Challenger makes more accusations

Henry Ferro levels new charges against State Attorney Brad King's office and renews his request for Gov. Bush to appoint a special prosecutor.

By JIM ROSS

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 27, 2000

OCALA -- Henry Ferro on Wednesday alleged that authorities recorded a second, and far more suspicious, telephone conversation between a prosecutor and a person with ties to an alleged drug ring.

The prosecutor, Rock Hooker, was recorded in December 1995 trying to arrange delivery of two "gigs" from a friend. The conversation was recorded because a drug task force had tapped the telephone of the woman with whom Hooker's friend lived.

Hooker and his boss, State Attorney Brad King, said Hooker was seeking devices used to hunt frogs. King called on the task force to investigate Hooker and later started a separate internal investigation. Ultimately, he filed no criminal charges against Hooker and did not ask the governor to appoint a special prosecutor who could independently investigate.

Gov. Jeb Bush has received the information and it is under review, according to Liz Hirst, a spokeswoman for the governor.

Ferro, who is challenging King at the polls on Sept. 5, maintains that "gigs" was code for cocaine and that Hooker was seeking the drug during that conversation. To bolster his point, Ferro said Wednesday that he has knowledge of a second recorded conversation in which Hooker sought 100 "gigs," a number unusually high for even the most ardent frog hunter.

Ferro has not heard a recording of this second conversation. However, he said three people who served on King's staff in 1995 did hear it. In an e-mail Ferro sent Wednesday to Bush, Ferro named those staffers: Ric Ridgway, David Eddy and Jan Williamson.

Ferro leveled this new charge during an interview Wednesday and detailed most of it, minus the part about the 100 gigs, in the e-mail. He renewed his request for Bush to appoint a special prosecutor who could investigate the drug matter.

Ferro has accused King of covering up his subordinate's illegal activity and of failing to seek an outside investigator. He wants King to resign, saying these alleged ethical lapses render King unable to continue serving.

King has defended his handling of the matter and accused Ferro of libel, slander and trumping up a non-issue as a means of attracting attention to his candidacy.

Ridgway, King's chief assistant, said Wednesday he knows only about the first tape, the one in which Hooker seeks the two gigs. He heard it when task force members brought it to King's attention. He heard it again when King's investigator played it for Hooker and asked for an explanation.

Ridgway said that, to his knowledge, there was no second recorded conversation. The task force said the only one involved Hooker seeking the two gigs. And neither the task force nor King's investigator could prove that Hooker was doing anything other than what he claimed: trying to borrow frog-catching devices.

If Ferro says anything different, Ridgway said Wednesday, "He's either lying or somebody's lied to him."

Ferro's response: "Ric Ridgway is blowing smoke, because they know they've been caught with their hands in the till."

Williamson, who still serves as an assistant state attorney, said Wednesday that she was preparing for a murder trial and had no time to discuss the matter. She said she might discuss it later.

Eddy now serves as a circuit judge in Marion County. He could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Ridgway said he couldn't recall ever playing any tape recording of Hooker's telephone conversation for Eddy or Williamson. In 1995, those prosecutors supervised King's offices in Marion and Citrus counties, respectively.

Hooker, who worked in the Citrus branch of the State Attorney's Office several years ago, was out of the office Wednesday attending a parole hearing for a man he prosecuted several years ago. He could not be reached for comment.

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