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
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.
I am pausing the Santa Rosa County Scandal series. There is a vast amount of info I have gained that I am not able to share. This case is crucial for so many people. It can potentially kick over the rock of corruption in the Panhandle. That is my main goal with this blog.
I also don’t want to “leak” info that can possibly harm the people involved (other than the bad guys). Frankly, I don’t trust myself to expound on some of the people involved as I normally would.
But please note, day by day, this case is becoming more complex. As most people know, the FBI is working at their own pace. NO ONE is getting away from their crimes.
BTW, my blog has been remotely tampered with, emails are missing and text conversations have been deleted on my phone.
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?
Most people know Scott Haines was arrested by federal marshals. He was eventually turned over to FDLE. Other than the following press release, I haven’t gotten a straight answer on so many things regarding this arrest and Scott’s subsequent release. Here is the Justice Dept’s press release:
Strangely, he was released later that night from jail yet arraigned the next morning in federal custody. Curiously there is no court record anywhere of anything other than this.
Some Back Story:
In 2017, Matt Groelinger called me because no one was even willing to listen to him and what was going on. Scott Haines had him falsely arrested in order to have a reason to make an irrevocable trust, revocable. The charges were bogus and dropped but not before Scott Haines SRSO officer convinced Matt’s elderly grandma that Matt was trying to take her family’s legacy. He was made the trustee over a huge trust because of his grandma’s decline. When Matt was arrested, after hours, SRSO filed criminal charges and a civil case within mere minutes of one another after hours.
Over the years, Scott “assumed” Matt’s position in grandma’s life. She even tells people Scott is her grandson. There are pictures in her home of her at his family events. Most people at the trailer park where Scott collected rent for grandma. When APS investigated this case, they truly believed Scott was her grandson. This farce has been going on since 2015. Scott got 2 parcels of grandma’s land worth a considerable amount of money for $10 each. These parcels are on the back side of her property and are at Whiting Field’s back gate and now across the street from the new Santa Rosa industrial complex.
A situation Santa Rosa County Commissioner has tried to purchase these lots for years. In a move very much like the Escambia Soccer Complex Scandal. This commissioner saw the value of this land and the potential value of the land to the county. Sound familiar??
Getting back to the story, grandma has been very generous to Scott “and his whole family” according to people close to him. This opens up the potential involvement of Eric Haines. They were seen on a cruise 4 years ago. Despite each of them telling people they dislike each other, they have been close for years.
Scott’s arrest is absolutely a good thing. No question. It is just a measure of justice. Nothing can be restored for the family. Grandma believes her children and grandchildren are trying to put her away. That is thanks to Scott. He’s isolated her from her family. She isn’t being cared for. She can’t take care of her personal needs without help. Scott didn’t help and the family were estranged due to him. For a supposed Christian man, Scott has done the most deplorable thing he could do in his actions. That brings me to all the people that facilitated him. How many people covered his crimes up? Chris Watson? Without question this guy claims Scott did nothing wrong. What about Bob Johnson? Indisputably, the buck stops with him. He allowed these cover ups. He lied to the press by saying there was nothing to see here. So many others perjured themselves, for what? Their careers are now going down the toliet.
Matt, the grandson, came to me because he had nowhere else to go. I brought in Philip Nix whom I work with on everything. Phil got him to Marie Mattox who has made all this possible. The FBI saw the criminality in this case. They are still pursuing people that aided Scott. That makes me smile because Eric will be a target of their investigation. That string may unravel all the corruption in both Santa Rosa & Escambia.
But this is all due to the diligence of small amount of people who were not afraid to speak out. We are family. While the 25th of January is a huge milestone for all the efforts, it comes with some melancholy. Phil’s dad passed the night Scott was arrested. This is personally devastating to all of us. Ultimately, grandma loses. She is completely isolated. Scott was ordered not to go back to the trailer he lives in and is to have no contact with grandma.
All of this is a lot to take in for a person who has tried numerous times to get FDLE and the FBI to look into the corruption in this case, I feel we are finally heard and validated. There is a continuing victimization of people who aren’t heard. This is why I do what I do.
“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.”- John Stuart Mill
Stay Tuned! When I know you will know. Also check out Coffeeordie.com.
In 2013, I started blogging because I felt I had a civic duty to start a conversation about the stories & issues not being discussed in the media. No one was acknowledging the shameless abuses of power. Today, I still have that same fire and passion. I absolutely believe that people have an aversion to those who violate public integrity. Nevertheless, with the 24 hour news bombardment, we have been anesthetized to things that don’t affect us directly. We want to believe that people who are arrested are justifiably guilty or else they wouldn’t have been arrested. How could we live without certain axioms or presumptions about society? The trust in officials is ingrained into the consciousness, as it should be. In researching and investigating Escambia County justice, my understanding of crime and criminals changed. The good guys aren’t always the “good guys”; the bad guys don’t always get punished. While I knew sociopaths gravitate to positions of power to get the juice they need to indulge their every whim, I never conceptualized the extent of truth about that. Ultimately, respect is lost for the law and justice system, starting with the officers themselves in these cases. I was told once, “there is no justice to be had in Florida.” Indeed, the administration staff in the Santa Rosa Sheriff’s Office, as is the admin staff of Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, shows no semblance of integrity or duty of care to the public.
In this blog, I will be posting THE Internal Affairs Report that sent Scott Haines out of the agency, but I would like to first put a podcast clip up that seems more propaganda than fact, based on the documentation.
On September 6, 2021, Santa Rosa Sheriff Bob Johnson spoke on NewsRadio923. I clipped this portion of interest.
Here is a transcript of that clip:
Andrew …. But I did want to at least give you a chance to address the situation with Scott Haines, who had prior disciplinary issues within the Department. Whatever you can tell people, I’ll let you give you a chance to tell people.
Sheriff Bob Johnson Yeah. And unfortunately, there’s an ongoing investigation by another law enforcement entity, so I can’t really discuss it much. But I can just tell you if you looked at our agency over the past five years that I’ve been shared, we take care of discipline. So if one of our guys or gals acts out and does something, they get punished for it and you make bad choices, you get bad consequences. And that’s just basically what occurred here is that.
Andrew And I know it’s not that common, but having to discipline internally your officers, how frequent of a thing is that? And I don’t just mean they make some mistake. That’s a training issue where they’re really doing something that they definitely shouldn’t be doing where it’s a problem.
Sheriff Bob Johnson It’s not that common. We’re pretty blessed. We have probably 400 sworn counting the deputies that work in the jail. And it’s not very common. It’s like you hear in the national news when my officer does something stupid on camera and we all get blamed for it. Less than 1% of the officers in this country tarnish the badge less than 1%. That’s better than doctors and lawyers. So we take care of our own in that aspect of if you’re a bad cop, we don’t want you there. It makes us all look bad.
Sheriff Bob Johnson And sooner or later, a bad cop is going to do something to where we can get rid of them. And unfortunately, we have to do that not on a regular basis. But since I’ve been shared, probably in five years, fire and law enforcement officers and Correctional officers, probably in five years, maybe 15 times at the most. Maybe I’d say closer to ten, probably. Yeah, it’s not very common.
Andrew And it’s, as you say, it’s the very few that make for the vivid news story. Just like when you watch fictional accounts of police, it’s the corrupt one to the vigilante style or the incompetent one that creates an expectation which just isn’t borne out by the reality. And it’s hard to tell the good story when things go right. Because when things go right, that typically doesn’t. We try to focus on the good as much as we can. But that’s not really going to grab the headlines most of the time
So what Bob is insinuating is recently committed violations of policy or law, committed by Scott which required discipline. But is that true? NO! The 9 Supervisory Inquiries that repetitively involved sexual misconduct or harassment, surfing porn, etc. Let’s not forget the 2020 shitshow in Escambia County, where Scott feigned suicidal ideations to get access to a co-worker. There is dispatcher to dispatcher reporting of this to Sheriff Johnson. Yet not only is it never cited within his disciplinary history, never psychologically evaluated. This is Baker Act material—no question. Yet it was swept under the rug and never gets even an “honorable mention” in his moral integrity evaluation. C’mon Bob. This guy did more than any one officer should be
It is clear Bob Johnson has been aware of Scotts hijinks for years. He oversaw many disciplinary concerns prior to being elected as Sheriff. Prior to Jan 2017, there were 5 Supervisory Inquiries & 3 full on IA’s. “Porngate” & “Repo Nights” are among the highlights.
Now we see what the straw was that broke the camel’s back. The IA (that was not disclosed even after I balked at the number of IA’s. Even on 9/14/2021, when Adam Riddle informed me the 3 were all there was but there was 10 Supervisory Inquiries) that caused Scott to be terminated is revealed.
There are so many things that need to be pointed out and discussed. There are numerous highlighted areas that I will be delving into but for today, notice the dates and the one glaring issue is the unanimous vote to terminate Scott, yet he “retired”. Once everyone agrees there is a violation and agreed on the punishment, he should be terminated. Allowing him to resign only works prior to that board vote. They voted. He is fired before he “retired”. Don’t know how that works.
I am going to put this out there for everyone to draw their own conclusions. Without further adieu:
Conjuring Justice 