The state commission refused Ken Romano’s request to withdraw his ethics complaint.
By Bob Norman
An attorney for the Florida Commission on Ethics recommended a finding of probable cause that Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno violated state gift-reporting laws in a complaint filed by his former friend Ken Romano, according to documents obtained by the SW Florida Lighthouse.
The big question: Will the commission accept the recommendation or will Marceno again escape unscathed?
The ethics commission was scheduled to hear the case against Marceno — which centers on unreported gifts and an alleged fraudulent scheme involving taxpayers’ money — this past Friday, according to a commission letter obtained by the Lighthouse.
The commission attorney also recommended a finding of no probable cause on two counts alleging violations of the state Constitution’s prohibition on abuse of position to obtain a disproportionate benefit and misuse of office, according to a Sept. 2 ethics commission order obtained by the Lighthouse.
The commission has no obligation to accept either of the recommendations. Its decision, made behind closed doors on Friday, is expected to be announced tomorrow in an ethics commission press release. The investigative file on the case is expected to be released as well.
The ethics complaint followed a federal investigation that was shut down with no charges being filed. In 2022, Marceno provided Romano, whom he called his “brother,” with a $5,700 LCSO consulting contract that Romano said was intended to pay him back for significant sums of money he’d paid to cover the sheriff’s gambling losses. Part of that arrangement, he said, was to pay $1,700 in monthly cash payments on a Mercedes-Benz purchased for Marceno’s father, who has since died.
Romano also provided Marceno with expensive gifts — including a piano valued at $9,035 and furniture worth $2,377 — the sheriff never reported, according to the complaint, which included receipts.
Sources told the Lighthouse the FBI investigation — which had gone to a grand jury — was shut down largely due to the fact that the lead federal prosecutor in the case, Mike Gordon, was fired by the Trump Administration. No official reason was given for the firing, but Gordon, a well-respected veteran prosecutor, has claimed in a lawsuit that it was in retaliation for his work prosecuting January 6 defendants, all of whom were pardoned by Trump on his first day in office.
Romano requested in August that the subsequent ethics complaint be withdrawn due to stress suffered during the administrative process, which he wrote had aggravated a diagnosed condition of post-traumatic stress disorder.
The Sept. 2 order shows the commission rejected the request because the investigation had largely been completed and Romano’s reason for withdrawal had nothing to do with the facts of the case.
Specifically, the commission found that dismissing the complaint wouldn’t align with its directive to “investigate and issue public reports on legally sufficient complaints involving breaches of the public trust by public officers and employees.”
After all the twists and turns, the commission finally considered the case on Friday. The Lighthouse will report on what the commission did — or didn’t do — during that hearing when the commission issues its Wednesday press release.