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Ex-deputy: Class attendance falsified
By RYAN DAVIS, Times Staff Writer At least three Pasco County sheriff's corrections deputies have been fired for falsifying attendance records at a law enforcement class, according to a deputy who attended the class. That deputy, Jason Tinnel, said he resigned earlier this month. He said he saw 20 of 24 students in the class doctoring attendance records. Twenty-one members of the class were Pasco corrections deputies, he said. "We covered for each other," Tinnel said during an interview Tuesday with the Times. Tinnel, 27, said the students -- including sergeants and corporals -- would sign in absent classmates. He said a lieutenant and captain also attended the class and were aware of the sign-in practices. But, Tinnel said, he never saw them falsifying records. "Higher-ups were there and they knew what was happening," he said. The class in question was held last fall at Pasco-Hernando Community College's Gowers Corner campus. It trained corrections deputies to become patrol deputies, said Tinnel, who was hired last year by the Sheriff's Office. He said the deputies signed in for each other because they were stretched thin from working full-time and attending class each day. The class ran from 8 a.m. to noon, five days a week from September into December, he said. Tinnel said he and the three fired corrections deputies each were involved once in a false sign-in. He said others did it more often. Tinnel said his leaving the Sheriff's Office was not related to the incident but that he wanted to pursue other career options. He said no higher-ups had been punished as of his resignation two weeks ago. "We were pretty much thrown to the wolves before our supervisors even talked to us," he said. He said deputies took the class on their own time with their own money. PHCC officials told the Sheriff's Office about the false sign-ins, he said. "As far as we were concerned it had nothing to do with the Sheriff's Office," Tinnel said. Three deputies confirmed to the Times that they were fired last week. Deputies Kimberly Becker, 25, and James Rollston, 27, said Tuesday that they are seeking legal help to appeal their firings. They said they were fired on Friday. Deputy Eugene Adamski Jr., 29, said he was fired March 11. He said he can't appeal the firing because it came one day before he finished his probation period, which lasts through a deputy's first year on the job. Sheriff Bob White did not return a phone call seeking comment. Sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll would not discuss the firings. He said the Sheriff's Office is conducting an internal affairs investigation into "an incident." "The investigation is not complete," Doll said. "I'm not confirming anything at this point." Doll said he did not know how long the investigation would last. Becker, who was hired in 1995, and Rollston, who was hired in 1998, said they have 30 days from their firings to appeal the decisions against them. Earlier this year, a corrections deputy was fired and another resigned before he was fired. Both of those deputies were found to not have followed procedures during the October escape of two inmates from the county jail in Land O'Lakes. The inmates were recaptured later that day, and the investigation into the escape was completed in February. -- 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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