Gov. Rick Scott's chief troubleshooter was warned by letter nearly two years ago about the possible coverup of two suspicious prison deaths but did nothing other than forward the letter to the very people accused of hiding the deaths, documents obtained by the Miami Herald show.
An anonymous letter addressed to "Gov. Scott" and stamped as received by the governor's chief inspector general on Oct. 25, 2012, included strikingly accurate details about the gruesome deaths of Randall Jordan-Aparo at Franklin Correctional Institution in 2010 and Darren Rainey at Dade Correctional in 2012.
At the time the governor's office received the letter, the investigations of both deaths had been closed by the Department of Corrections — Jordan-Aparo's as a natural death and Rainey's pending a finding by the Miami-Dade medical examiner.
Rather than open an inquiry into the letter-writer's claims, Melinda Miguel, the governor's chief inspector general, turned the letter over to the DOC's inspector general's office, which conducted a cursory review. A summary of the DOC report notes some "staff violations'' in connection with Jordan-Aparo's death and states that Miami-Dade police were handling Rainey's case.
The report concluded that "this inquiry (will) be closed with no further action taken."
In March, Miguel refused to give DOC investigators whistle-blower protection after they told her that DOC Inspector General Jeffery Beasley was pressuring them not to charge anyone in the Jordan-Aparo case. She also refused to give whistle-blower protection to a DOC probation officer who in 2001 told her about suspicious aspects of Jordan-Aparo's death. That officer, Kristina Mullins, was subsequently fired, though the department said that was because of unapproved leave time.
Scott could not be reached for comment, but Miguel issued a statement saying that because she could not identify the writer to ask further questions, she relied on state and local police to investigate.
"When OIG (office of inspector general) staff looked into both matters, there was already an ongoing investigation on both incidents by state and local authorities, which takes precedence over an administrative review,'' she said. "Moreover, as the complaint was filed anonymously, and no specific evidence was provided, we could not interview the complainant to obtain further information or specific details."
The DOC would not respond to questions about why its investigators dismissed the letter. Instead, it issued a statement repeating Secretary Michael Crews' promise that he has "zero tolerance for corruption and abuse," and his vow to "root out any and all bad actors who do not live up to our expectations."