LEE COUNTY, Fla. — According to Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno’s opponent in the upcoming November election, Marceno is currently under investigation by the FBI for alleged embezzlement and using taxpayer dollars to buy his father a Mercedes Benz.
Mike Hollow is running against Marceno for Lee County’s top law enforcement position and has obtained recordings from one of Marceno’s friends, 55-year-old Bonita Springs jeweler Ken Romano, who has alleged the corruption.
In the recordings, Romano, who Hollow says is also a source in the FBI’s investigation, can be heard describing how Marceno bought himself a Ferrari and a Mercedes Benz for his father.
On the audio recording, which was provided to the FBI, Romano states that Marceno had previously hired him as a “ghost employee” of the Sheriff’s office. Under the auspices of being a “consultant” to Marceno’s office, Romano was allegedly paid $4,000 per month.
Romano then claims to have received an additional $1,700 per month pay bump when Marceno decided to purchase his father the Mercedes Benz, the informant says in the recording.
According to Romano, $1,500 was used to pay the loan each month for Marceno’s father’s Mercedes Benz and the leftover $200 was allegedly used to make the insurance payment.
“The day he bought his Ferrari was the same day when he turned around to me and said, ‘Listen bro, I want to do something nice for my father… I want to get him a nice ride so he can travel back and forth from the east coast [of Florida] for his treatments,’” Romano says in the audio tapes obtained by Hollow.
According to Romano, Marceno’s father has a kidney condition, which requires regular treatment.
“[Marceno] told the undersheriff [John Holloway] to give me a pay raise of $1,700, because that’s what the car payment was approximately,” Romano says in the audio recordings. “Now that I think about it, it was an extra $1,500 per month, and then he told me, he said ‘Sh*t, the insurance on the car. I’ll make it $1,700. Let me call my undersheriff back.”
According to Hollow, these actions are entirely unacceptable.
“Sheriff Marceno’s actions not only showcase his belief that he is above the law, but his alleged criminal actions give a black eye to law enforcement as a whole and bring negative attention to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office,” Hollow said. “I hope the voters this November will join me in ending the corruption in our community.”
Hollow says his first action as sheriff will be initiating a forensic audit of the department.
Mike Hollow began his law enforcement career as a Boston Police officer in the mid 2000s. After joining the Lee County Sheriff’s Office about 17 years ago as a sheriff’s deputy, he rose through the ranks from a patrol officer and K-9 patrol officer to a robbery and homicide detective with the Lee County Major Crimes unit. He later worked as the Commander of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office Internal Affairs department, then as a Watch Commander for the Lee County Sheriff’s Office Aviation Unit. He holds a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice with a concentration in Public Administration.
