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Suspect disputes Worch on copter thefts
By RYAN DAVIS, Times Staff Writer "He basically knows about everything," said Robert Carr, who faces 11 felony charges, in talking about Richard Worch. FORT MYERS -- Ex-Charlotte County Sheriff Richard Worch has distanced himself from charges that his best friend stole helicopter parts from the agency, but his friends and advisers place him closer to the action. Worch, now the No. 3 commander at the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, faces no criminal charges and has said that if anything improper occurred, he wasn't aware of it. But more than a thousand pages of court documents released this week, as well as an interview with the suspect, paint a different picture: In an interview Thursday with the Times, Worch's best friend and subordinate -- Robert Carr -- described Worch as a micromanager who had his hand in just about all Sheriff's Office business. "He basically knows about everything," said Carr, who faces 11 felony charges in the case. "Maybe at a better time I could tell you about how I perceived him knowing everything. . . . He knew everything whenever." How much, Carr was asked, did Worch know about the embattled aviation unit? "That's going to be a very key point to my defense," he said. Carr, who was a captain under Worch at the Charlotte Sheriff's Office, would not elaborate. Worch said he knew very little about the aviation unit. Worch has said his management should not be questioned just because Carr is accused of stealing. Such questioning might be justified, he said, if Carr had reported directly to him. In the documents, Worch's former Charlotte undersheriff says that while Carr didn't officially report to Worch, he did so unofficially. "Bob Carr circumvented the undersheriff many times to go directly to the sheriff to get things done that he wanted to get done," Undersheriff John Davenport said during an August deposition. Worch denies that contention. Private agencies that received stolen sheriff's helicopter parts contributed at least $3,500 to Worch's 2000 re-election campaign, investigators said in the documents. Worch raised just more than $73,000 that year. He received 45 percent of the vote and lost the election. Worch said Carr told him the contributions were from friends. Worch was first elected Charlotte sheriff in 1988. After his defeat in 2000, he came to Pasco, where he is in charge of administration and investigations. Shortly after new Charlotte Sheriff Bill Clement took over the agency, he said he discovered sloppy recordkeeping in the aviation unit. He contacted the State Attorney's Office and an investigation began. Investigators say the shells of 13 Charlotte County helicopters, which were purchased at little or no cost from the military, disappeared and were apparently sold during Worch's tenure. By law, the helicopters cannot be resold. Worch received about 20 shells during his tenure. No one has alleged that Worch knew about the thefts. Carr and a former sheriff's mechanic have been charged with selling the equipment to private companies. In return, prosecutors say, they mostly received services and equipment for the Sheriff's Office. On a few occasions, they benefited personally, prosecutors say. Last month, Carr was charged with grand theft and falsifying documents and Denis Mintze was charged with grand theft. Carr had been instrumental in Worch's first three elections. But the two men have not spoken in at least a year, they said this week. This week in Fort Myers, prosecutors released much of the evidence against Carr. Worch disputed some of the statements involving him. He told the Times that Carr did not directly report to him. He expressed surprise that Undersheriff Davenport said he did. He said he did not deal directly with Carr about the aviation unit. As for the campaign donations, Worch said it's not unusual to get donations from people he doesn't know. In his deposition, he said he asked Carr about the donations and Carr said they were from friends. And, Worch said, he trusted Carr. "The absolute last thing on your mind is the guy doing something shady," Worch said in his deposition. Though Carr described Worch as a micromanager during an interview this week, Worch said he was a hands-on manager sometimes and hands-off others. He said he knows little about helicopters. He reiterated what he said in an August deposition: "I don't know a Huey from a Jet Ranger. I just knew a helicopter's a helicopter." Pasco Sheriff Bob White maintains a policy of not commenting on Worch's actions before arriving in Pasco. Worch said the scandal should have no impact on his work here. "I was doing the job of sheriff and you simply can't know everything that goes on," Worch said. "Every time this trash comes up, it casts a shadow." - Ryan Davis is the police reporter in Pasco County. He can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6245, or toll-free at 800-333-7505, ext. 6245. His e-mail address is rdavis@sptimes.com.
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