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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nTIME TO FIRE MARCENO<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A former Lee County Sheriff wants the Governor\u2019s office investigating whether the current Sheriff lied to get a job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Former Sheriff Rodney Shoap sent a letter<\/a> last month to Gov. Ron DeSantis questioning Sheriff Carmine Marceno\u2019s credentials. He pointed to a Fox 4 report<\/a> that suggested Marceno may never have qualified to take the Florida State Police Officer\u2019s Exam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI can find no evidence anywhere that the appointed Sheriff worked as a full-time police officer for 12 full months before moving to Florida and taking his exam,\u201d Shoap tells Florida Politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The exam exists to help law enforcement professionals who complete their law enforcement training in other states then move to Florida. If an individual worked at least a year full time in a law enforcement agency outside the state, they can take an equivalency test and avoid having to go through a Florida police academy program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marceno\u2019s credentials aren\u2019t so much an issue with his current job. There is no requirement Sheriffs hold professional law enforcement credentials. But there could be significant legal issues if Marceno lied about his qualifications during his years in Florida law enforcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That began with a stint with the Naples Police in 1999 and continued through his days as the Lee County Undersheriff in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shoap, in his letter to DeSantis, outlines a worst-case scenario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNot only would Sheriff Marceno lose his police officer certification,\u201d Shoap wrote, \u201cbut he could be charged and prosecuted for crime(s), any arrest(s) he has made could be vacated and any training he ever conducted could be invalidated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shaky Resume<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marceno\u2019s application for Sheriff, obtained by Florida Politics, shows Marceno attended the police academy in Suffolk County, New York, where he claims he earned a state certificate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The academy today is part of Suffolk County Community College, and Marceno also wrote he attended that school from 1990 through 1998 but did not graduate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marceno said he worked for the Suffolk County Park Service from May 1998 to August 1999, about 15 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the Fox 4 investigation suggests \u2014 based on Suffolk County time card records \u2014 Marceno never held full-time employment there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shoap notes Marceno in late 1999 took a job with the Naples police, but that was on the condition he passed the exam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHowever he failed it twice and was terminated,\u201d Shoap wrote. The former Sheriff said he verified the firing with the Naples police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marceno\u2019s resume shows a gap in his employment from April of 2000 to January of 2003, when he was hired at the Collier County Sheriff\u2019s Office. He worked there until joining the Lee County Sheriff\u2019s Office in June 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marceno\u2019s application to the Lee County Sheriff\u2019s Office shows he earned his Florida law enforcement certification in March 2003. The same application shows he failed his state exam twice but passed in on a third try in October 2002.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Shoap questions whether Marceno should have been allowed to take the test at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI am requesting an executive investigation be conducted to clear up the matter. I suspect someone in the Florida Department of Law Enforcement accepted the form signed by the police academy administrator, took it as gospel and permitted the test be taken,\u201d he wrote to DeSantis. \u201c \u2026 No one ever questioned the documentation that clearly showed Sheriff Marceno was not qualified to take the exam.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ethics Violation<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shoap isn\u2019t only questioning Marceno\u2019s credentials. He has also filed an ethics complaint against Marceno, previously reported by the News-Press<\/a>. That complaint involves Marceno\u2019s relationship with Deanna Williams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Williams said Marceno pursued a romantic relationship with her after she went to the Lee County Sheriff\u2019s Office to report an incident to the economic crimes unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That relationship ultimately deteriorated, as Williams detailed to Florida Politics<\/a>, and ended shortly after Marceno allegedly demanded the woman abort a pregnancy; the child was ultimately stillborn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Shoap said the issue deals primarily with Marceno\u2019s choice to pursue a victim of a crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOther officers in the State of Florida, and in Lee County, Florida, have been disciplined by termination and loss of their Police Certification for similar conduct and demeanor,\u201d Shoap wrote in a complaint. \u201cI believe no different should occur here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ulterior Motives?<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Carmine-Marceno-new.png\")
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