Melanie Mena contributed to this story. As Sheriff, I have worked to make the Palm Beach County Sheriffs office one of the nations most professional law enforcement agencies. The contrast with his opponent is stark. When BadVolf was ever asked why a Russian hacker would care about a Florida sheriff, Dougan always had an answer at the ready. They didnt have an arrest warrant, and no charges had yet been filed. An attorney representing victims has said Epstein engaged in improper sexual conduct while he was in the program. His Muscovite girlfriend traveled to Florida about as often, he says. Clips from the recordings were quoted in local newspapers and played on the evening news. But he still did work for Sheriff Bradshaw. Mr. Epstein was allowed to engage in sexual behavior with underage girls. These last comments might sound as if this is a tepid endorsement. On August 24, 2015, BadVolf made his debut. This fall's race for Palm Beach County Sheriff has four-term incumbent Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, a Democrat, being challenged by former Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Capt. Sometimes called Putins mentor, Borodin had been Boris Yeltsins top aide. . Hed just gotten his kids off to school when he noticed a suspicious pickup truck with tinted windows idling in front of his house. Shinjuro is an accredited domain registrar that does its own registrations). They were published on Julian Assanges WikiLeaks beginning July 22, 2016. He has near-universal name recognition, and he regularly raises gobs of campaign money. Copyright Info. He also defended his agency against the critique that it allowed convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to participate in a work-release program in 2008 that permitted him to be out of jail for six days a week, 12 hours a day. The thumb drive was loaded with about 700 private emails taken from the DNC, the story goes. With his shaved head and stolid build, he looked every inch a career police officer, but his eclectic job history also included stints in horse transportation and database design, and he was a licensed pilot. Due to term limits, Kerner, a Democrat, and a former police officer would have to give up his seat on the county commission in 2024. Thats when he started exacting his own brand of justice. When he talks about his leadership and who has kept Palm Beach County safe for the past 16 years, I question that, Freeman said. His vote total was nearly twice what his three primary opponents got combined. You would think that they would notify people, especially police officers and judges and shelters and things like that, says a woman who manages a shelter for domestic abuse victims. If yes, please explain. DC Leaks published a completely different assembly of leaks, consisting primarily of a grab bag of emails and documents sourced from a GRU-linked phishing campaign earlier that year. We arrest somebody that lives in the county that we live in, we want to keep it private. It was just awful.. In October 2017 Dougan posted a story to one his fake news sites claiming that Ric Bradshaws second-in-command was a white supremacist nursing fantasies about killing a black man or a Jew. The post was widely circulated, and proved convincing enough that the genuine news outlet RawStory picked it up and ran with it. Diaz said he wants to serve all people, not just a few, and treat everyone equally, with respect, professionalism, integrity, compassion and courage in order to achieve a stronger and safer Palm Beach County. DeSantis' move comes as Sheriff Ric Bradshaw has come under increasing scrutiny for his decision in 2008 to give Epstein, . The leak put Dougan back in the news. Once it was registered, the domain lay dormant for 10 days, according to DNS resolution records from multiple sources. Lauro Diaz, the Republican nominee. Total of 49 years in law enforcement; West Palm Beach Police Department: road patrol officer; detective sergeant, lieutenant, captain, major; assistant chief of police, chief of police,1996; elected Sheriff of Palm Beach County, 2004; reelected 2008, 2012 and 2016, and 2020. If they wanted a Russian hacker, he would give them one. Asked why the DNC emails were never published on DC Leaks, he seemed genuinely taken aback. Bradshaw took 61 percent of the vote to Freemans 39 percent. Leaving behind his ex-wife and their two children, he started the long drive north to the Canadian border. The Daily Beast asked Dougan about the discrepancies. Epstein, a well-connected billionaire who was found hanged in a Manhattan jail cell last year after federal officials charged him with additional sex crimes, paid for the deputies who monitored his movements while he was out of jail. To subscribe to our highlights e-mail, add your information below. Prosecutors want to investigate whether Krischer's office has ever told the grand jury the full scale of Epstein's crimes, or whether the prosecutor's office is interfering with the judiciary . This time Dougan was sure Bradshaw was going down. In Mangonia Park, Dougan helped the DEA with a series of drug busts, and the agency praised him for his pronounced surveillance skill. Dougan later improvised a sting to collar a local fugitive, leading a Palm Beach County detective to enthuse about his creativity: This is a Deputy thinking outside the BOX., But Dougan faced controversies on the force too. The rumors are true! Hes so much involved in this gutter talk, he cant figure it out.. He arrived at the inescapable conclusion that the entire American system was broken, from street cops like Raban to the FBI to the judges overseeing it all. Theres an obvious irony to Dougan choosing Russia as his refuge. Bradshaw has earned praise from many for keeping crime down, but that praise hasnt been universal. Intelligence agencies and security professionals believe it was set up by Russias military intelligence arm, the GRU, to publish stolen material as part of the Kremlins election interference campaign. Since winning his first term in 2004, Bradshaw has not faced a credible opponent. It was too small a case for the FBI. Richs grieving parents have faced threats and smears for debunking the speculation, and struggle daily with what Richs mother has described as the pain and anguish that comes from seeing your murdered son's life and legacy treated as a mere political football.. As he began his third year in the sheriffs office he put in for a transfer to Belle Glade. He moved into an apartment in the western part of the city near the Moscow River and about eight miles from the Kremlin. What do you hear in the protests that followed the murder of George Floyd, and what specifically needs to come from it? WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. Ric Bradshaw is seeking a fifth term as sheriff of Palm Beach County. We definitely need a change in these trying times and move to a leader like Diaz that will support his troops to insure their safety and the safety of the community. Id just had a little girl, my daughter, he recalls. He wasn't working for the government any more, but he owned businesses, and he was looking for another business to partner up with, says Dougan. He sued Windam for wrongful discharge, and the town settled for less than $10,000 in go-away money. Seven months later, an Internal Affairs probe concluded there was no excessive use of force by the men. Nearly two dozen sheriff's deputies will soon be available to guard Palm Beach County schools if the school board approves a million-dollar agreement Wednesday.. Last year, Bradshaw announced that he was ending the seldom-used work-release program for all inmates. The biggest one weighs 200 pounds, he says. Bradshaw said the PBSO staff is satisfied overall about where the department is headed. www.pbso.org, County Seat: West Palm Beach The elder Freeman was sentenced in 2016 to three years in prison for trying to extort the head of Palm Beach County public schools. Bradshaw said he is not opposed to having his deputies use body cameras, but he has noted the cost, currently estimated to be about $19 million. The whistle-blower, Dougan says, was looking for a way to safely leak a cache of files, and came to Dougan because of his work setting up police forums. Show Caption Hide Caption FBI chief Wray calls Jan. 6 'domestic terrorism' You Might Like FBI Director Chris Wray condemned the January riot at the U.S. Capitol as "domestic terrorism" Tuesday as he defended the bureau's handling of intelligence I made it here to Russia on April 6 or 7, he says. Bradshaw is also speaking out, for the first time, about the controversy surrounding late businessman and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's time in jail. Palm Beach County Mayor Dave Kerner has said he will push for sales tax money to be used to pay for body cameras. Now he has a business crafting and selling stylized computer tables with built-in high-performance computers. Bradshaw is a politician, not a sheriff. Developers, police unions and even County Commissioner Hal Valeche and commission candidate Maria Sachs have given at least $1,000. The feed reopened five months later with the confidential addresses now masked. Bradshaw pulled in 65.7 percent of the vote. Dougans sojourns to Moscow started in February 2013. ". He replaced the Excel spreadsheet with a user-friendly web interface, and then began dumping more confidential addresses from other Florida counties. Hes so uninformed its unbelievable. Deputy Dougans interpersonal skills need improvement, a lieutenant wrote in an evaluation, as he does not know how to pull back from a brewing issue.. An Internal Affairs lieutenant named Dean Johnson was eventually charged with four felonies for allegedly leaking information to and about Dougan (he later copped a misdemeanor plea), but Dougan himself emerged unscathed. If you looked up one of those people in the countys property tax database, called PAPA, you could see the appraised value of their home and the size of their lot, but the street address field would contain only the words Confidential Record and some asterisks for emphasis. Freeman was a major in the Riviera Beach Police Department, which at the time was one of the countys worst. As he puts it, I should not be the largest mental health provider in the county. Hes talking about the county jail, which the sheriffs office runs. Even without the Seth Rich tale, Russias state-controlled media outlets have already gotten mileage out of Dougan, whos portrayed as an honest ex-cop caught in a corrupt system, who had to flee to Russia to escape persecution by American authorities. Had a guy run from me, he wrote in one post. But his story is full of holes. Sputnik News ran a lengthy piece on him highlighting his daring escape to Moscow. Dougan, though, was soon in hot water of his own. Got a tip? The couple even decided on a nickname for Dougan, Mr. I can assure you that those victims and their families and many of us in Palm Beach County dont believe and feel he kept Palm Beach County safe., Listening to the wild accusations of Mr. Freeman wallowing around in the gutter doesnt do us any good, Bradshaw said. On the other end of the call was Jessica, a New York woman in her mid-thirties with a fawning, obsequious manner and a chipmunk voice. Expand. They can maybe try to say I encouraged it, but Im not worried about that. Dougan also claimed hed sold the PBSOtalk website to a Russian businessman (he changed his domain registration first, to make it look good) and that he no longer had control over what was posted there. He circled back with Lewis and asked for every scrap of information Lewis had on Jessica and her family. Through July 25, Bradshaws reelection campaign had pulled in a massive haul of $692,658 about 23 times the amount Freemans campaign has raised. Dougans Facebook timeline contains a curious artifact from his first trip. I havent felt any effect from it, but just knowing it was breached its a mental thing, he says. Sheriff Bradshaw has a successful track record of forty-nine (49) years in law enforcement. Leaks from George Soros Open Society Foundation were also displayed prominently at the websites launch, with some of the documents reportedly altered to create the appearance the foundation was secretly financing Russian opposition candidates. Rule two: Set up an RSS aggregator to continuously pull and post stories from authentic news outlets. Now I see a sheriff leader in American government trying to be dictator like Stalin.. It is such sadness this must be done to protect a friend but we see no other way to do this. Publicly, he claimed BadVolf was a friend hed met in Russia, but he disclaimed responsibility for the putative hackers actions. It was the largest settlement ever reached by PBSO. Revenge websites rarely have an impact, but PBSOtalk.com would prove an exception. It seemed puzzling from the start that Dougan, hot on the heels of an FBI raid and already planning his escape, would take a couple of days off to physically transport a zip file small enough to be sent as an email attachment. So far he says hes shipped 20 of them from his newest startup, BadVolf Serious Systems. Dougans cockiness faded after the FBI search. Bradshaw, who worked his way up from patrol to chief of the West Palm Beach Department before winning election as sheriff in 2004, said voters back him because hes got vast experience and because his agency gets the job done. In the months and years that followed, Dougans website became a consistent source of insider dirt: a leaked affidavit about a former SWAT commander accused of stealing painkillers from a dying deputy; purchase orders showing the office spent nearly $80,000 on barbecue grills; a photo of officers posing with a topless woman on a Palm Beach golf course. Thats why I created the Mental Health Unit that employs civilian social workers and mental health professionals that respond to calls from the community that need this type of service. The book offers a bold twist to the BadVolf mythos, one hes begun peddling on conspiracy-themed YouTube interview shows and podcasts, where he receives a warm and credulous welcome. What am I going to do? After a few months, he sent an anonymous tip about Raban to an attorney defending one of the cops arrestees, and then tried to get a TV news reporter interesting in the Facebook posts. To a sizable number of fringe conservatives, it goes without saying that the Clintons order hits on the people who get in their way. I never make decisions based on a political party to start with, and I won't going forward.". Ric Bradshaw wins fifth term as Palm Beach County sheriff Democratic incumbent first elected in 2004 Ric Bradshaw has won a fifth term as Palm Beach County sheriff, defeating Republican. In other areas, however, Bradshaw has not embraced reform. Sylvester Stallone (Tulsa King) is set to return for a sequel to the 1993 action thriller Cliffhanger, which Ric Roman Waugh (Angel Has Fallen) will direct from a script by Mark Bianculli (Hunters). He rose through the ranks of the West Palm Beach Police Department and in 1996 was appointed Chief of Police. Dougans trick was to cross-reference that number against previous versions of the data, stepping back month by month until he found the same voter not yet protected as confidential. We have to have the ability to listen and understandand we do. Voters here in 2002 cast ballots in support of making the races for Sheriff, Property Appraiser and Supervisor of Elections non-partisan. To be clear, there exists no evidence that Rich was secretly a Donald Trump supporter, a leaker of any kind, or a hacker with the skill to steal the private emails of seven senior DNC staffers. Dougan was in Moscow in time to witness Putins landslide reelection victory this year, after his most viable opponent, opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was hit with dubious fraud charges and barred from running. Are you a member of any civic groups? Opinion Its easy to envision Dougan bluffing his way into a meeting with an important Russian and then leaking it to a friendly gossip site, if only to make his enemies wonder. He has served as sheriff for 16 years. He could imagined how it could unfold, a sheriffs officer holding a hushed conversation with an inmate: Hey dude, well drop your charges if you kill this guy.. Lewis told Jessica all about his career. Lewis dazzled her with all the clever methods he was employing against Dougan, explaining that hed once hacked the analytics of PBSOtalk to see who was visiting the site. In addition to exposing the sheriffs offices desperation to pin something on Dougan, the recordings captured Lewis boasting about doing the same to another longtime Bradshaw critic, an ex-cop from Michigan named Jim Donahue who ran against Bradshaw in the 2012 election. The only reason conspiracy mongers fixed on Rich, rather than any of hundreds of his fellow DNC workers, is because he was killed. The violent crime rate here hovers at three times the national average, and 37 percent of the 20,000 inhabitants live below the poverty line. Ill always have his back, said Kerner. At a Friday afternoon news conference, Sheriff Bradshaw said this tragedy could have been avoided if someone had stepped forward and notified police about his strange behavior. Fuck them. The agents just laughed, Dougan recalls, and sent him on his way. May 1, 2023 at 10:31 AM. When The Daily Beast asked Dougan if he could provide a copy of the contents of the thumb drive he claims to have received from his source, he came back a few days later with a zip file of 743 DNC emails, just as hed described. (Ditto above). And if there was any mistakes made eleven years ago, if there's anybody still here that was working eleven years ago, then we'll address that.". Instead, The Daily Beast has learned exactly how Dougan used public information and sophisticated data analytics to blow holes in Floridas address confidentiality system without cracking a single network. During a recent town hall event to tackle the subject, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw was asked how bad the situation is locally. His campaign slogan and key commitment is Citizens Before Politics., My opponent likes to say that I dont have the 50 years of experience that he has, Diaz told the Town-Crier. As a police officer for the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office in Florida, Mark Dougan witnessed endemic corruption, misconduct, and brutality for six years. Police officers shot a man who was going through what the report described as a behavioral health crisis. A review concluded that there had a been total failure of the system. By the end of his campaign, Dougan had released roughly 14,000 protected address records from at least 20 different Florida counties. Safe Money & Income Radio with Michael & Laura Lehrhaupt, iHeartMedia & Freeman Injury Law Salute to Community Service, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. I have a whole file cabinet dedicated to this, nothing but this guy, Lewis said. But when Dougan gets into less-publicized, fine grained details, his tale diverges from DC Leaks actual history, particularly in the period between the sites domain registration on April 19th, 2016, and its public debut on June 8th. So he came up with another plan. Bradshaw is the most politically powerful persona in the county. The building is home to professional service. Hes saying hes for body cameras, Freeman said. Dougan expected nothing but ass-covering from the sheriffs office anyway. We provide them with the best equipment, the best training, the best technology, which translates into the best service for the public, he said. In other races, we have endorsed candidates who have answered yes. The killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May sparked protests across the country, renewed questions about the relationship between law enforcement and minorities and even generated calls for police departments to be defunded. Then I registered DC Leaks and uploaded the documents and gave the guy the credentials.. Bradshaws fund-raising prowess isnt his only source of political strength. The Democratic Sheriff was elected to a four-year term in 2020. Reining in pay for civilian employees could be one way for Bradshaw to cut costs,. Internal Affairs is now investigating. Further discussion is warranted on this issue. Please outline your work history for the past 15 years. Voters granted confidentiality in Florida are listed without names or addressesjust their Florida voter ID number. During our interview, he seemed more concerned about the potential loss of evidence from a search than the idea of harming someones life over a potentially needless arrest. Lewis was certain that Dougan was visiting Russia to partner with that countrys cybercriminals. Dougan had resigned from the sheriffs office in 2009 after nearly four years in a police cruiser. Weve even gotten to the point whereand this is not completely, you know, on the law enforcement sidethere are ways we can even access her password through various methods, Rodriguez said. Freeman, 51, is pinning his hope on the moment. 2022 Newspaper Publishers Inc. All rights reserved. I dont know what it is, but I feel so comfortable talking to you, and I enjoy our conversations.. Four years later, Freeman was named Victims Rights Officer of the Year by Palm Beach County Victim Services. Deputies at the time said they intervened to keep protesters from blocking traffic and endangering the public. He was soon at the Toronto airport, boarding one final flight to Moscow. Comment Policy In 2004, Bradshaw worked hard as a sheriff to fix problems he inherited, but has now become an experienced politician and working the system to his benefit and the benefit of the democrat party, not the benefit of the community. The bureau held off at the last minute, though, and Lewis believed he knew why. You know, whats interesting is he thinks hes really, really super-smart., Bradshaw had placed Lewis in charge of the perpetual investigation of Dougan that began when PBSOtalk started churning out scoopsit was Lewis whod busted one of Dougans sources in 2012. A Florida cop turned hacker who fled to Russia to escape the FBI claims Seth Rich leaked him DNC documents. He has served as sheriff for 16 years. Lifestyle 0:00. He rose through the ranks of the West Palm Beach Police Department and in 1996 was appointed . The final report nine months later evinced little interest in the hacking boasts by Lewis and Rodriguez, but found that Lewis had broken department regulations by divulging PBSO business to Jessica.. He picked a cool hacker name inspired by his childhood love of wolves, and set up a page at a Russian web host. And true to his word, once Dougan was safe in Moscow he set up a website called DC Leaks to host them. There really was a DC Leaks. Do you support or oppose cash bail for misdemeanor charges? If so, please explain. Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its members or a designee. Lake Worth High School; BS degree, human resources management, with honors, Palm Beach Atlantic University; MS degree, administration, with honors, specialization in emergency management, Lynn University; Administrative Officers Course, Southern Police Institute, University of Louisville. Its just that simple, Bradshaw said. He has near-universal name recognition, and he regularly raises gobs of campaign money.. Jessica had contacted Lewis for a planned home renovation project, but she quickly took an flirtatious interest in the 56-year-olds personal life, peppering him with questions and flattery. The agents had a search warrant to seize all his electronics and any and all records, data or materials pertaining to the computer networks of 24 different Florida county governments and confidential property records within these counties..