Former Crestview Police Chief Brian Mitchell was arrested Thursday on a charge of official misconduct.
He was taken into custody in Okaloosa County and released on $5,000 bond.
Read the probable cause affidavit. >>
The arrest stemmed from an investigation into Mitchell’s 2007 hiring of former Maj. Joseph Floyd, who is accused of committing numerous crimes while serving as commander of the Police Department’s Street Crimes Unit.
“Mitchell, while chief of police, either falsified or caused to be falsified various documents related to the hiring of Joseph E. Floyd,” according to a news release from the state attorney’s office.
A probable cause affidavit states Mitchell hired Floyd knowing that he was under investigation by another Florida law enforcement agency and instructed his staff “not to do a background investigation or even to talk to Floyd about his employment application.”
Mitchell could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Mitchell and Floyd were close friends and worked together in Havana, where Mitchell was police chief for eight years before he was hired by Crestview in 2006. Floyd was employed in Havana from 2002 to 2006.
Floyd left Havana to work for the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office. Not long after his arrival, county officials there began investigating his educational credentials, the probable cause affidavit says.
“Records show Floyd obtained (his degree) from a diploma mill in the Virgin Islands that was not accredited” in Florida, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Floyd, who already had been fired from the Bay County Sheriff’s Office, quit in Sarasota County while the investigation was under way, the probable cause affidavit says.
Mitchell hired him soon after as a lieutenant and quickly promoted him to major.
Crestview police employment background forms examined by the state attorney’s office indicated Mitchell checked off personal references on Floyd’s application and falsified a reference from a human resources manager in Sarasota County.
“The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office employee testified … she was never contacted by anyone with the Crestview Police Department,” the probable cause affidavit says.
Mitchell also signed or had signed documents which dishonestly stated Floyd held a bachelor’s degree, according to the affidavit.
He also claimed Floyd had not left another law enforcement agency while under investigation, the affidavit says.
Floyd’s indictment states that he ran roughshod over fellow officers and civilians. He is accused of inflicting physical and emotional harassment, including sexual harassment.
Floyd also is accused of lying on his job application, misusing city resources and falsifying or altering official documents.
Crestview Mayor David Cadle suspended Floyd and Mitchell shortly before Floyd’s arrest and eventually fired both men.
Cadle, who has direct oversight over the Police Department, has said hiring procedures have been examined in the wake of Floyd’s hiring.
A grand jury presentment made public in May 2012 lambasted Mitchell’s handling of Floyd. Mitchell “failed to perform his duty and withheld information about substantial instances of misconduct, and even criminal activity,” the report said.
“Before becoming a law enforcement officer, Maj. Floyd had multiple arrests, including arrests for battery, disorderly conduct and resisting a law enforcement officer,” the presentment noted.
The grand jury’s report added that Floyd had been employed by four agencies in eight years and at all but one was “terminated, pressured to resign, or left while under investigations for various acts of misconduct and criminal activity.”
Eddins said the charges against Mitchell have come so long after Floyd’s arrest because his office ran into some trouble compiling the records needed to verify allegations he had falsified documents.
“It was a situation where all of the records were not provided immediately,” he said. “It took a while to make sure we had all the records we needed, and after we did we went back and interviewed several witnesses.”
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Tom McLaughlin at 850-315-4435 or tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomMnwfdn.