![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/marceno-875x1024.webp\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nHowever, Marceno said in a statement that the claims are baseless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ken Romano was made an honorary deputy by Marceno, who paid him to work as a consultant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Romano said in a recording he was instructed to return some of his salary to Marceno.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI gave him tons and tons of jewelry. His grandmother, you know, a $40,000 ring. I did a lot of good things for him,\u201d Romano said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Romano claimed in the recording that the sheriff paid him $5,700 a month and instructed him to give back $1,700 to Marceno’s father to pay for a car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI said, ‘Can that be considered money laundering or misappropriation of tax dollars?’ And he said, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘That’s crazy.’ Now, I just got myself involved in a crime,\u201d Romano can be heard saying in the recording.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is a crime that former 17-year veteran Deputy Mike Hollow, who is running against the sheriff, said is being investigated by the FBI after he turned over the recording.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEventually, Mr. Ramano and I sat down with the FBI on May 21st of 2024,\u201d Hollow told LEHIGH ACRES GAZETTE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The FBI told LEHIGH ACRES GAZETTE in a statement that it would neither confirm nor deny an investigation against Marceno.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scott, who helped put Marceno in the job, called the allegations serious and said Marceno is best suited to address it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Monday, two Lee County Commissioners expressed concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“These are serious allegations, and I think it’s important to gather all of the facts before making any conclusions. I believe in due process and trust the legal system to handle this thoroughly,\u201d said Commissioner Brian Hamman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I don’t know if the allegations have any merit. I believe we should let an investigation take place,\u201d said Commissioner Kevin Ruane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Commissioner Cecil Pendergrass said he had no comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I am not able to comment because I never saw an actual complaint. So, for now, no comment,\u201d Pendergrass wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Commission Chairman Mike Greenwell did not respond to our request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the sheriff responded late Monday afternoon, denying the allegations, although he did not say whether the FBI was investigating the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It’s unfortunate that politics have reached this level. These politically motivated and baseless claims from a disgruntled former employee are untrue. It’s sad that some people would engage in such vicious personal attacks for political purposes,\u201d Marceno\u2019s office responded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FGCU constitutional law professor Dr. Pamela Seay said it would be normal during an FBI investigation for those involved not to talk on the record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAlthough it seems abnormal for him (Marceno) because he is a very vocal participant,\u201d Seay said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seay says it would be common for someone being investigated not to talk about the allegations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWith an active investigation, it’s more likely than not that all participants, including the sheriff, have been asked not to comment until the investigation is complete,\u201d Seay said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LEHIGH ACRES GAZETTE did ask the sheriff for a sit-down interview. He has not agreed to that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have also requested numerous documents from LCSO as we continue to investigate these allegations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sheriff Carmine Marceno has issued his first response to allegations of money laundering and misappropriation of taxpayer funds. Marceno is accused of funneling taxpayer dollars from the department to his… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":59996,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,32],"tags":[2812],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60013"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60013"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60014,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60013\/revisions\/60014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}