Taxpayer funds earmarked for Punta Gorda police chief’s defense

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. An organization funded by taxpayer money voted to spend some of it for the legal defense of Punta Gorda police chief Tom Lewis, state attorney Stephen Russell said.

Lewis was charged in February with second-degree misdemeanor culpable negligence after the fatal shooting of retired librarian Mary Knowlton in an August 2016 citizens police academy. He was placed on paid administrative leave one day after the charge came down.

Lewis is the president of the Southwest Florida Police Chief’s Association, which receives monies from law enforcement agencies across the region.

Only Lewis and two other regular members of the association were present during the vote to fund his legal defense, Russell said. It’s unclear how much money they voted to spend.

Russell, who brought the charges against Lewis, resigned from the association after the vote. The text of Russell’s resignation email is below:

Members,

It has come to our attention that, at the April 20, 2017 meeting of the Southwest Florida Police Chief’s Association, there was a vote to use funds of the Association to supplement the defense of criminal charges that have been brought by the Office of the State Attorney against one of your members, Tom Lewis.  It is our understanding that only three of the regular members (highest full-time commanding officers) were present during the vote and one of those was the recipient of the monies, Tom Lewis.  The ethical conflict presented by this award of Association funds, some of which are monies paid through the Office of the State Attorney membership dues, for the criminal defense of Tom Lewis and the Office of the State Attorney’s prosecution of criminal charges against Tom Lewis arising out of a tragic set of facts and circumstances cannot be overcome.  In addition, the questionable award of 501(c)(3) corporate funds for the purpose of enhancing a private criminal defense fund has placed the Office of the State Attorney and our representative members in a position that continued membership in this Association is impossible.

While this office and its members continue to support all law enforcement agencies and officers in their goals of keeping our community safer and protecting our citizens, we cannot support the use of Association funds in this matter.  Please accept this communication as the immediate resignation of each of the members of the State Attorney’s Office from the Southwest Florida Police Chief’s Association.

We wish all of the individual law enforcement agencies success as we work together in every effort to ensure the safety of everyone in our community.

Stephen B. Russell
State Attorney
20th Judicial Circuit

Stephen Romine, an attorney for Lewis, called Russell’s email “misleading.”

Lewis neither made nor seconded the motion and abstained from voting, Romine said. The number of people at the meeting constituted a quorum, according to Romine.

Russell clarified in a statement Wednesday that while he supports the mission of the association, he views continued affiliation with it as a conflict of interest.

The trigger man in the shooting, Lee Coel, was charged with first-degree felony manslaughter and fired from his job as a Punta Gorda police officer. He’s appealing his termination.