Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

State's chief of prisons is out of job

James Crosby has been at the center of several inquiries into his leadership. Bush hints at new allegations.

By JENNIFER LIBERTO, LUCY MORGAN, LETITIA STEIN and CANDACE RONDEAUX
Published February 11, 2006

TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Jeb Bush ousted Florida corrections chief James V. Crosby Jr. Friday as state agents sealed his office and state and federal grand juries deepened their investigations into the state prison system.

Crosby, 53, spent most of 2005 defending the Department of Corrections and himself against a startling array of allegations that ranged from misusing inmate labor to hiring phantom employees. And throughout the year, Bush was a staunch supporter, defending Crosby publicly and encouraging him in private.

Something changed on Friday.

"I can't speak of the details, but today was the appropriate time that we were given the chance to take action," Bush said at a news conference in Miami. "I'm saddened and really disappointed, but I had to do it.

"But as the details come out, it'll be clear that it was the appropriate thing to do."

Crosby, reached by phone Friday afternoon, declined to comment and referred all questions to the governor's office.

Bush named James McDonough, formerly director of Drug Control, as interim secretary.

For months, Crosby has been at the center of widening state and federal investigations into the way he and several of his subordinates conducted themselves. Authorities have accused prison officials of selling steroids, embezzling state money, false employment practices and even assault in recent months.

A federal grand jury in Jacksonville and the Florida Statewide Grand Jury have been conducting separate investigations of prison officials, according to court files and police records obtained by the Times.

"There is an ongoing investigation into the Department of Corrections, and we can't discuss individuals," said Federal Bureau of Investigations Special Agent Jeff Westcott in Jacksonville.

Westcott agreed that the joint FDLE and FBI investigation included aspects that have not been reported thus far in the media but declined to give details about new lines of inquiry.

Tom Berlinger, spokesman for the FDLE, also refused to comment on the state's continuing investigation.

Crosby was not the first top prison official to be pushed out.

In August, Allen W. Clark, a top aide to Crosby, resigned as state and federal investigators questioned steroid trafficking among prison guards and items purchased by guards with money that was supposed to be used for the benefit of prisons.

Several corrections officers have been charged with felonies and agents from the FDLE have seized vehicles and trailers belonging to employees in six North Florida counties.

Last week, a former state corrections officer who managed the state prison's recycling program pleaded guilty to embezzling from a recycling center and for his part in an anabolic steroid ring in which he sold the drugs to fellow officers and others.

Crosby himself knew he was being investigated. Last fall, he surrendered to investigators three items they sought from his Tallahassee home: a metal rack used to hold firewood, a leaf blower and a ladder. Investigators declined at the time to say why they wanted the items.

A onetime Democrat turned Republican and former mayor of Starke, Crosby has better political connections than most who have run the state's oft troubled prison system.

Crosby, known for his gregarious nature, has served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention and is a frequent contributor to state campaigns.

He had been chosen by Bush in 2003 to right a troubled ship. The Department of Corrections had lived through one rocky tenure and Bush selected the politically astute Crosby, a career man in the agency, to bring back credibility.

As the criticism mounted against Crosby, Bush stood firm.

"He's a good man. He's done a good job," Bush said last fall. "There are times when there is a piling on and a frenzy and sometimes the inclination in public life is to cut and run, and throw the guy off the boat. I'm not that kind of person."

In addition to the criminal investigations, Crosby has taken heat for his relationships with companies doing business with the department. His awarding of no-bid contracts, such as one to Keefe Commissary Network, raised questions in part because of time Crosby spent with that company's lobbyist, Don Yeaeger.

Crosby insisted that he had paid his own way on their trips to sporting events and concerts.

But things did not get better for Crosby. On Monday, he was grilled by lawmakers who had an auditor general's report on problems with how the agency handled a pharmaceutical contract.

On Friday, however, those same lawmakers said they hadn't expected this.

"I would be shocked to find out that (Crosby) would be directly involved with anything illegal," said Sen. Victor Crist, R-Tampa.

Not everyone was surprised to hear of the forced resignation.

Retired Florida State Prison warden Ron McAndrew has publicly criticized Crosby for "corrupting" the department.

"What was a wonderful organization just a few years ago is a shambles now thanks to the practices of Mr. Crosby," McAndrew said.

--Times staff writer Alex Leary and researcher Angie Holan Drobnic contributed to this report.

[Last modified February 11, 2006, 01:15:18]