by Kate Cimini
Fort Myers News-Press
(Nov. 1, 2024) A self-published children’s book author using a fake name. The president of a Lee County Sheriff’s Office nonprofit. A former state senator whose contract says she will “attend, whenever possible, meetings of government and community organizations.”
Under Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno, these contractors, and 11 others, have contracts worth more than a million in taxpayer dollars over two years to consult on Marceno’s animal cruelty task force, create videos, lobby for his office’s interests, and more –– and the office refuses to explain why, or what value they’ve brought the taxpayers.
The costliest contracts were handed out to the self-published author and former state senator: more than $150,000 went to “Grace Birch’s” Von Schnoodle LLC Consulting in two years. Even more went to former Florida Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto’s AGL Consulting.
The News-Press / Naples Daily reviewed theirs and other contracts provided by the sheriff’s office after a former Lee County Sheriff’s Office consultant was recorded saying Marceno had used his sheriff’s office payments to launder funds.
Two months ago, Marceno’s political rival for sheriff, Mike Hollow, published a recording in which the former sheriff’s office contractor accused Marceno of laundering taxpayer money through him. Ken Romano, a Bonita Springs jeweler, was paid more than $30,000 in 2022 as a social media expert, records confirm. However, he and his business have minimal social media footprints.
In the recording, Romano accused Marceno of using Romano to secretly pass taxpayer money, in cash, to one of Marceno’s family members.
Marceno called the accusations “baseless” in the weeks following publication of Romano’s accusation, but has since declined to comment. He has not been charged with a crime.
The News-Press / Naples Daily News reviewed all 32 contracts the Lee County Sheriff’s Office has signed with contractors since 2021, 12 of them current at the time they were provided in September, and reached out to the office and every contractor with specific questions about their contracts and work.
A reporter asked the office how specific contracts were awarded, what qualifications certain contractors met to merit their payments, what policies had been adopted or implemented because of their work, how many hours a week they averaged, and how they had added value to the sheriff’s office that its full-time employees could not. The office declined to answer these questions.
“Most large businesses and organizations utilize contracted personnel and rely on their respective expertise or knowledge to produce the best possible product while saving taxpayer dollars,” said Christopher Fine, a lieutenant in the office’s public affairs department.
“The productivity of all contracted personnel with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office is monitored by a lieutenant or above, or the equivalent civilian rank.”
All current contractors were contacted for this story, as well. All reached declined repeated requests for comment, including calls, emails, Facebook and LinkedIn messages. A handful referred a reporter to the sheriff’s office, which declined on their behalf, as well. Most did not respond to any form of contact.
The contracts follow a basic template. They have no specific deadlines, measurements or goals for contractors to achieve or meet, require contractors to work a “reasonable amount of hours” for the sheriff’s office, and request only “regular verbal reports” from said contractors –– though written reports must be made if requested.
In order to report this story, The News-Press / Naples Daily News reviewed the contracts and payment invoices for the last two years, and cross-referenced them with business incorporation documents filed with the state, all available contractor social media profiles, court documents and more.
Their jobs varied. Some contractors provide physical fitness training to deputies, run after-school youth boxing programs, or review contracts, while others were hired to attend government and community meetings.
One, Grace Birch, was brought on two years ago to write children’s books featuring animals that come through the animal abuse program, which educates Lee County residents on animal abuse and neglect and enforces existing laws.
In 2023, Marceno signed a contract with Von Schnoodle LLC Consulting, a company run by Susan Edwards, according to state business filings.
The contract was signed as “Grace Birch,” a fake name or pseudonym under which a trio of children’s books were self-published about Edwards’ dog, Otto, titled “The Adventures of Otto Von Schnoodle.” Edwards has self-identified as “Grace Birch” on social media where she regularly endorses Marceno and cheers his re-election campaign on.
A LinkedIn profile under the name “Grace Birch” lists her previous positions as a vice president at a Maine-based claims consulting firm, and at a restoration and remodeling company. Another LinkedIn profile under the name Susan Edwards lists the same position of vice president at the Maine-based claims consulting firm –– Edwards’ husband’s LinkedIn lists him as president. The same woman is pictured in both profiles.
Edwards’ LLC, also named for her dog, is registered at a P.O box at a Bonita Springs Pak-n-Ship, just west of Interstate 75 and roughly a seven-minute drive from her Bonita Springs home, according to Lee Property Appraiser’s records and Google Maps.
Edwards did not respond to multiple requests for comment sent to her two Facebook profiles, LinkedIn profiles, by email or by phone. Her husband, when reached by phone, declined to put her on.
“Grace Birch” is not registered as a fictitious name under which Edwards is doing business in Florida, nor is the name affiliated with Von Schnoodle, LLC in available state records. However, it is legal to sign a contract under a pseudonym, so long as both entities understand the identity of the person signing the contract, case law says.
When asked if Marceno knew Birch was Edwards’ pseudonym at the time of signing, Lee County Sheriff’s Office Public Affairs Captain Todd Olmer said in email, “Grace Birch is well known in the community, and to [Lee County Sheriff’s Office]. Use of her nom de plum when signing the contract resulted in a legally recognized and enforceable agreement.”
The contract lists “Birch” (i.e. Edwards) as an advisor on the animal cruelty task force and says she also consults on the community outreach program. Too, it says she would write books on the animals involved in the sheriff’s animal programs at a rate of $5,000 a month, or $60,000 a year. The 2023 contract, which ran from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 of 2023, was renewed Jan. 1 of 2024 for the same terms.
However, payment invoices show the Von Schnoodle account was actually paid just under $110,000 by the sheriff’s office in 2023 alone.
“The LLC created and published materials for community outreach,” Olmer told The News-Press / Naples Daily News, when asked why Von Schnoodle was paid nearly double the contracted amount. “The costs outside of the contracted monthly payment were for these materials still in use today.”
It is notable that law enforcement agencies have access to free and low-cost children’s books on some topics, like those commissioned by organizations like the National Center for Missing and Exploited children, and written by professional authors, intended to help law enforcement connect with children in their communities.
Olmer did not respond to requests for copies of any materials written by “Birch” or Edwards when asked by email, or for a list of said materials. None have yet been returned in response to the public records request The News-Press / Naples Daily News submitted.
State law requires public agencies like the Lee County Sheriff’s Office to provide public records within a reasonable amount of time.
It is not clear what written materials Edwards has contributed to the office, what specific qualifications she has to advise the programs, or even how many hours a week she averages working as a contractor for the sheriff.
The LinkedIn for “Birch” says she graduated in 1982 from the University of Maine with a degree in childhood education. Edwards’ profile does not.
In 2024, office-provided records showed Von Schnoodle was on-track to gross the original $60,000 promised to the LLC for 2024.
All told, roughly $160,000 of taxpayer money has been paid out to Von Schnoodle by the sheriff’s office in two years.
Other contracts show similar rates of pay, some going to former politicians or law enforcement professionals.
AGL Solutions, former state senator Benacquisto’s state-registered LLC, for example, was paid $9,000 a month, from March 1, 2023 through March 1 2024 for “attend(ing), whenever possible, meetings of government and community organizations … and otherwise assessing community issues, concerns and opportunities; and/or providing advice and consultation as the Sheriff deems beneficial to the agency.”
Benacquisto re-signed a contract for the same terms from March 1, 2024 through the same date in 2025. Her contract is ongoing. She has been paid at least $216,000 by the office in the last two years.
Marceno also signed a contract for 2024 – 2025 that pays Physical Evidence Consultants, owned by Dennis Fahey, the president of one of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office’s nonprofits –– the LCSO Fallen Deputy Memorial –– $71,000 for 2024, a $2,000 raise from the rate of pay the year before.
Fahey, who was to be paid at a rate of $5,750 monthly from May 2023 to May 2024, was only paid at this rate for 10 months, moving to a pay rate of $5,916.67 two months earlier than the contract stated.
Fahey’s contract is for reviewing documents and records “to establish or validate LCSO’s current standard report writing practices” and educate and train sheriff’s office employees.
It is not clear why Fahey’s consulting firm received a higher pay rate early, nor what he accomplished to merit an early raise. No contract amendment was provided, which typically accompanies a raise, nor did the office respond to questions asking about the raise.
Another $60,000 went to John McGowan’s company, Legacy Strategic Consulting, Inc., “to expand the unit now known as the Civilian Support Unit by recruiting community members of the highest moral character to volunteer for the new Civilian Support Unit with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.”
It has contracted with the sheriff’s office for at least two years, earning at least $120,000 since September 2022, payment records show.
Another $65,000 went to Big Events Southwest Florida for shooting and producing videos, cold-case podcast Seeking Closure, and social media posts for the sheriff’s office from May 2023 to May 2024, and Big Events is contracted for the same from May 2024 to May 2025.
Too, $60,000 a year went to a company operated by Scott Wyatt Griffith of Cape Coral, under the name G6 XD Performance, LLC, in 2023, to measure body fat on deputies and provide them with a workout regimen. His company’s contract was renewed for $70,000 annually in 2024.
In total, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office paid out to contractors $564,000 for contracts that ran 2023-2024 and are contracted to pay at least $510,800 for its 2024-2025 contracts.
Some of these contracts stretched back years. The companies of McMahon, Jones, Griffith, and Fahey have been contractors continuously with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office since at least 2021, documents show. Benacquisto’s AGL Solutions started with the agency in 2022.
Some locals have called for a financial audit of the sheriff’s office in public meetings.
State law requires the county conduct an annual financial review and submit it to the Florida Auditor General. CliftonLarsonAllen, a national accounting firm with an office in Fort Myers, has conducted the Lee audit for at least the last five fiscal years.
“Twice each year, LCSO is audited by two independent professional organizations and passes with flying colors,” Marceno said in a candidate Q&A published by The News-Press / Naples Daily News.
CliftonLarsonAllen’s Managing Director of PR and Internal Communications Cameron Potts declined comment on behalf of the firm.
If widespread fraud were found in an audit, the information would be passed on to authorities, said Florida Auditor General’s office Manager of Local Government Reviews and Special Audits Derek Noonan. Either the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the local state’s attorney, or the FBI’s corruption department would investigate or prosecute from there, he added.
“A financial audit wouldn’t necessarily pick that up,” Noonan said. “The only way an auditor would find kickbacks would be if someone said something.
“Errors, fraud, abuse and waste can all look the same at first,” Noonan said.
Contractors account for a small percentage of the sheriff’s office spending, but are notable due to the accusations by Romano, as well as the office’s refusal to go into detail about its process for choosing and awarding contracts.
Marceno is not required to bid contracts through the county, though retired law enforcement professionals and contract lawyers say it is smart to do so, as it can ensure taxpayer money is spent effectively and contractors are held to a high standard. Too, the sheriff’s office is one of seven constitutional offices, separate but equal sections of county government. Ultimately, it is up to the sheriff how to spend the agency’s budget.
The sheriff’s office’s operating budget for fiscal year 2024-25 is $315 million.
Since Marceno was appointed sheriff, his office’s annual budget has increased about 70%. The general fund budget for fiscal year 2018-19 stood at $183.5 million.
“Our budget has increased, however, it appears rapid as in years past it did not keep up with population growth,” Marceno said in his candidate Q&A.
Marceno has handed out a large contract to a friend in the past, his election opponent has alleged.
Romano said in a recording made by write-in candidate for sheriff Mike Hollow, that Marceno paid him up to $5,700 a month, with the understanding that Romano would pass $1,700 of the payments on to Marceno’s father in cash. The money ostensibly went to payment on a Mercedes-Benz S Class, Hollow recorded Romano saying.
Sheriff’s office-provided documents confirm Romano contracted as a social media expert with the office for seven months in 2022, paid up to $5,700 a month.
Hollow says the FBI is investigating Marceno based on Romano’s claims. The FBI has refused to confirm or deny the existence of an investigation.
Marceno was captured on camera in June accepting a stack of cash from Romano inside Romano’s Bonita Springs jewelry store.
Naples-based criminal defense attorney, Donald Day, said Marceno had “conducted legitimate sales transactions” with Romano, when sent the video.
The department terminated its contract with Romano in July of 2022, effective August 2022, with the office citing the fact that Romano was “currently the subject of an investigation by another law enforcement agency” as cause. Still, the Lee agency offered Romano another contract in 2024, agency documents show, for the same $5,700 a month. Romano did not sign the second contract.
The sheriff’s office declined to respond to questions asking what qualifications Romano had to advise the office on its social media use, detail which law enforcement agency was investigating him in 2022, for what he was being investigated, and how the office was alerted to said investigation.
Romano could not be reached for comment.
Kate Cimini is the Florida Investigative Reporter for the USA TODAY-Network Florida, based at The News-Press and The Naples Daily News.
