What a Tangled Web They Wove
It takes a little reading between the lines, but the SAO case against three indicted City of Key West employees makes sense
After having a little less than a week to digest two tranches of discovery released by Dennis Ward and the Monroe County State Attorney’s Office, it takes a little reading between the lines to make any sense out of it.
In case you have been living under a conch shell comfortably nestled under a coconut palm, over the last two weeks, three city employees were indicted by a Monroe County Grand Jury for 13 felony charges.
Chief Building Officer Rajhindar Micheal Ramsingh, his brother, City Attorney Ron and longtime Code Enforcement Director Jim Young are facing their days up court as a result of the charges revolving around falsifying building permits, tampering with evidence and official misconduct.
Young put in his paperwork for retirement on Friday, and the City Attorney was terminated without cause which will result in a $211k lump sum payout in the next 20 days — and a requisite tax increase of approximately 3.5% to fund.
In a nutshell, the City’s Chief Building Officer, Rajhindar Micheal Ramsingh, permit issuance (actually the job of the City Planning Department,) contracting and code inspections all wrapped up in a model of vertical assembly that would have made Henry Ford blush.
Strykker-Avery Homes, LLC is a building company that has been linked to the CBO for years. It was listed on several of the seven properties identified with falsified permits in the Grand Jury’s indictment. A search of sunbiz.org shows the LLC was listed to Ramsingh at his 117 Key Haven Rd. address, but the last time it was active was in 2021, when it was dissolved. Ramsingh was also associated with another inactive company, Home Inspections by Raj.
One of the properties listed in the indictment, 3528 Eagle Avenue, is owned by sitting Commissioner Lissette Carey’s brother-in-law, Antonio Estenoz.
Although the permit was issued prior to Carey’s taking office, it does lie within District IV, which she represents.
After all, who wouldn’t want to hire a contractor who could allegedly issue permits, do the work, have code do the inspection, then close the permits out in the City system?
With no-one the wiser.
The only problem is, somebody noticed.
And they went to State Attorney Dennis Ward.
And Dennis Ward enlisted the help of the FBI.
Following last week’s round of indictments, several prospective clients came forward to By Ted Lund and said that when they met with Ramsingh, it felt like a mob-style shakedown.
Their words.
Not mine.
During the course of the SAO/FBI joint investigation, law enforcement uncovered alleged possible Sunshine Law violations involving Commissioner’s Donie Lee, Carey and Mayor DeeDee Henriquez related to a clandestine effort to shield from the public a conspiracy to force then City Manager Al Childress to resign or be terminated without cause by a majority vote of the Commission.
According to messages released so far, the plot was intended to shield the CBO from losing his position, first for going rogue and circumventing the Planning Department and its director, Katie Halloran — outlined in the now-infamous Corradino Report.
Then Ramsingh came under fire for the Florida DPBR pulling his credentials due to a lapse in continuing eduction — something the brothers attributed to a clinical error.
At the time, the CBO was attending a professional seminar in Orlando and was ordered back to Key West immediately by the City Manager.
Childress was ousted by the previous commission, with Jimmy Weekley, Clayton Lopez, Billy Wardlow and Carey voting for termination without cause.
Sound familiar?
Commissioners Mary Lou Hoover, Sam Kaufman and then-mayor Teri Johnston voted against termination.
Although no indictments have been handed down involving the cabal, based on the messages and interviews that have been released by the SAO indicate that that Young, both Ramsinghs — along with commissioners Carey, Lee, Henriquez and former commissioners Weekley, Lopez and Wardlow — could all face criminal indictments for Sunshine Law violations related to conspiring to remove Childress from office.
As a reminder, all suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law by a jury of their peers.
To quote the late singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett:
“Squalls out on the Gulfstream, big storm coming soon.”
Now as a community, we all have to sit back and see where it hits.
And this one might eventually rank up their with the Great Hurricane Bank Robbery.
Or the enduring mystery of the wheeling-and-dealing former Fire Chief, Bum Farto.
Make sure you have plenty of bottled water.