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Miami Fla--Miami-Dade Fire Chief Cleared in Ethics Case
Miami Herald
Probe clears fire chief
Homework case sent to ethics office
BY KARL ROSS
[email protected]
State prosecutors on Thursday cleared Miami-Dade Fire Chief Charles Phillips of criminal wrongdoing after reviewing the findings of a police inquiry into allegations he required an assistant do his homework on taxpayer time.
Sarah Hartfield, Phillips' executive assistant, says she spent much of the past six months doing his work toward a doctoral degree in ''global leadership.'' She claims at least $10,000 worth of her salary was wasted in the process.
''While Ms. Hartfield probably did schoolwork for Chief Phillips, there is no witness to state that this was done on a regular basis,'' the report by the Miami-Dade state attorney's office said. ``To the contrary, most of the persons who Ms. Hartfield told investigators had seen her doing course work for Phillips stated they did not see this.''
Hartfield also alleges Phillips made repeated unwanted sexual advances toward her, plotting to turn out-of-town trips for professional firefighters' conferences into romantic interludes.
Without elaborating, the report says the sexual misconduct allegations ``appeared to be noncriminal in nature.''
ETHICS REVIEW
Prosecutors say Hartfield's allegations on both matters were referred to county ethics investigators for further review.
''There's some real holes in her story, though we certainly took it very seriously,'' said Assistant State Attorney Joseph Centorino, chief of the office's public corruption division.
`WORK ACTIVITY'
Prosecutors say there was ''no appreciable drop in work activity'' by Hartfield as a result of any time spent on Phillips' academic assignments. They also contend much of her time was spent doing personal business on the Internet.
Phillips reiterated through his lawyer, Norman Powell, that he has done nothing improper. A 29-year veteran firefighter, Phillips was selected as the county's first black fire chief in late 2001.
''Whatever assistance Ms. Hartfield provided to the fire chief with respect to class work was voluntary and it did not alleviate the necessity for him to complete the class work personally,'' Powell said in a prepared statement.
Powell also provided a copy of a lie detector test in which the examiner concludes Phillips was truthful when denying Hartfield's allegations. Phillips paid for the test himself, Powell said.
REMAIN ON LEAVE
County Manager Steve Shiver said Phillips would remain on paid administrative leave until his office had reviewed the findings. He noted an administrative inquiry continues.
Shiver placed Phillips on leave last month and requested an investigation by the county police department's internal affairs bureau after Hartfield's husband, Gary -- an administrative assistant to Shiver -- asked him to intercede.
Sarah Hartfield on Thursday expressed disbelief at the state attorney's close-out report. She said she did some banking and other errands online, but said this did not interfere with her work.
``They grasped at everything they possibly could to discredit me, and that's the best they could do? That I went on the Internet?''
Hartfield said she got an ''outstanding'' evaluation on May 7, and showed The Herald several e-mails from co-workers praising her efforts on behalf of the agency.
She accused State Attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle of letting politics influence the decision not to prosecute.
''I will let people know how the state attorney's office swept all this under the rug in order to get black votes,'' said Hartfield, who is black. ``I'm not going to take this without a fight.''
She was referring to Fernandez-Rundle's upcoming campaign to be reelected as state attorney in 2004.
A spokesman for Fernandez-Rundle declined to respond to Hartfield's allegations, saying the close-out report raises questions about her credibility.
Hartfield said she did all of the course work for four of the five classes Phillips took through a part-time doctoral program at Lynn University.
She challenged Phillips' claim he did all of his course work personally, saying he was in Hong Kong and the Dominican Republic on official business at the time she researched and wrote some of his assignments.
Hartfield, who has a master's degree in public administration, said Phillips enrolled after she did last September. Shortly after classes began, he asked her to help.
'He was like, `You got to help me.' I said, 'Sure, no problem' because my concept of helping someone is not doing all their work. But I came to realize he wanted me to do everything.''
DROPS OUT
Hartfield, 37, said she dropped out of the program after the first eight-week course, thinking he would stop insisting she do his homework.
She said that Phillips remained in the program and continued to pass along his assignments.
It got to the point, she said, that she was doing his papers late at night at her home. When she told Phillips her husband had forbidden her from doing the work at their home, she says he told her: ``Just do it here.''
Hartfield said she took to locking herself in her office to complete his assignments, estimating it consumed a month and a half of her working hours. She earns $45 an hour as Phillips' administrative assistant, she said.
She said she decided to make a formal complaint after Phillip's alleged sexual advances began to disrupt her home life.
Hartfield said the breaking point came during a conference in Fort Lauderdale last April for black public administrators.
She said her husband, Gary, and Phillips both attended the event.
That night, after Phillips and her husband shared drinks, she said Phillips called to invite her to spend the night with him at the hotel.
'I figured I had no choice. I had to tell Gary. He cried that night. He said, `I cannot believe you let that man cozy up to me and not tell me about it.' He was ready to commit blue murder.''
She said her husband wanted to discuss the matter the following day with his supervisor, Assistant County Manager Tony Crapp Jr., but Phillips was in his office when he tried to see him.
'Gary saw Steve Shiver in the hallway and said, `You've got to help me, to keep me from doing anything.' ''
Probe clears fire chief
Homework case sent to ethics office
BY KARL ROSS
[email protected]
State prosecutors on Thursday cleared Miami-Dade Fire Chief Charles Phillips of criminal wrongdoing after reviewing the findings of a police inquiry into allegations he required an assistant do his homework on taxpayer time.
Sarah Hartfield, Phillips' executive assistant, says she spent much of the past six months doing his work toward a doctoral degree in ''global leadership.'' She claims at least $10,000 worth of her salary was wasted in the process.
''While Ms. Hartfield probably did schoolwork for Chief Phillips, there is no witness to state that this was done on a regular basis,'' the report by the Miami-Dade state attorney's office said. ``To the contrary, most of the persons who Ms. Hartfield told investigators had seen her doing course work for Phillips stated they did not see this.''
Hartfield also alleges Phillips made repeated unwanted sexual advances toward her, plotting to turn out-of-town trips for professional firefighters' conferences into romantic interludes.
Without elaborating, the report says the sexual misconduct allegations ``appeared to be noncriminal in nature.''
ETHICS REVIEW
Prosecutors say Hartfield's allegations on both matters were referred to county ethics investigators for further review.
''There's some real holes in her story, though we certainly took it very seriously,'' said Assistant State Attorney Joseph Centorino, chief of the office's public corruption division.
`WORK ACTIVITY'
Prosecutors say there was ''no appreciable drop in work activity'' by Hartfield as a result of any time spent on Phillips' academic assignments. They also contend much of her time was spent doing personal business on the Internet.
Phillips reiterated through his lawyer, Norman Powell, that he has done nothing improper. A 29-year veteran firefighter, Phillips was selected as the county's first black fire chief in late 2001.
''Whatever assistance Ms. Hartfield provided to the fire chief with respect to class work was voluntary and it did not alleviate the necessity for him to complete the class work personally,'' Powell said in a prepared statement.
Powell also provided a copy of a lie detector test in which the examiner concludes Phillips was truthful when denying Hartfield's allegations. Phillips paid for the test himself, Powell said.
REMAIN ON LEAVE
County Manager Steve Shiver said Phillips would remain on paid administrative leave until his office had reviewed the findings. He noted an administrative inquiry continues.
Shiver placed Phillips on leave last month and requested an investigation by the county police department's internal affairs bureau after Hartfield's husband, Gary -- an administrative assistant to Shiver -- asked him to intercede.
Sarah Hartfield on Thursday expressed disbelief at the state attorney's close-out report. She said she did some banking and other errands online, but said this did not interfere with her work.
``They grasped at everything they possibly could to discredit me, and that's the best they could do? That I went on the Internet?''
Hartfield said she got an ''outstanding'' evaluation on May 7, and showed The Herald several e-mails from co-workers praising her efforts on behalf of the agency.
She accused State Attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle of letting politics influence the decision not to prosecute.
''I will let people know how the state attorney's office swept all this under the rug in order to get black votes,'' said Hartfield, who is black. ``I'm not going to take this without a fight.''
She was referring to Fernandez-Rundle's upcoming campaign to be reelected as state attorney in 2004.
A spokesman for Fernandez-Rundle declined to respond to Hartfield's allegations, saying the close-out report raises questions about her credibility.
Hartfield said she did all of the course work for four of the five classes Phillips took through a part-time doctoral program at Lynn University.
She challenged Phillips' claim he did all of his course work personally, saying he was in Hong Kong and the Dominican Republic on official business at the time she researched and wrote some of his assignments.
Hartfield, who has a master's degree in public administration, said Phillips enrolled after she did last September. Shortly after classes began, he asked her to help.
'He was like, `You got to help me.' I said, 'Sure, no problem' because my concept of helping someone is not doing all their work. But I came to realize he wanted me to do everything.''
DROPS OUT
Hartfield, 37, said she dropped out of the program after the first eight-week course, thinking he would stop insisting she do his homework.
She said that Phillips remained in the program and continued to pass along his assignments.
It got to the point, she said, that she was doing his papers late at night at her home. When she told Phillips her husband had forbidden her from doing the work at their home, she says he told her: ``Just do it here.''
Hartfield said she took to locking herself in her office to complete his assignments, estimating it consumed a month and a half of her working hours. She earns $45 an hour as Phillips' administrative assistant, she said.
She said she decided to make a formal complaint after Phillip's alleged sexual advances began to disrupt her home life.
Hartfield said the breaking point came during a conference in Fort Lauderdale last April for black public administrators.
She said her husband, Gary, and Phillips both attended the event.
That night, after Phillips and her husband shared drinks, she said Phillips called to invite her to spend the night with him at the hotel.
'I figured I had no choice. I had to tell Gary. He cried that night. He said, `I cannot believe you let that man cozy up to me and not tell me about it.' He was ready to commit blue murder.''
She said her husband wanted to discuss the matter the following day with his supervisor, Assistant County Manager Tony Crapp Jr., but Phillips was in his office when he tried to see him.
'Gary saw Steve Shiver in the hallway and said, `You've got to help me, to keep me from doing anything.' ''
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