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Goodbye Palm Beach, and thank you!

radaronline_logoIt’s hard to say goodbye when you’re having fun!

Yet, this is my last Page2Live entry.

On Tuesday, I became executive editor of Radar Online, one of the country’s biggest celebrity websites.

The sandbox I get to play in now is a lot larger, and the gig often will take me to Los Angeles and Las Vegas and New York City.

But I leave The Palm Beach Post and the readers who supported me with news tips, kudos and criticism for the past seven years with a heavy heart.

I love Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, and not just because it’s my home. There are few places in this country as quirky as Palm Beach, Stuart, Boca and Wellington. News people who work here know they’re lucky because, indeed, there never is a dull moment.

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Asleep at the desk: PBSO lieutenant catches up on sleep during classroom training

Rough day for Lt. Swank (Special to the Palm Beach Post)

Rough day for Lt. Swank (Special to the Palm Beach Post)

I’m told the snoring could be heard across the room!

To the right, fellow taxpayer, is Lt. Jeff Swank, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office Internal Affairs executive officer!

And this cell-phone picture of Swank sound asleep obtained by Page2Live has been making the rounds among the chuckling rank and file.

How do I know he’s snoring?

Well, there’s a video, and the sound is quite clear.

I’ve been trying to get a hold of it, but I’m told by an insider that Internal Affairs head Capt. Larry Easton, to0, is hot on the trail of the footage.

Swank was among 70 local enforcement officials at a three-day class last week at the Hilton Palm Beach Airport.

The classroom training focused on the handling of police-involved shootings.

But Swank apparently got so bored he dozed off while fellow policemen, who must have been just as bored, snapped away with cell phones.

Swank’s I.A. squad, by the way, does investigate incidents in which deputies are “rude” during such training sessions.

Said PBSO Chief Deputy Mike Gauger: “Lt. Swank attends college after hours and he was called out twice the previous night.

“Things happen. I fall asleep at church sometimes!”

Palm Beach State prof, ex-Sheriff’s deputy Charlie Mosher arrested in wife stalking

Mosher's booking mug (Click on the photo for more)

Mosher's booking mug (Click on the photo for more)

A well-known Palm Beach State College adjunct professor and freshly-retired Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputy was held overnight in the county slammer where he once worked after being arrested in a domestic violence incident.

Seventy-year-old Charlie Mosher, of Royal Palm Beach, was charged with aggravated stalking and aggravated assault after several alleged spats with his estranged wife, Norma Jean Hoefs, since last week. Hoefs, 57, declined comment but confirmed she was his victim.

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Mosher allegedly harassed the lady with incessant phone calls then tailed her in his car around their gated community.

At one point, Hoefs told investigators, she had to swerve off the road to avoid Mosher, who came right at her in his vehicle.

Mosher was released on $10,000-bond about noon today.

He was relieved of duty as a reserve deputy, a volunteer position. Mosher retired from PBSO in June after 22 years as corrections and training deputy.

The six criminal justice courses he taught at the college this term — including “interpersonal skills for corrections officers” and “defensive tactics” — have ended.

The school’s spokeswoman, Dr. Grace Truman, said Mosher has been an adjunct professor since 1992. His status at the school will be evaluated before next term, as is the status of every adjunct professor, she said.

– With Palm Beach Post researcher Niels Heimeriks

PBSO deputy smackdown starts another I.A. probe

pbso1The bad news keeps on coming for the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office.

Already riding one of the worst streaks in memory when it comes to its image, PBSO officials tell me that yet another investigation into the behavior of two deputies is under way.

This, as the organization is reeling from allegations of brutality in the far western reaches of the county and on-duty sex between a lieutenant and underlings.

The latest: PBSO spokeswoman Teri Barbera confirmed that two patrolmen were transferred while Internal Affairs is looking into an ugly brawl during a shift briefing at District 1.

Barbera would only say that Deputies Jairo Gomez and Josh Kushel, who worked the streets around PBSO headquarters and Palm Beach International Airport, were reassigned. Gomez now reports to the Belle Glade District. And Kushel is in the Delray area.

Barbera declined commenting further. But according to several insiders who asked to remain anonymous, including a high-ranking official, back-and-forth teasing and banter between Gomez and Kushel degenerated during what deputies call their daily “lineup.” It’s the gathering before they’re sent on the road.

Harsh words were exchanged. Then Gomez reportedly threw a punch square into the middle of Kushel’s face.

I’m told Kushel’s injury required two dozen stitches.

Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, whose office is upstairs, heard about the kerfuffle and threw a fit. He high-tailed it to the lineup and gave the troops an earful.

“And no one here better tell me he didn’t see anything,” Bradshaw warned.

Neither he nor Kushel commented. Gomez said he was been told not to comment.

The Palm Beach Post reported this week that a sergeant was disciplined and two deputies fired for bragging online about beating up suspects. Also Lt. Paula Kronsperger, one of the agency’s highest-ranking females, is under investigation for sex with deputies working for her in her previous assignment — in District 1.

While he didn’t specifically address PBSO’s mean streak, Dr. Gordon Bazemore, chair of Florida Atlantic University’s Department of Criminology, discussed the challenges of a large law enforcement organization.

“First, there are the little problems,” he said.  ”Then problems get bigger. Then comes the perception of chaos, whether true or not. And then the troops start to wonder if there’s any control left. It’s not good.”

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Cash-squeezed PBSO spends $480 on a letter

Posted by Jose Lambiet | Cash, Parties, Politicos, Polls |
Tags: ,
| Thursday 21 May 2009 5:38 pm Print This Post

No wonder Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw is begging the already-strapped Palm Beach County Commission for more money.

Ric Bradshaw (Rich Graulich/The Palm Beach Post)

Ric Bradshaw (Rich Graulich/The Palm Beach Post)

When he could have picked up the phone and simply asked Page2Live to help him out, he hired a private law firm to write a two-page letter — at the cost to taxpayers of $480, according to his office’s records.

Sometime in April, some knucklehead posted a comment to this item that included the sheriff’s home address. 

Out of courtesy to law enforcement officers, Page2Live won’t publish the personal addresses of cops and deputies. So, I deleted the comment as soon as I noticed, possibly an hour after it was written.

That, however, wasn’t good enough for Bradshaw, who then hired the Fort Lauderdale lawfirm of Purdy, Jolly, Giuffreda and Barranco to ask me and my bosses at the Palm Beach Post to make sure it doesn’t happen again. The comment that included Bradshaw’s address, attorney Summer Barranco wrote, compromised the safety of the sheriff and his family.

A few days after his address appeared, according to a PBSO spokeswoman, Bradshaw received at his West Palm Beach home a highly-critical letter from a citizen.

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