Hillsborough sheriff’s captain fired amid academic cheating probe

TAMPA — A Hillsborough County sheriff’s captain was fired Wednesday amid the agency’s burgeoning probe into academic cheating, which previously led to the resignations of four other members of Sheriff Chad Chronister’s command staff.Zuleydis Stearns, a captain who oversaw the sheriff’s communications and records section, was let go from the agency, sheriff’s officials confirmed Wednesday night. An agency spokesperson said Chronister was unable to comment on the matter due to the ongoing investigation. A voicemail left at a number for Stearns was not immediately returned Wednesday evening.Stearns had worked for the sheriff’s office for 25 years. She was one of at least five high-level officials who in recent weeks have come under scrutiny for their communications with a man named Robert Roush, who was alleged to have completed academic and work-related written assignments for them.The scandal came to light over the summer after the abrupt resignation of Anthony Collins, who was one of two chief deputies whom many community members saw as a likely candidate to be the next sheriff. The Tampa Bay Times later broke the story that Collins left after his wife alleged in an email to his colleagues that he’d paid Roush to write papers for him while attending the prestigious FBI National Academy, among other accusations. Collins denied the allegation, claiming that Roush was merely a tutor. But Chronister told the Times that Collins admitted to him that Roush had written half of his papers for the FBI program.The Times later obtained emails through public records requests that showed Cols. Michael Hannaford and Chris Rule had also sought Roush’s help with work-related writing assignments. Hannaford and Rule both remained on the job until last week when they resigned .Another captain, Lora Rivera, resigned as the office began an internal investigation. Chronister said Rivera admitted she paid Roush to complete a work-related project for her. The sheriff vowed to root out all misconduct within the agency.Much remains unclear about what Roush did to help the deputies. He previously lived in Pasco County but now lives in New Hampshire. Speaking with a Times reporter in August, he denied that he wrote papers for Collins, insisting that his work was limited to proofreading and editing. He acknowledged assisting other law enforcement officers, but declined to say who.Besides Collins, none of the deputies who have left the agency in the wake of the scandal have spoken publicly about the allegations. Stearns was born in Havana, Cuba, and grew up in Tampa, according to her official biography on the sheriff’s office website. When she was a sergeant in 2023, the sheriff’s office featured an interview with her on its social media pages, in which she talked about her family’s immigration to the U.S. during the Mariel boatlift in 1980 and their establishment of a life in the U.S.She started as a patrol deputy in 2000 and later worked in the agency’s school resource, recruitment and training and polygraph units. She held supervisory roles in the patrol, traffic and community outreach divisions.

Hillsborough sheriff’s captain fired amid academic cheating probe

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