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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
*I apologize for the time it took to publish this post. In an effort to make sure I represent all the facts of the case as accurately as possible, I have been laboring over the best way to tell this story. This case is integral to exposing the corruption throughout the panhandle. Please bear with me. A great deal of information has come my way and was originally going to be part of this post, but it would be extremely long. So, to keep things simple, I have broken my original post into smaller bits that will be coming out this week.
In order to understand the dynamics of this scandal, there must be understanding of who the people are and how they are connected to one another.
Here’s the cast:
Ms. Dot aka Dorothy Rogers is a 91-year-old business owner in Santa Rosa County, Florida, and is the epicenter of the fraud. She has run the Eastern Gate Trailer Ranch for as long as people remember.
Here biological relatives are as follows:
Daughters–
Lana Skirpan (Carl) Coleman
Judith Skirpan Groelinger
Cindy Skirpan Willey
Son–
Michael V. Skirpan
Grandson–
Matthew Groelinger
Anyone else claiming to be legally and/or biologically related to Ms. Dot, is not being truthful. Many people believe the Haines Brothers (Eric & Scott) are grandsons of Ms. Dot. That isn’t true and there is no real clarity as to whether Ms. Dot believes that they are related or whether she is replacing her family in adopting the “Haines” family. According to her own doctor and the doctor who evaluated her when she was Baker Acted, she was given the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). She was evaluated with mild dementia. This must be a factor despite Ms. Dot’s statement at one of the depositions in this case, that she wasn’t saying she was really related to Scott. However, during the APS investigation, the social worker was so sure Ms. Dot was biologically related to Scott that she continually questioned this fact when talking to legal counsel.
All the conflict with this group is family related issues. Conflicts between Ms. Dot and her kids have had stormy relationships for years. Falling in and out of favor, was typical. Because of this, Ms. Dot made her grandson, the trustee of the irrevocable trust. They never had the drama between themselves, grandmother to grandson, in their history. This designation of Matt being appointed trustee, created resentment between him and his aunts and uncle. He quickly became the target of the family animus, especially in the Coleman household. The generational friction in the family allowed a chasm for Scott to exploit in this family. He sided with the Colemans and the rest is history.
Scott Peter Haines is a 49-year-old “retired in lieu of termination” Santa Rosa County Florida Sheriff’s Lieutenant Deputy and is the core of grift.
Brother-
Eric Haines
Facilitators-
Sheriff Robert W. “Bob” Johnson
Chris Watson
Marshall Kilburn
Forest Neff
Jerry Utsey
Legal Representation as to Family Trust –
Jason Mosely
Brian Hoffman
Eric Haines is Scott’s older brother. He was a Chief Deputy in the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office. When Sheriff Morgan was about to leave office, Eric self-demoted to Lieutenant in an attempt to retain protections of the Police Benevolence Association. He feared incoming Sheriff Chip Simmons would fire him. He now works in Cybercrimes. Morgan purchased elaborate equipment, software and training for Eric, which is feared to have been abused to help his brother and to fend off his own enemies, ie people who have been trying to shine a light on the duplicitous acts he does in the shadows.
Sheriff Robert W. “Bob” Johnson is a fairly new sheriff in Santa Rosa County. He has been a career deputy who has not been associated with the Sheriff he replaced nor Sheriff Morgan in Escambia. Bob has gone out of his way to protect Scott. He has lied to local media, misrepresenting the search warrant executed by the FBI on Scott’s residence. The claims were there was nothing to see here but since that time Scott has been arrested and it looks like Bob is a part of the cadre of people enabling Scott to commit crimes of exploitation and fraud. There is much more to say about this in the next installment.
Major Chris Watson is a deputy at the SRSO. He has covered up for crimes, policy violations and sexual harassment perpetrated by Scott. He is just one officer who has been willing to put their careers on the line for Scott.
Deputy Forrest Neff was the officer who took the “Grand Theft” report on October 21, 2015. Ms. Dot was Baker Acted by her daughter, Cindy Willey. When Ms. Dot was released, she claimed her trailer was broken into and several trailer titles, money, and her car were taken. He allowed Scott to write the victim statement for Ms. Dot. Curiously, when the call came in that Neff responded to, he responded as “arrived” 3 seconds from the time the call came in.
Deputy Jerry Utsey spoke to Matt on October 23, 2015. Matt stated Utsey claimed he was a “trust expert” but was unable to understand the documents pertaining to the trust paperwork Matt presented. The importance of this is that the business that owned the trailer park was owned by the trust and Matt was the trustee. He could not “steal” anything pertaining to the business or assets of the trust. This negated the “crime” the SRSO said he committed and invalidated the arrest warrant that came from that false assumption.
Marshall Kilburn was a deputy under Scott. He notified Matt of the arrest warrant on November 24, 2015, for exploitation of the elderly. Without taking a statement from Matt regarding this accusation. He was the one who built the case for exploitation using Scott as a source of the information. Scott had power of attorney for Ms. Dot and Scott used that to make claims on her behalf that were used to create probable cause and thereby, the arrest warrant.
Jason Moseley was the attorney who represented Ms. Dot and the trust. He was hired around 2009 and continued to represent her until 2016. He was the one who corroborated Matt’s legal rights to the assets of the trust and thus the totality of the business. Therefore, he could not steal from Ms. Dot as the business address was her address. The business operated within the trust, and it was irrevocable.
Brian Hoffman is currently a candidate for Pensacola City Council, District 2. He is an attorney hired by Ms. Dot & Scott to replace Mosely. Scott convinced Ms. Dot that Mosely was conspiring with her daughter Cindy Willey, son, Michael Skirpan and grandson, Matt. They were attempting to take everything she had and put her away. Believing this to be true, she hired Hoffman to get the irrevocable trust, revoked. The only way to do that was to claim Matt was exploiting her. There is much more to come on Hoffman.
This is literally just the bare bones of the story. There is so much that has not been told.
**Addition to Part 4- Eric Haines. There are sources that confirm Eric & Scott (and all the families, including mom and dad with Eric’s daughter as well) were on a cruise the first week of March 2020. The cruise left out of New Orleans, with the ports of call included Cozumel, Mexico, Roatan, Bay Islands, Harvest Key, Belize & Costa Maya, Mexico.
Getting to Sheriff Bob Johnson, although he only enters the story a bit later, his involvement is imperative for Scott to fleece Ms. Dot. Unequivocally, without the consent of Sheriff Bob, there would be no way Scott would have been able to do as much as he has. If there was an unbiased Sheriff elected in 2016, we would not be here today. Sheriff Bob could and should have disciplined Scott for all his indiscretions. By not doing that Bob has violated the public’s trust. According to the DOJ,
“ Public corruption is a breach of the public’s trust by government officials who use their public office to obtain personal gain. It is a violation of federal law for any federal, state, or local government official to ask for or receive anything of value in exchange for, or because of, any official act. Under federal law, any person who offers or pays a bribe is also guilty.
It is not readily clear as to what Scott gave to Sheriff Bob in return for his crimes to continue. Although I have to say his financials sure beg a lot of questions. Most of the time Bob has been in office he has a fairly steady net worth, roughly around $405K .
2016 financials courtesy of the Florida Ethics Commission2016 financials cont’d
.
Most all the years look similar, except the 2021 disclosure of assets from Jan. 1, 2020 – Dec. 31, 2020.
2020 financials courtesy of the Florida Ethics Commission.
To me, this is unexplainable, considering his income and source of income don’t reflect how the hell that kind of jump could be legitimate.
Clearly, Sheriff Bob is prospering somehow. It seems his business is corruption, and business is booming.
The red flags Sheriff Bob ignored:
The 2020 stalking of Marivel Meister which is not documented in by the SRSO despite the fact ECSO did contact them.
Open, blatant sexual harassment (dildo panties)
Pattern of behavior in abusing law enforcement resources for personal gain
Perjury –Scott lied about everything.
Abuse of power, also a pattern of behavior
Documented interference in Ms. Dot’s affairs
I’m sure there are more but these incidences should have resulted in termination. The question is why? Why would Sheriff Bob taint his legacy/career?
There has been speculation that Eric has been a part of Scott’s circle of cadres, but both of them claimed to have nothing to do with the other. I have suspected it was a smoke screen but without proof, it was just a theory.
Well now there is definitive proof. I requested a Master Name Index Lookup on Scott in Escambia County. This is what I found:
So what this shows is that Eric Adam Haines was actively looking at his brother’s info in real time during the 10/28/20 stalking of Marivel Meister. He had no legitimate reason for using his resources. This shows a violation of policy and possibly, a violation of law, to check up on his brother. That establishes a connection to include Eric in this conspiracy.
What is intriguing to me is that Matt was falsely arrested in Dec. 2015 for exploitation of the elderly. During this same approximate time in Escambia, that same allegation was being leveraged by Eric on Philip Nix. Ultimately resulting in Phil being terminated. The irony of this is when Matt first contacted me about his grandmother and Scott, I immediately conferenced in Phil Nix to listen to Matt’s story. Phil ended up getting Marie Mattox to represent Matt. Now this all happened after this dual accusation, but it seems to be a pattern of behavior, similarity in thinking. Although in Phil’s case, APS was never contacted by the ECSO, which should have been done. Matt had APS investigating already in his case and had a determination of no wrong doing. But it was only a half-hearted attempt on Eric’s part as he didn’t follow his own accusation. It would have been fruitless but the effort should have been made to seriously think anyone would believe his concern. Also, FDLE found no cause for termination in Phil’s case, just as APS and, in time, the Santa Rosa court system in Matt’s case. Just an observation.
Next installment will address the “Facilitators”, beginning with Sheriff Bob Johnson
1, Scott Haines was never named trustee. Ms. Dot was and still is the trustee based on her deposition and her attorney Brian Hoffman’s court filings.
2. Ms. Dot grossed almost 2 million dollars in rental proceeds in 2005, when she was healthy. The rental proceeds continually diminished as her health declined, but there is still a large amount of rental income and potential to make over 2 million in gross rental proceeds if the business was back to running like it did when DR was healthy, BUT rents have all gone up and it’s easily possible to make 3 million.
To add clarification and context:
1. Scott Haines met Ms. Dot in 2012, when he was working off duty for her, through the SRSO. Groelinger was with Ms. Dot when she first met Haines in 2012; it was around Groelinger’s birthday. At this time, Haines said he was getting out of law enforcement due to being caught in the middle of “porn gate”. It’s worth mentioning that Groelinger witnessed the first conversation between Haines and his grandma, Ms. Dot. Haines told Ms. Dot that he wanted to learn the rental business, and she agreed to teach Haines. This is how Haines learned the income and assets of the elderly widow had. This knowledge was not even known to her family, outside of Groelinger. Haines worked a total of 6 times as an off duty SRSO from 2012-2015, and in that time he was able to become extremely close to Ms. Dot, because he was learning her business, as well asthe family dynamics.
2. When Groelinger reported Haines to the SRSO- Bob Johnson oversaw the “unfounded complaint” that should have shown Haines was targeting Groelinger. The FBI is who reported that Groelinger’s 2015 citizens complaint was valid- and Sheriff Johnson did not correct the situation by readdressing Groelinger’s 2015 citizens complaint and taking corrective action because they should have investigated the citizens complaint. A valid investigation would have found that Haines had committed crimes that he was finally charged for in 2022, specifically, abuse of official equipment.
3. Kilburn and Watson as deputies and Bob Johnson is Sheriff Bob Johnson. More details to come.
4. Groelinger reported Haines to the FDLE, but according to sources, the special agent in charge, Chris Williams, would not open a case. When Groelinger reported Haines to FDLE repeatedly in 2015/2016/2017,which saw Williams do nothing to investigate what would have lead to the arrest of Haines. As well validating the wrongs done to Groelinger is what ultimately let to Haines arrest for his actions against Groelinger in 2021. This is something that Williams could have stopped way earlier, but Williams comradery with Haines & Kilburn through his time at the SRSO, with whom Williams is still friends on FB with Kilburn, to this date, seems to have influenced his ability to perform his job.
The shitshow that is the SRSO is very complex; therefore, I will attempt to present the situation and the actors involved. You can’t keep up if you don’t know how interactions between people is affecting the case. You have to know who is who, or why the relationship, or actions, may be improper.
First, let’s recap the narrative. Scott Haines manipulated his way into a family business, Skirpan Properties. The main asset of the company is the Eastgate Mobile Home Ranch. It brings in roughly $1 million in revenue, per year, from trailer rentals. The property is also an asset because it is located at the back gate of Whiting Field. In fact, many offers have been made over the years by federal and county representatives who wanted to purchase the parcels that make up the trailer park, which includes some vacant parcels that are behind the trailer park.
Scott moved into the trailer park during his divorce. He befriended the owner, Dorothy Rogers, aka Ms. Dot. She appreciated having a deputy living there because the knowledge of a law enforcement officer living there would deter crime and provide security to the residents & Ms. Dot, as well. At this point, there is a mutually reciprocating relationship. Ms. Dot feels safe; Scott gets to act like the protector. But that doesn’t last long. Scott doesn’t know how dysfunctional Ms. Dot’s family was. Being the matriarch of the family and a widow, Ms. Dot realized prior to this that she didn’t want to be vulnerable to people trying to swindle her, nor was she did she want in-fighting or mishandling of the entire family’s legacy, so she met with an attorney and created an irrevocable trust, to preserve the assets in her possession.
As I said, the family was dysfunctional, there was bad blood with Ms. Dot & her kids for various reasons. That is why she made her grandson, Matthew Groelinger the trustee. A trustee has the fiduciary duty and legal responsibility to manage the assets of the trusts, ie the trailer park. Ms. Dot is the trustor and Matt was the trustee. The trustor and the trustee work hand-in-hand to manage the trust. In many cases, the trustor and the trustee are the same person. Unless otherwise defined, they have symbiotic responsibilities to manage the trust’s assets.
Scott watched as the family dynamics of mistrust & miscommunication created a rift in the family, even more so than before. He also endeared himself to Ms. Dot. Surely, he heard all the family drama. One situation that he heard was that Matt was “into” drugs. Matt was young. His life was changing due to this particular family responsibility. It must be said that mishandling a trust is a crime. Matt had his head on straight, worrying he could go to jail if he screwed this up. At the same time, Ms. Dot’s health was in noticeable decline. She was in a wheelchair and her hygiene was slipping resulting in urinary issues. She had marked cognitive dysfunction and memory loss. Matt was the favored one to Ms. Dot. Scott saw that. He took over Matt’s spot in Ms. Dot’s life. Even when APS investigated, they believed Scott was Ms. Dot’s grandson. Many people still believe that. She has pictures in her home of her at Haines family events and according to one source in a deposition, Ms. Dot “was very generous to the whole family”. She paid for cruises and much more–not limited to just Scott.
To get into the trust, Scott had to get an irrevocable trust, revocable. The process he used was filing a complaint (via Ms. Dot) that her grandson was stealing from her and guilty of exploiting her. This makes him unfit to be the trustee. So as soon as Matt was arrested, Scott, again on behalf of Ms. Dot (he wrote what she told him to, according to him), filed a civil suit and the criminal suit within minutes of the first attempt to arrest after hours (17:39pm). The civil case was filed at 17:39 pm (or 5:39 on 12/7/2015). The civil case was specifically to remove Matt from the trust. Matt via his attorney at the time Michael Grifith, turned himself in to the ECSO the next day.
Ultimately the charges against Matt are dropped in September 2016. However, Scott was made Power of Attorney and Trustee of Ms. Dot’s trust in the days after Matt’s arrest. Oct 28, 2015 this was filed:
So Scott, effectively, stole Matt’s life. He was Ms. Dot’s ‘grandson”. He was introduced as such to renters who Scott took rent payments from every month. He put people up in trailers, allegedly, prostitutes and people he picked up on Craigslist. Renters assert that they paid Scott, in cash and money orders, which never made it to Ms. Dot. This resulted in evictions without basis. It has also been confirmed that Scott had cameras throughout Ms. Dot’s residence, monitoring her communications with family. In the FBI, search warrant, several hard drives were taken and what was on them is pure speculation, but sources have reported his home looked like an IT department with multiple monitors.
In 2018, 2 parcels were sold to Scott for $10 each. These parcels are on the back side of the trailer park. They are the optimum parcels that feds want for expansion of Whiting Field, and Santa Rosa County officials for the new industrial park.
In November 2021, Ms. Dot sold the trailer park, even though, there is litigation regarding who has the right to sell it. She sold the entire complex for $700 K. She made $1 million in rents in the last several years. Not to mention there is a high premium on the value of the property. On top of the rents taken in., this is a gross undervaluation of the property and its assets. The company who bought it is Palantine LLC, which is a shell LLC, that is owned by other LLC’s in various states. Ultimately, in Googling the address listed on the deed and the signer on said deed, I was able to track the property to Smooth Property , owned by Prashant Patel of AJ Hospitality. According to Corporationwiki.com, here are all the corporations attached to Patel:
Beaufort Management is one of the shell companies that own Palantine LLC.
The shell companies are located all across the country, including Palatine, which is said to be running out of Utah, Beaufort has an Alaska address but it ultimately connects to Smooth Property and the Patels.
The questions just roll out. Why did Bob Johnson, who knowingly covered up for Scott would do so? Why did Watson & Kilburn also back him up? Is there a financial incentive to this? Who brought Palantine into the picture?
Coming soon: Part 2- Who are the characters in this grift?
Conjuring Justice 
