CRESTVIEW — Former police Maj. Joseph Floyd had a naked Barbie doll with her mouth duct-taped shut placed at a public gathering to mock a woman he had sexually assaulted, prosecuting attorney Russ Edgar told jurors Tuesday.
Floyd also helped a Crestview City Council member friend by intimidating his estranged wife during a custody dispute, Edgar added.
Floyd used excessive force on residents and fellow officers “for practice, initiation and sport,” and threatened a man with a gun at his side as a “favor for a friend,” Edgar said.
During his opening statement at Floyd’s racketeering trial, Edgar threw out a long list of misdeeds he said evidence will show Floyd committed during his five years on Crestview’s police force, where he served as the head of the city’s Street Crimes Unit under the direction of his best friend, former Police Chief Brian Mitchell.
“This is a case of misuse of police authority,” Edgar said. “This is a bully with a badge.”
Edgar is seeking to prove that Floyd, with Mitchell’s blessing, operated what amounted to a criminal enterprise from within the Police Department. He accused Floyd on Tuesday of committing eight distinct criminal acts: making false official statements, battery, assault, official misconduct, bribery, extortion, tampering with witnesses and tampering with evidence.
Edgar told jurors that evidence would show Floyd intimidated residents and co-workers. Some of his fellow employees hid behind their cars when they saw him coming, Edgar said.
He said one woman would testify that Floyd pulled off her clothes and forced sex on her. She went to police (Fort Walton Beach) but later “retracted the charges out of fear,” Edgar said. At a later date, Floyd had a subordinate bring an unclothed Barbie doll with duct tape across its lips placed on a buffet table where a celebration of several organizations was taking place.
He said Floyd went after the wife of former City Councilman Ben Iannucci because Iannucci, his friend, “didn’t like the way his divorce visitation was structured.”
Floyd’s order to his subordinates was “she either gives up the kids or she goes to that jail,” Edgar said.
Iannucci, who is listed as a witness in the trial, made a brief appearance Tuesday in the courtroom. The former councilman embraced Floyd warmly during a break in the proceedings, then left when someone apparently informed him that Circuit Judge Michael Flowers had ordered no potential witnesses be allowed in while court was in session.
After defense attorney Barry Beroset chose to reserve his opening remarks until after the prosecution rests, Edgar called police employees to testify regarding Floyd’s 2007 application for employment.
Beverly Baggett, who has been an assistant to Crestview police chiefs for 24 years, said Floyd’s application was like no other she processed, in that what normally took no longer than 30 days was not completed for nearly four months.
Edgar alleges that Floyd lied about his education, failed to include arrests on his record and didn’t truthfully state on his application that he’d been terminated from one law enforcement agency (Bay County) and left while under investigation by another (Sarasota County).
Crestview Maj. Ken Bundrick testified that he was negligent in processing Floyd’s application and background material, but said it was at Mitchell’s direction.
Asked why he didn’t object to Mitchell’s urging him not to investigate Floyd’s past, Bundrick said he had competed with Mitchell for the police chief’s job and “felt I was considered a problematic employee.”
“I have a family to feed and this is my only income,” he testified.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Tom McLaughlin at 850-315-4435 or tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomMnwfdn.