Author Archives: Conjuring Justice

About Conjuring Justice

The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.--Dante Aligheri My name is Jimmie Lee Staley; I am a Southern woman with a mind of my own. When I was a kid, my dad used to ask me what I wanted to do when I grew up, I told him I wanted to change the world. I have to admit I wasted a few years running the stereotypical rat race but I am done with that. I believe we should all be trying to make this world a better place. I am currently on a mission to expose governmental misconduct and save a man’s life. There is always something that can be done. I am proof of that. One person can make a difference.

Tate Homecoming Scandal Update

Featured

Posted on by
Reply

Laura Carroll and Emily Grover have filed civil suits against the Escambia County School District, FDLE, Chip Simmons in his official capacity, Gary Marsh, Brian Johnson, and Stephanie Cassidy in their respective capacities. Honestly, there is less ill will and imagination in these suits as there was in the criminal cases against these ladies. It still defies the sensibilities to think that one school administrator can make assertions that the sky is falling and without much resistance, law enforcement officials and school board agents, again, without due diligence, go to the nuclear option of destroying a woman’s career and her daughter’s entire high school experience.

This entire case is nonsensical. Hacked homecoming result? Criminal behavior? It simply make no sense. A few people went through a lot of work to create a something that simply wasn’t there, while they simultaneously, were inept at following actual investigative procedures. The assertions of the Escambia County School administrator, Carolyn Gray, or should I refer to her as the prima donna, is simply making a mountain out of a molehill and begs the questions, why ?? She sounds the alarm. Contacts the school board. Insists there was criminal activity? The whole busybody stereotype seems like a legitimate characterization here.

Homecoming is a big deal to students; I get that. Even if the allegations were possible, shouldn’t someone vet the information to make sure there is evidence of an actual crime? Involving law enforcement and allowing sophomoric accusations without evidence to evolve into something that destroys life without a reasonable amount of analysis is the insanity here. Frankly I don’t understand why Ms. Gray isn’t named as a conspirator. Maybe it’s because she really is insignificant. Just spitballing.

As always, I am disappointed at the number of learned, professional people who go along with a flimsy accusation, willing to cry “the sky is falling”, without ever looking up to see if it is.

I have highlighted a few significant points in each of these lawsuits.

At 11:19 a.m., Wilson wrote back and asked, “Is anything showing up on the fraud detection report?

27. At 11:25 a.m., Gray responded, “Yes we have one girl that dropped by 114 vote after I deleted the big chunks of fraud voting. We are hopeful you could give us the IP address of where all these votes were cast from.”

28.   At 11:26 a.m., Gray added, “I deleted one chunk of votes (probably 50+) and cannot recover them to see dates/times, but I copy/pasted the second chunk and have interviewed several of those students and they said they never logged into (sic) vote nor did they give out their information. So this Homecoming diva has stolen student numbers and birthdays and we kind of need a little more proof before we accuse anyone of anything.”

excerpts from emails obtained in the Laura carroll lawsuit page 5.

“We kind of need a little more proof before we accuse anyone of anything”……Yet they go with anemic data that is not been confirmed to be valid.

33. At 1:04 p.m., Gray further explained, “Specifically, it was the chunk of votes that took place from about 1AM-6AM on 10/30/20 … per the report you sent me. They are not there because I ‘discarded’ them from the fraud report. Those are the ones my principal is requesting.

I’m so sorry I’m being so annoying and dramatic about this, but we think a fellow teacher helped this student out by giving out student info so that’s why it’s escalated into this big deal.”

On October 30th, besides Gray’s actions stated above, an “anonymous” reporter accessed Defendant ECSD’s FW&A hotline reporting system and either telephoned or made a written report that there had been fraudulent votes entered in Tate High School’s homecoming election.

You see what we are working with in terms of “facts”, right? An anonymous reporter? Seriously? Then we have scare tactics and intimidation from Gary Marsh, the savior of the school board whose pronouncement of a crime, make it so.

It was only towards the end of the recorded statement that Marsh told Plaintiff that due to the “data breach” he would have to get the “Attorney General’s Office . . . involved

Thank God we have someone looking out for the kids. (Please note the sarcastic tone). How ever would the world have done without Marsh finding a data breach before actual evidence came in. Again this is a sarcastic remark. I have to make sure because I am sure I’m hurting someone’s feelings by now.

The fact Carroll & Grover had to hire attorneys after being involved in this sham of criminal case that disrupted their lives, is the tragedy here. I personally have created prolonged investigations and gathered facts that were presented to the state attorney’s office and had it ignored, illustrates there is understanding of right and wrong by these professionals. But those cases, with incontrovertible evidence, were ignored, but this “date breach” and “fraud” was pursued.

It really makes you wonder who is running the asylum. Here are the links to Laura Carroll’s lawsuit and Emily Grover’s lawsuit. Please review it and see the utter junk that was presented in this case.

did she say “Homecoming diva”? by Jimmie Staley

Final Curtain

Featured

Posted on by
4 
It has been a long time since I posted on this blog. The reason for that is complex, but the abridged explanation can be summed up as simple burnout. Whenever people come to me with their stories, most assuredly, I research the facts to authenticate accounts. But I, also, end up, unwittingly, being emotionally invested in the people and their situations. For me, in order to authentically tell the tale, I must be able to understand the emotion that connects it to the facts. You can't empathize with anything unless you can see yourself in the struggle. At least, I can't. Every story told (and many that remain untold here) become a part of me and thus the people affected are more than just names on a page. 
Not all stories require a blog post. There are issues that come to me that people just want to talk about. Once they feel heard, and with a brainstorm of solutions, they feel validated and invigorated to take the bull by the horns. This is more often the case. It's not very sexy and it doesn't do anything for my readership, but that's not the point of why I do this. I do this to help people, if I can. The following story is one that I am personally attached to for so many reasons. It is one that has some amount of justice. Not much but a sliver. It has been forever attached to my soul.

It is with a heavy heart that I update a story that touched so many. Dorothy ” Ms. Dot” Rogers, Matt Groelinger’s grandmother, passed away in hospice care February 6th. This tragic event created an opportunity for depraved acts of inhumanity.

Buckle up. You won’t believe what has transpired.

We all remember that former deputy Scott Haines pled no contest to exploiting Ms. Dot and the theft resulting from that exploitation. He got a whopping 1 year in jail, serving only 9 months. He lost his retirement but was able to keep the parcels, the fruit of his theft. Not much justice in that, is there? But don’t shed a tear for Scott; he’s being rewarded for his phenomenal exploitation, even more than anyone could imagine…….Scott is the beneficiary of Ms. Dot’s life insurance. And–wait for it–he refused to pay for her funeral. There is so much more happening. It is likely that he will get 90% of her estate. Right now, that part is pure speculation. We have to wait and see, of course, because no one has seen the will. Mark my words; once Ms. Dot’s will is public and it’s filed with the county, (within 10 business days of her death), this will come to pass. The stand-alone fact that the family had to pay out of pocket for Ms. Dot’s funeral and burial, proves Scott provided no assistance despite his windfall.

So to recap, Scott got a smack on the wrist for exploitation and theft, gets out of prison in time to cash in on the life insurance and, in all likelihood, the bulk of this woman’s assets, despite his conviction. This situation is so depraved and the events are beyond any rational understanding. The family held the funeral secretly to bar any appearance by the Haines clan.

How is any of this justice?

I want to end this article with some pictures of Ms. Dot, so maybe there is some attention paid to the events between “the dash” on her gravestone. RIP Ms. Dot

One Less Corrupt Assistant State Attorney

Featured

Posted on by
Reply

Recently, John Molchan talked about his career in the PNJ. In all his pridefulness, he neglects to talk about the fact he is instrumental in the biggest fraud on the Pensacola justice community; the prosecution of innocent people in the Billings murder case. Molchan likes to be in front of the cameras, like Sheriff Morgan, and really doesn’t care about how he gets there. While he may have occupied a seat in an office that had some amount of dignity, his lack of integrity in this case, shows how indifferent and incompetent he, really, is. To that end, I’d like to use this time to talk to Mr. Molchan

John (I am usually a lady and address people as Mr. or Mrs., but that doesn’t apply here),

This open letter to you is not meant to hash out all your errors of judgment, but it will take the feather out of your cap in reference to the murders of Byrd & Melanie Billings. You had the opportunity to stand up for justice in this case. You opted out. I’m here to tell people how you flushed your reputation by failing to do the right thing and not going along with this bullshit narrative put forth by your boss, Country Boy Bill Eddins. I am here to put you on the shelf with washed up men like David Morgan who is as insignificant as Joe Blow in the community. Your legacy is one of lack of character; lack of give a shit; lack of integrity. The community is better off with you in the rear view.

While you are one of many people who conspired to prevent justice in this case, (and I’m sure many more) you are someone who could have stopped the insanity, but you did not and you can’t be the man you would want kids to look up to; you chose the easy route. When you bullied Rakeem Florence by meeting his recantation with threats of more jail time, (even though you were the author of his false confession), you put yourself at the front of the line in the 8th circle of Hell in Dante’s Inferno. You are a “False Counselor”, doomed to be “wrapped in individual columns of flame”. Does it bother you that you gaslighted this kid? In your Motion to Appoint Counsel, these are your words:

On May 17, 2021, the undersigned Assistant State Attorney received correspondence from Rakeem Florence stating that he gave false testimony in previous proceedings.
Counsel should be appointed to represent Florence to warn him of the possible legal consequences of recanting his trial testimony, including the State prosecuting him for perjury in a capital case.§ 837.021 (2), Fla. Stat. (2021) (providing whoever “makes two or more material statements under oath which contradict each other” in capital proceedings commits a second degree felony). Use immunity does not preclude perjury prosecution. State v. Mitrani, 19 So.3d 1065, (Fla. 5th DCA 2009) (explaining that use and derivative use immunity precludes the compelled statements, and any information derived from those statements, from being used against the witness in any subsequent prosecution, except for perjury committed while giving the compelled testimony and noting that testimony compelled by use and derivative use immunity must be truthful); State v. Richards, 457 So2d 1124 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984) (explaining that witnesses granted use immunity were not entitled to immunity from any prosecution for the commission of perjury). Florence could be facing a 15 year sentence for his recantation. This Court should provide Florence an attorney to advise him before he potentially commits perjury.

This is the motion you filed after Rakeem said this:

Rakeem Florence was 16 years old and was involved in a crime against a white couple in a capital case. He could not be more of a poster child of false confession. His life hanging in the balance, sitting in front of men who threaten to make sure he dies in prison or receives the death penalty, he would have said anything. The proof of that is the inconsistencies of his statements in the trials in which he took the stand. In the second trial of Donnie Stallworth, Rakeem Florence’s testimony was impeached by Stallworth’s attorney on every aspect of his “confession” and subsequent retelling of the narratives.

 In fact, Florence tried to withdraw his plea on April 27, 2011. So the recantation should have been expected. But I’m sure you probably conferred with Florence after his testimony led to a hung jury in the second Stallworth trial. Your failure to put him on the stand in the third Stallworth trial, acknowledges his impeached testimony.

This kid wasn’t there. One of the other tip off’s that you coaxed him is his reference to Patrick as “Junior” and Lenny as “Senior”. These two men met less than 10 years before the crime. Patrick was known as Patrick Poff for more than 25 years. At the behest of his grandfather, Dick Gonzalez, Patrick agreed to change his name to reflect he was Lenny’s son. No one EVER called them Junior and Senior except the police and State Attorney’s Office. On paper, Leonard Patrick Gonzalez, Jr. and Sr. caused some confusion but anyone outside this investigation would have never known they were Jr. and Sr. It wasn’t who they identified as to ANYONE. Their relationship was not like that in any sense of the word. Your office didn’t know that and because of that, this differential designation was used. To reduce confuse in your own bullshit story, you chose to identify them in that way; so when testimony comes up with those references, it reflects coaxing by you, specifically, according to Rakeem. You should have taken queues from anyone who knew the two men. But you didn’t and no one seemed to notice except for people who knew either one of them.

Consistency in testimony and actual names of the people involved, especially as they relate to each other are the things you incompetently failed to recognize. Now if you were a new attorney or had less time in your position, those errors would not be so glaringly of a rookie mistake. And again, being this was a capital case, one might think the ASA would want to be SURE of the relationships and the continuity of a state’s witness, but recklessly, you did neither. Why do you think that is? Lack of give a shit or lack of people who had the clout to call you on this bullshit? Maybe. Either way, your legacy, in this case is shoddy and absolute dog shit.

Again, you had may chances to correct the ethical and legal errors in this case. Your lack of action, speaks volumes. None more so than your lack of action when the DNA report came back showing Patrick being excluded from key evidence like the DNA under Byrd’s nails, knowing he fought his attacker. FDLE developed a DNA profile for that DNA that was found on other evidence. It matched no one arrested. How do you explain that? There is DNA on important evidence that matches none of the victims nor the people accused of their murders. One singular DNA profile that is established on several DNA evidentiary items. I’m not a forensic expert but that tells me someone else was there who may have been the shooter. Doesn’t that mean, you goofed in narrating this little farce? Yes, it does. What about the long haired man seen outside the window of Adrianna Billings? He is seen in one frame of the surveillance footage.

The most interesting thing about this long haired man is the fact that Deanna Morrow and Kathryn Colbert mention this man in the meetings, prior to the murders A deposition of Tama Barber, an investigator with the ECSO, mentions this.

So we have DNA of the shooter, someone who was unquestionably there, that IS NOT in jail currently, and this elusive long haired Caucasian man seen outside the house in front of the getaway van. Neither of these things are mentioned by anyone prosecuting this death penalty case and both contradict the official narrative. How do you explain this, John? Oversight? Well that would be a lie if you claim you didn’t know someone else’s DNA was under Byrd’s nails.

Those are your initials at the top of the report. You did that so it was known you saw this report. I hate to say this but I have to assume you are normally this sloppy, John, right? Is there anything more to be expected in the sub-mediocrity legal system? But please, accept my fond “Bon Voyage” to someone who must have proud of his accomplishments. Ignorance is bliss, John. No one else is going to be ignorant to your “sterling” career.

Bye Bye Scotty!

Featured

Posted on by
3

On January 9th, Scott Haines reported to Maxwell AFB Federal Prison Camp. It appears this is minimum security camp rather than prison. I still find it less than acceptable that this is all he gets. How ridiculous! Terrorizing a family; stealing; conspiring; exploiting and he gets camp for a year.

Previously, I have voiced my disgust over this situation, and it may seem like I’m harping on this, but seriously, Scott was targeting Matt Groelinger. TARGETING! For 5 years, the SRSO employees ran him through NCIC/FCIC repetitively. Adam Riddle, the Public Information Officer, ran him in 2020 as well. This can’t be a case of “no harm-no foul” because there is harm. In Matt’s case, it’s his well-being. You know thee guys were not just looking at his info for kicks. There was something else going on. Yet they face no penalty whatsoever.

(Only a portion of the full report)

Why aren’t these other people being reprimanded? There are so many of these people on the state’s payroll. For example, Mike Gilmore failing to act in the JadeKiss case, forget the moral reprehensibility of it, how do people keep jobs when they are risking the legal liability of the agencies they represent?

But Mr. Gilmore like Adam Riddle, still has a job. Steve Cappas has a job. Yet Philip Nix doesn’t. There is no logic to this at all.

But I digress. Getting back to Scotty. I recently got a copy of the transcript of his sentencing in federal court from November. It’s quite amusing. His attorney attempts to argue and split hairs as to whether he should be punished in federal court since he pled guilty in state court. His attorney attempts to argue that Ms. Dot was there and would be willing to testify that Scott never broke the law. Thankfully the judge begs to differ.

So then, the federal prosecutor spoke:

But naturally Haines’s attorney kept trying to press the judge:

Then Scott got to speak:

Then the federal prosecutor spoke again:

Thankfully the judge wasn’t impressed.

Apparently, I am told, Scott did not anticipate jail time and that was judicial discretion. Bravo is all I have to say!

For a full transcript of that hearing, click here.

Same Crap, Different State Attorney

Featured

Posted on by
12

This is a hard truth that I hoped would not be so but the State Attorney’s Office is still operating questionably. I got a tip about a case that that was handled inappropriately. The case involves a grandfather of either a former or current Santa Rosa Sheriff’s deputy. It doesn’t appear he actually is a deputy there but I won’t say with certainty that he isn’t. The deputy’s name is Joshua Carlson. His father is Alvah B. Carlson Jr, and grandfather is Alvah B. Carlson Sr. Sr. lives in Milton and Jr. lives in Navarre. Then tip was specifically about the Jr. He reportedly masturbated on a property where he was trespassing on camera but failed to get arrested for it. But then more crazy comes out about this family. Jr. was arrested in August 2022 for getting a DUI in his official cruiser

Former Houston County deputy charged with DUI

ELBA, Ala. (WDHN) — A former Houston County sheriff’s deputy has been fired after being charged with a DUI.
Alvah Carlson, 38, of Elba, was arrested in Elba on a driving while intoxicated charge on Wednesday night. He was arrested after driving his patrol car erratically, according to a source close to WDHN.
After receiving the charge, Carlson was terminated Wednesday night, according to Houston County Sheriff Donald Valenza.
Carlson has previously worked as an Elba police officer and a Brantley police officer.
In regards to Carlson’s charge and firing Sheriff Valenza said:
“I’m not going to tolerate this (behavior).”
He was released from the Coffee County Jail on a $1,000 bond Thursday morning.

But this is only the beginning of the craziness. His father was arrested in 2019 on a litany of charges. Here is the arrest report:

So after inquiring with some people in Santa Rosa, supposedly this deal was cut due to Sr. being terminal and the source claimed he is dead. I found no evidence of him being dead. No transference of property; no probate; no obituary. This appears to be a bad deal made with this guy.

This shit happens more than it should in this day and age.

If anyone knows the specifics or has proof this man is dead, please contact me. Otherwise, this is just another sad case in the Florida Panhandle.

A Small Measure of Justice

Featured

Posted on by
3

On Monday, November 21st, Scott Haines was sentenced in federal court. He took a plea and pled guilty to lying to FBI in an elder exploitation investigation. This is the DOJ press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

Former Santa Rosa County Deputy Sheriff Sentenced To Federal Prison

PENSACOLA, FLORIDA – Scott P. Haines, 50, of Milton, Florida, was sentenced to one year and a day in federal prison, following his previous guilty plea on the charge of making material false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation during an elder exploitation investigation.  United States Attorney Jason R. Coody announced the sentence. 

“Criminal conduct by those sworn to uphold the law represents a betrayal of the public trust,” stated U.S. Attorney Coody. “The corrupt acts of an individual law enforcement officer can erode the public’s trust in the legions of brave men and women who faithfully honor their oaths’ and place their lives on the line each day to keep our communities safe. We will vigorously investigate and prosecute any officer who betrays their sworn oath and the public’s trust.”

During his plea in federal court, Haines admitted that he became personally involved in the real property management and finances of an elderly woman in Santa Rosa County and deposited rental payments from tenants of the elderly woman into his own bank account without authority to do so.  When confronted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Haines made material false statements regarding his involvement with the rental properties, the depositing of rental payments into his personal account, and his knowledge and involvement with the Last Will and Testament of the elderly woman of which he became a beneficiary.

“Police officers are given immense trust and responsibility, and are therefore held to a higher standard,” said Sherri E. Onks, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Jacksonville Division, “so there are serious consequences when one tarnishes the badge by breaking the law.  Scott Haines disgraced the uniform when he abused his authority to victimize an elderly individual for his own personal gain, and his sentencing affirms that the FBI has zero tolerance for officials who prey on the citizens they have sworn to protect.”

The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office cooperated fully with the FBI/FDLE investigation and immediately relieved Haines of his duties prior to the filing of criminal charges.

Haines will be required to serve one year on federal supervised release following his incarceration.  He was formally adjudicated guilty by the United States District Court and is now a felon.  Haines previously relinquished his criminal justice certifications.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Assistant United States Attorney David L. Goldberg prosecuted the case.   

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website. For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html.

Attachment(s): 

Download press_release_-_haines.pdf

Topic(s): 

Elder Justice

Financial Fraud

Component(s): 

USAO – Florida, Northern

Contact: 

United States Attorney’s Office Northern District of Florida (850) 216-3845 libby.lastinger@usdoj.gov Follow us on Twitter | @NDFLnews

Updated November 22, 2022

Now I want to draw your attention to this part:

“Criminal conduct by those sworn to uphold the law represents a betrayal of the public trust,” stated U.S. Attorney Coody. “The corrupt acts of an individual law enforcement officer can erode the public’s trust in the legions of brave men and women who faithfully honor their oaths’ and place their lives on the line each day to keep our communities safe. We will vigorously investigate and prosecute any officer who betrays their sworn oath and the public’s trust.”

During his plea in federal court, Haines admitted that he became personally involved in the real property management and finances of an elderly woman in Santa Rosa County and deposited rental payments from tenants of the elderly woman into his own bank account without authority to do so.  When confronted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Haines made material false statements regarding his involvement with the rental properties, the depositing of rental payments into his personal account, and his knowledge and involvement with the Last Will and Testament of the elderly woman of which he became a beneficiary.

Then this part:

The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office cooperated fully with the FBI/FDLE investigation and immediately relieved Haines of his duties prior to the filing of criminal charges.

This is last part is probably the most indefensible position asserted in this press release. This entire case undermines public trust and I’ll tell you why. In 2017, I got an email from Matt Groelinger, who is Dorothy Rogers’s grandson and was entrusted with overseeing their family trust. I asked him to call me to hear his story. He was apprehensive to say the least. I didn’t even know his name. He was scared to tell me what was happening to him. I must say if you knew who Matt was, you’d know that his physical appearance, his size, is intimidating to most people, but he was scared the first time I talked to him. As he told me about Scott and the whole situation with his grandmother, I knew I needed to have a second set of ears hear this story. I contacted Philip Nix, a close friend, who I have worked with on the Billings Case. He was someone who knew the magnitude of what Matt was saying. I added Phil to the call. As unsure as he was about Matt’s story, he remained opened minded.

Over the next few days, Phil and I poured over documents that Matt had. He had meticulously kept every document, proving his account of what was happening. His fear on the phone was well founded. Scott told Matt’s grandmother, he would have him arrested for the drug issues he had, which was a lie. He also told her that sometimes drug users, like Matt, would just die in custody. This is the basis of his fear. You had a cop threatening to create a crime to get a arrest and he did it. There was some very sketchy events in this arrest playing out that convinced Matt that he had a target on his back. There is contradictory documentation by the SRSO and varied testimonies of other deputies that show the plausibility of this threat by Haines. Timelines that don’t flow; people omitted from CAD reports; the whereabouts of deputies that were not accurate; fictitious accounts of conversations that unfold when lies can’t be remembered. It was very squirrely and would be suspect even if it was by the book as they claim.

It took months for Matt not be afraid. He believed, rightfully so, that he could be killed and it could look righteous. Think about that. A brotherhood of people invested in removing you from your family and possibly this world. Scott Haines getting a year and one day with 5 years probation and then being allowed to keep the properties he essentially stole, that are priceless to the county, which allows him to be a wealthy man in 2024 if not sooner.

What about the hard drives taken into custody? The search warrant executed on May 13, 2021. There were cameras in Dorothy’s home. Scott monitored her constantly. Is that ok?

Just think about the fact no one in the SRSO, FDLE or the FBI, apparently, prosecuted this stuff. Why? Elder exploitation is still ongoing in this case because Bob Johnson, who miraculously doubled his assets without any additional income, is still in office after failing to uphold Florida Law.

More details regarding the Tate Homecoming Witch hunt

Featured

Posted on by
1

This story is consistent with most cases I have researched. There is this dichotomy of cases the state attorney’s office prosecutes that are factually anemic and the cases that office refuses to prosecute regardless of abundant proof of countless crimes. Victims are created in both types of cases. What do you do when you are the object of a prosecutor’s tenacious claim of wrongdoing, while you are innocent? Is it worse than when someone has taken advantage of you or your family and that person thumbs their nose at you, denying you justice?

Laura Carroll and Emily Grover have been casted into the role of wrongly accused victims. I will delve into the “whys” in another post. What I wanted to bring out is the evidence presented. To give a bit of background, after the voting was complete, administrator, Carolyn Gray sorted through the votes. She is familiar with this app, Election Runner. She analyzed the data provided. According to her, she started deleting “suspicious votes” (as she had done in prior elections) she stopped deleting and sent the info to the school district to evaluate. The problem is we have no idea how many votes she deleted that might have altered the results or how many votes that were deleted that would point to someone else? We have incomplete information that is being used to prosecute a woman and her daughter. WTF?

Also brought out was the time the votes came in, according to Ms. Gray, there could be a lag in how said votes came in, which has come under scrutiny as well. The way the votes came into the program, is also being called “fishy”. But is it fishy if there is a lag??

Here are a couple of points in her deposition that I think deserve some attention:

So, we don’t know how many votes were suspicious and were deleted by Ms. Gray. My question on this is: if evidence is tampered with providing a clip of what happened, how do we know that data wouldn’t implicate someone else or give a fuller view of what we are looking at? Capturing some evidence that points to Emily or her family seems moot on its face because we don’t know the context of the data we now have. If you found a dead body and you cleaned up some blood around the body, wouldn’t that be destroying evidence? If you think someone hacked your computer, wouldn’t it be destruction of evidence to delete the proof of such? In both cases, it would significantly alter the outcome of any trial. You have unknown info swirling around that could have potential to exculpate people; why is that not being seen?

There are a couple of points to make Ms. Gray’s participation in this case sketchy; so far, we have a criminal case initiated with incomplete evidence; an administrator assuming guilt based on said incomplete evidence; the same administrator, did not authenticate the data (the portion she didn’t delete) before she sought to escalate this. Because she deleted some, authentication is necessary to see if any foul play occurred at all.

To me, it appears like they are backdooring this issue of authentication by using the records on FOCUS, the county site rather than that of the Election Runner app. This is deceptive info. It may show logins to FOCUS but it does not show the Election Runner results. It depends on the authenticity of the Election Runner app.

Just to clarify. One cannot enter the Election Runner app through FOCUS. It’s not possible. The two programs have no connection except that the school board believe that info gathered from FOCUS access to get the information that was needed to fraudulently vote for other students.

Stay Tuned!!

Pensacola Homecoming scandal: yOU KNOW THIS CASE, RIGHT?

Featured

Posted on by
1

I am sure you heard about the Homecoming Scandal that happened in Pensacola last year. As I understood from the news stories I read, this case was akin to the Cheerleader murder from Texas. You know, an overzealous mother who murdered her daughter’s competition, thus securing her daughter’s place as a cheerleader. Minus the murder, this was the same scenario, at least as it was portrayed as by the local media. Laura Carroll, Vice-Principal of Bellview Elementary either through her own access to Escambia County School District internal server (FOCUS) or her daughter, Emily Grover, used her login, surreptitiously to cast votes for Tate Homecoming Queen in 2020. The mother & daughter were arrested March 15, 2021, for unlawful use of a two-way communication device, offenses against users of computer, computer systems, computer networks & electronic devices and conspiracy to commit these offenses. Emly was expelled, despite having no disciplinary record and being an exemplary student about to graduate in 6 weeks at the time of the arrest.

According to PNJ, Tuesday, March 16, 2021:

“In October 2020, the school district flagged hundreds of votes for Tate High School’s homecoming court as fraudulent. FDLE was contacted and special agents launched an investigation.

FDLE special agents discovered that 117 of the fraudulent votes originated from the same IP address within a short period of time and they tied that IP address to Carroll & Grover’s computer usage.

FDLE spokesperson Gretl Plessinger told the News Journal, agents learned that Carroll & Grover used FOCUS to cast the fraudulent votes to win homecoming queen at Tate High School….

Nine students and one teacher provided written statements to authorities that detailed how Grover had spoken about accessing her mother’s FOCUS account or had seen her access the county system for almost 4 years, according to the arrest warrant.”

This seems cut and dry, doesn’t it? Hardly. My immediate question was, with this access and purported “abuse” of info, was there no other compromised records, involving school grades, medical records, disciplinary records, student ID numbers etc? It seems to me that there are more serious violations that may actually warrant harsh punishment—not homecoming court votes. A teen who has this sort of info available would surely exploit it. Yet, that we don’t have in this case. The FOCUS site is chalked full of information that anyone with a password could exploit. That is what I would expect if someone was trying to abuse that particular website. While Carroll’s login was largely “view only” info, the voluminous privacy-protected info that potentially could have been weaponized was never compromised.

The FDLE investigator, Stephanie Cassidy, could not legitimize any of the evidence used in this case. That does not surprise me but the fact that anyone pursued criminal charges and ruined a young girl’s life with such flimsy evidence.

Here are a few excerpts from the deposition of Stephanie Cassidy:

The craziest thing though is the way Tate High handled it. Here is a clip from NorthEscambia.com:

Emily Rose Grover was 17-year old juvenile at the time of her arrest in April by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. She turned 18 just a few days later, and will now be tried as an adult.
Grover and her mother Laura Carroll, former assistant principal at Bellview Elementary School, were charged by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement with one count each of felony offenses against users of computers, computer systems, computer networks, and electronic devices; felony unlawful use of a two-way communications device, felony criminal use of personally identifiable information, and conspiracy to commit these offenses. The misdemeanor conspiracy charge against both has been upgraded by prosecutors to a felony count.
One edited photo in this year’s Tate High School yearbook shows Grover’s face covered with clipart of a horse that resembles the school’s mascot. The horse’s rear-end was used to cover Grover’s face, and that is the part that has upset many. The photo is above; note that NorthEscambia.com has blurred the faces of other individuals in the picture.
“They covered her face with a horse’s rear,” one parent wrote in an email to NorthEscambia.com. “That’s just too much and should have never happened.”
“We are recalling those yearbooks to fix that problem,” Escambia County School District Superintendent Dr. Tim Smith said. “Somebody went in and made an edit that shouldn’t have happened.”
The yearbook was published after Grover’s arrest. Parents tell us some students did not receive their yearbooks after the photo was discovered.

‘Gary Marsh

“no Justice in florida”

Featured

Posted on by
2

This week Scott Haines went to state & federal courts to enter a plea bargain. This was an impromptu hearing without much advance notice. I spoke with an expert in law enforcement prior to the first hearing in state court Tuesday. He advised me that the optics of Haines going into state court first and then the following day, into federal court, signals no state jail time. If he agreed to jail time, he would be taken into custody immediately and he would be unable to go to court the following day. So, it was not a surprise that he simply got probation plus court/investigative costs. But the FBI DROPPED virtually all the charges.

This is truly injustice and corruption in action. If you or I were to do what Scott did in this case, there is no way this would be the outcome. I cannot tell you how deeply dismayed I am. Thousands of documents and investigative hours were poured into seeing justice prevail; yet all that work died on the vine. There was a clear conspiracy to defraud. Several people looked the other way or actively assisted Haines in misrepresenting the circumstance to the courts and to the press.

In the universal battle between good and evil, evil prevailed thanks to the corruption of the FDLE and the apathy of the FBI.

While I am amazed by the injustice in this case, I will continue to fight for the people who were victimized. What else can I do?