The City of North Miami is so lucky to have such a multi-talented chief of police.
In addition to being the city’s Top Cop, Chief Lenny’s unofficial titles also include Ladies’ Man, Political Animal, Spin Doctor, Fudgemeister, and Flag Football Coach.
Now he can add the title of “Magician” to his list of extraordinary accomplishments.
I shall explain.
As I reported on March 28, 2015 in Chief Lenny’s Last Chance Saloon, instead of terminating Officer Jodlyn Antoine after his third Internal Affairs investigation, Chief Lenny decided to enter into a Last Chance Agreement with the serial sexual predator, a copy of which I received through a PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST.
The very first page of this PUBLIC RECORD is the disciplinary notification issued by Police Chief Leonard Burgess to Officer Jodlyn Antoine, advising him that the disciplinary action being take is per: “SEE ATTACHMENT. LAST CHANCE AGREEMENT.”
This notification was dated August 1, 2014 and signed by Chief Leonard Burgess. The receipt of this notification was acknowledged by Officer Jodlyn Antoine on September 18, 2014, per his signature at the bottom.
The second page of the PUBLIC RECORD that I received was a memo from Police Chief Leonard Burgess to Officer Jodlyn Antoine, which was SIGNED BY CHIEF BURGESS on September 12, 2014. This memo advised Antoine that, in lieu of the Disciplinary Action of Termination recommended by his chain of command, Chief Burgess recommended “the attached Last Chance Agreement dated August 25, 2014, as an alternative to being terminated from employment.”
According to the terms of the Last Chance Agreement, Antoine was to serve a “one (1) month suspension without pay” and give up the use of his “City-issued take home vehicle” for “six (6) months.”
Also, according to paragraph 2. c. of the Last Chance Agreement:
Now, here’s where it gets interesting.
Earlier this month I discovered that Officer Jodlyn Antoine is again stalking and harassing women. No one should be surprised that he’s repeating the same behavior that’s gotten him in trouble countless times before.
It seems that a complaint by a Mr. Gregg Swift was made on July 28, 2015, claiming that Antoine was stalking his girlfriend after having met her on a police call to her home.
Since the Last Chance Agreement went into effect on September 12, 2014, and Mr. Swift’s complaint of sexual harassment was made “within the twelve (12) month period following the effective date of this Agreement,” according to the terms of the Agreement, the City had the option to terminate Antoine immediately.
However, as I reported in Predictably, sexual predator North Miami cop does it again!, instead of turning the complaint over to the Internal Affairs division of the North Miami Police Department, Chief Burgess tried to sweep it under the rug. After all, since the Last Chance Agreement was Chief Lenny’s brilliant idea, he couldn’t afford to have it blow up in his face. By not ordering an IA investigation, Burgess was able to hide Mr. Swift’s complaint from the City Manager. In fact, Aleem Ghany didn’t find out about it until I posted my blog.
Almost as predictable as Jodlyn Antoine’s deviant behavior was the Chief’s reaction to my discovery of his cover up.
Within two hours of my post, Chief Lenny finally launched an Internal Affairs investigation and sicced Sergeant Diana Roman on the case, who then immediately started harassing Mr. Swift into giving an “official statement.”
After ignoring his complaint FOR OVER A MONTH!
Even more predictably, when it all hit the fan, Chief Lenny tried to pass the buck.
This time he blamed the Dade County Police Benevolent Association (PBA), claiming that the union pressured him into offering Antoine the Last Chance Agreement in lieu of termination.
After I publicized that fiasco, I was contacted by a representative of the PBA, who told me flat out that the union had absolutely, positively nothing at all to do with the Last Chance Agreement.
Well, that was interesting.
Upon further examination, I noticed that page 5 of the Last Chance Agreement was signed by the Chief, but not signed by Antoine OR the Dade County Police Benevolent Association.
I immediately dashed off a letter to the City Manager, Mayor and Council, explaining my dilemma.
As I already reported, Councilman Scott Galvin responded, but no one else bothered to write back.
Last night I dashed off a quick email as a reminder.
As usual, the only one to respond was Councilman Scott Galvin.
However, imagine my surprise when I read his email!
Wait, WHAT?
Chief Leonard Burgess told Scott Galvin that the very same Last Chance Agreement, WHICH I RECEIVED FROM THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF THE CITY OF NORTH MIAMI…
DOESN’T EXIST?
WTF???
Chief Leonard “Houdini” Burgess actually believes he can make an entire PUBLIC RECORD disappear by simply denying it exists!
What a neat trick, huh?
Despite all evidence to the contrary, North Miami Police Chief Leonard Burgess has managed to somehow convince the City Manager, Mayor and Council of the sixth largest municipality in Miami-Dade County, Florida, that he knows what he’s doing and that he deserves his job.
Hopefully, the Mayor and Council will finally see through all his lies, deception and duplicity, and demand that the City Manager get rid of Chief Leonard Burgess for once and for all.
And his little pet predator, Jodlyn Antoine, too.
Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”
Our police chief is a liar, we have a sexual predator police officer in our city and our city council turns a blind eye to all of it. It looks to me like we haven’t had much improvement since the days of Andre Pierre, Marie Steril and Steve Johnson. The names have changed but the corruption game is still the same.
Carol Keys and Scott Galvin you promised us a change from the status quo. Councilman Galvin you claim in your emails that you’re the champion for the people and take credit for stamping out corruption in our city. Where are you now and why aren’t you stepping up to the plate? Ms Keys you stood on your soap box decrying Andre Pierre’s corrupt leadership. Why don’t us taxpayers see either of you taking a stand about what’s going on in our police department? When did you both become so spineless or have you always been this way? I heard a lot of talk before the elections but once the politicians take office all they want is their lifetime insurance and their constituents be damned.
Stephanie when you get a chance can you email me. I do not know if you can help me find out what happened to the driver of the car who hit two kids in front of North miami Senor High. The kid who died worked for my friend’s uncle. The funeral was this morning. I have hears a couple of different stories one the driver was drunk and the other is the driver was let go. If you know anything please let me know. The kid that died was only 15 yeas of age.
Thanks
J Rafi Muniz
how can Galvin send you that response when your earlier email to the city had the friggin thing attached? why is the north miami city govt protecting Burgess who is protecting a lowlife “officer”? this is NOMI at it’s worst, sad and disgusting.
I used to think Galvin really cared about the city and we voted for him time and time again but I’ve lost all respect for him.
Stephanie, Just a heads up…. By State Law the offending officer must receive an official letter stating that an IA is being done. See if you can find said letter.
North Miami has a Chief of Police who lies. Considering what has gone on in this city that is no surprise. What is astonishing is that he still has his job! This puts his department and the residents of North Miami in jeopardy. One can only imagine the legal situation the city would be in if somebody actually won a financial settlement against the city because of Leonard Burgess’s incredible poor judgement. Officer Jodlyn Antoine is a law suit waiting to happen. One would hope that the Dade County Police Benevolent Association (PBA) has the power to remove both of these police officers’ accreditation.