VOLUSIA EXPOSED

POLITICAL QUID PRO QUO ?
Did Robert Kaiser receive "special treatment"
regarding his criminal charges ?
If so, who authorized the "special treatment"?

Based on the anonymous report that VolusiaExposed received, we decided to research whether any senior administrators within the Volusia County Sheriff Department had any connections to the Kaiser family.

We discovered that apparently, Sheriff Ben Johnson and Chief Deputy Mike Coffin serve on the West Volusia Police Athletic League Board, along side of Fred H. "Rocky" Kaiser.

We also ascertained, via the assistance of VCSO, Public Information Officer, Gary Davidson, confirmation that "Rocky" Kaiser has been a volunteer Reserve Deputy for over 30 years. He was first granted the status under the administration of Sheriff Ed Duff, and is currently in an active reserve status under Sheriff Johnson's administration.

Political Donations
Follow the money

Election campaign finance laws allow any individual to donate up to $500.00 to any political candidate's campaign. The below records tend to indicate that possibly two members of the Kaiser family donated that maximum amount ($500) to the campaign of Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson. The last sizeable donation being in April 2012, a few weeks after some of the charges had been dismissed against Robert Kaiser.

Okay, so the record appears to indicate that Sheriff Johnson received some politicals donations from the Kaiser family. Does that indicate that Sheriff Johnson engaged in a QUID PRO QUO arrangement with the Kaiser family, over Robert Kaiser's criminal charges? IT DOES NOT !!!

However, records also indicate that Rocky Kaiser was a volunteer reserved deputy of long standing, public election records indicated that Kaiser was a political contributor to Sheriff Johnson's campaign, and Sheriff Johnson's own campaign web site advertises the fact that the Kaisers were political supporters.

Therefore, is it a reasonable to question whether someone, other than Sheriff Johnson, "managed" the criminal charges of Robert Kaiser? We believe it is, how about you?

Deputy Travis Deane
Should any misconduct exist, could fault be solely that of the arresting deputy?

In late 2011, VCSO Deputy Travis Deane came under internal investigation on allegations of providing alcohol to underage females. also indicates concerns that Deputy Deane had possibly manipulated the facts surrounding the domestic violence arrest of a Stephen Dehut.

Mr. Dehut was apparently a "boy friend" of one of the underage females that Deputy Deane was accused of supplying alcohol to.

During the internal affairs investigation, allegations inferred that Deputy Deane had arrested Mr. Dehut merely to rid himself of a sexual rival, for the affections of one of the underage females (underage = under the legal drinking age). The State of Florida quietly dismissed their criminal case against Mr. Dehut on .

We invite you to review the two part article VolusiaExposed posted some months ago, regarding the above mentioned allegations against Deputy Deane.

VolusiaExposed.Com wonders why Deputy Deane was allowed to remain on active duty while these allegations were being reviewed, by apparently both the VCSO and the local State Attorney's office.

On February 8, 2012 (the day after Kaiser's arrest), Deputy Deane was advised that he was the subject of a criminal investigation attached to the allegations of supplying alcohol to underage females. The allegations that Deputy Deane may have engaged in misconduct and / or criminal conduct attached to the arrest of Mr. Dehut appears not to have been further investigated.

According to the above report, the State Attorney investigator filed his arrest affidavit on February 28, 2012 - the very same day most of the charges were dismissed against Robert Kaiser.

So, in less then a 90 day period, Deputy Deane has had two of his arrests dismissed - Mr. Dehut and Mr. Kaiser. So could Deputy Deane's apparent lack of veracity have been the catalyst for the charges being dismissed against Mr. Kaiser? Did the apparent "management" (no felonies filed) of Mr. Kaiser's charges have zero political connections? Could it simply be, that one alleged rogue deputy was soley involved in the "management" of Mr. Kaiser's charges?

IN THE DEFENSE OF DEPUTY DEANE
Where's the motive?
Where was the supervision?

Was Deputy Deane an outstanding deputy ? Obviously, the above listed documents and Court actions indicate that he was NOT !

However, in regards to the Kaiser arrest, what would have been Deane's personal motive not to charge Kaiser with any felonies? There is no evidence to even suggest that Deane and Kaiser enjoyed a friendship of any kind. Unlike the Dehut arrest, we can not identify any personal motives of Deputy Deane that would have caused him to "manage" (no felonies filed) the arrest of Mr. Kaiser.

We would imagine that Deputy Deane had a supervisor. We would imagine that arrest reports are reviewed by VCSO supervisors. With that thought in mind, is it logical to conclude, that at the very least, Deputy Deane's arrest report was approved (or maybe dictated) by his field supervisor?

THE MARK CARPER FACTOR
Was the VCSO just being consistent?

In April 2012, Volusia County Sheriff Deputies responded to Mr. Mark Carper's residence over a report of gun fire.

The VCSO was aware of Mr. Carper, they had been to his home before, and had, as Sheriff Johnson states in the attached video, taken him into custody under the . Individuals are taken into custody under the Baker Act when the pose a danger to themselves and others.

In the attached video, notice how Sheriff Johnson attempts to justify not taking Mr. Carper into custody - He (Carper) was in his "castle". But read the police report, they had entered his castle already, but retreated when Carper produced a firearm and refused lawful orders to drop the weapon.

Illegal display of a firearm? Refusing to obey a lawful order of a law enforcement officer? Are these crimes? But, in the video, doesn't Sheriff Johnson appear to state that no crimes had been committed by Mr. Carper?

Initially, the VCSO does surround Mr. Carper's "castle", for over three hours they attempt to negotiate his surrender. Then all of a sudden, the order is given to leave. Why?

Mr. Kaiser and Mr. Carper apparently do share something in common. Records appear to support that both have fathers, that are political supporters and financial contributors to Sheriff Ben Johnson.

Approximately, two weeks later, Mr. Carper shot and killed his next door neighbor, before committing suicide.

THE DEPUTY DUGGAN / MS. FACKLER FACTOR
Does the local State Attorney have a documented record of dropping
felony charges simply to spare the VCSO and it's deputies embarrassment?

Does anyone still remember the Deputy Shane Duggan scandal?

In short, he assisted Orange City PD in the DUI and Battery on a Law Enforcement Officer arrest of Ms. Amanda Fackler.

During the arrest, Deputy Duggan secured Ms. Fackler's personal property, car keys and such. Deputy Duggan was suppose to turn them over to the property section of the VCSO. However, instead he made contact with Ms. Fackler, and arranged a "personal" meeting at a restaurant, so that he could return her property.

KUDOS to Ms. Fackler, she knew someting was up, so she apparently arranged to have her meeting with Deputy Duggan video taped. (Video obtained by VolusiaExposed and is attached to this web page). The inference would appear to be that Deputy Duggan was attempting to start a personal relationship with Ms. Fackler.

Well, Ms. Fackler gave her video to her attorney, and her attorney played it for the State Attorney. In order to avoid embarrassing the VCSO or Deputy Duggan, that State Attorney dropped the felony charge against Ms. Fackler. How do we know this? Read page 2, first paragraph under "Investigative Summary", of the above listed VCSO internal affairs report, whereas they (VCSO) stated such.

So would the VCSO and / or the State Attorney manipulate the filing or prosecution of a criminal case, merely on the rationale of saving a deputy (or a reserve deputy) and the VCSO from embarrassment? If so, would it be appropriate to question whether MR. Kaiser's criminal charges were "managed" (no felonies), in order to save volunteer reserve Deputy Rocky Kaiser and the VCSO embarrassment?

There you (our readers) have it - you will each have to individually draw your own conclusions and opinions on whether the Scales of Justice are for sale in Volusia County. If you as an individual come to the conclusion that special treatment is being given to influential people, or their family, then you as a citizen of Volusia County have a duty to insure that this situation is corrected. However, if you formed the opinion that the Scales of Justice are not for sale, then print out the reports attached to the Carper and Kaiser incidents. Keep them on you, so if you ever have a family member in their house with a gun to his / her head, but you do not wish the VCSO to Baker Act him / her, you will be able to remind the sheriff that your loved one is in his / her "castle", like Mr. Carper was. Or maybe one day, you will find yourself in a situation whereas your brother, or your son is going through a rough patch in his marriage, and he behaves in a similar manner as Robert Kaiser, you can pull the VCSO reports out of your pocket and demand the same or similar treatment for your family member.

If that day ever comes (and we sure hope it doesn't) - and you find yourself in amazement that the VCSO has treated your family member differently, ask yourself this question - are you a political contributor, and to whom have or haven't you contributed to? Your answer might be very important !

"The best predictor of future behavior
is relevant past behavior." - Dr. Phil