The mysterious saga of the Last-But-Not-Really-Last Chance Agreement between the North Miami Police Department and Officer Jodlyn Antoine has finally-but-not-really been solved.

In a blog I posted on March 28, 2015, I detailed Antoine’s storied history of misbehavior since he was first hired by the North Miami Police Department on July 26, 2004.  In that blog, I noted:

During the course of his employment as a North Miami Police Officer, Jodlyn Antoine violated:

1. North Miami Police Department Standard Operation Procedures regarding the use of computers TWICE!
2. North Miami Police Department Rules and Regulations regarding conduct unbecoming TWICE!
3. Civil Service Rules regarding competence and efficiency in the performance of his duties FOUR TIMES!
4. He committed a bunch of egregious violations of these and other rules and regulations a grand total of SEVEN TIMES!

As punishment for all these violations, Officer Antoine received two Written Reprimands, one 8-Hour Suspension, one 24-Hour Suspension, one 1-Month Suspension, and (thanks to an incomplete public record) one Unknown-At-This-Time Discipline.

After Antoine’s last Internal Affairs Investigation resulted in sustained allegations of wrongdoing, Police Chief Leonard Burgess ignored a recommendation of “Termination” by Antoine’s Chain of Command, and offered him instead a Last Chance Agreement to finally behave or be fired.

During the investigation, Antoine had been placed on paid administrative leave on March 27, 2014 while the State Attorney’s Office began investigating possible criminal charges against him.  Even though the SAO closed its criminal case against him on May 14, 2014, and the Internal Affairs investigation concluded on or about June 6, 2014, Antoine continued to remain on paid administrative leave, at a cost to North Miami taxpayers of $6,344.30 per month, or a total of $57,098.70, until December 14, 2014, at which time he began serving his one month suspension without pay.

Once the Internal Affairs investigation was completed, and a Disposition Panel determined that the allegations against Officer Jodlyn Antoine were SUSTAINED, on July 18, 2014 his Chain of Command issued a Notice of Disciplinary Action recommending “Termination.”  Chief Leonard Burgess waited almost two months until September 12, 2014 to sign this Notice, which was the same date he sent a memo to Antoine recommending that he enter into the Last Chance Agreement.

Only, as we now know, this Last Chance Agreement was never finalized.

On September 29, 2014, Chief Burgess sent a letter to Officer Jodlyn Antoine advising him of his intent to terminate his employment “for the reasons set forth by your Chain of Command in the Notice of Disciplinary Action dated July 18, 2014.”

According to the letter, Antoine was entitled to a “Pre-Determination Hearing,” at which time he “will have an opportunity to address the findings in the report.”

Over two months later on December 8, 2014, while Antoine was still on paid administrative leave, earning almost $13,000.00 courtesy of North Miami taxpayers, Chief Burgess wrote a letter to Officer Jodlyn Antoine advising him of a new game plan.

In this letter, Chief Burgess spelled out the terms of Antoine’s punishment in lieu of termination, which included a “30 day (300 hours) disciplinary suspension without pay.”  One hundred (100) of those hours would be deducted from his “accrued Annual Leave,” and Antoine would be suspended the remaining two hundred hours, or 10 days, without pay.  (By the way, the 100 hours he had to give up, he already earned while he was on paid administrative leave.)

Considering that Antoine had just come off a taxpayer funded nine month vacation while earning over FIFTY SEVEN THOUSAND DOLLARS for sitting on his ass, this unpaid 10 day suspension, worth approximately $2,085.00, was chump change.

Oh, and he had to give up his take home car for six months.

Still, that was some “punishment,” huh?

The first gift he got was not being fired.

The second gift that Officer Antoine received was that he would not be required to abide by the terms of the proposed Last Chance Agreement, which provided for an immediate termination should he again violate “any provisions of the City or Police Department’s policies” within a year.

In other words, once Antoine served his suspension, Chief Lenny’s “progressive discipline” clock was reset to zero.

Isn’t that special?

However, Antoine’s freshly served suspension was barely two months old when he was back to his old tricks of stalking and harassing women.

As I wrote in Predictably, sexual predator North Miami cop does it again, according to a citizen complaint filed on July 28, 2015, Antoine began stalking another woman after meeting her on a call to her home.

Instead of immediately ordering an Internal Affairs investigation, Chief Lenny’s first reaction was to try to sweep it under the rug.

But then I blogged it.

Chief Lenny then he tried to claim that an Internal Affairs investigation had already been in progress.

But I blogged that, too.

Then he tried to dance around the cover up by blaming the PBA.

Obviously, that didn’t work, either.

Now there is finally an Internal Affairs investigation in the works, the results of which could take a while.

In the meantime, I thought I’d share an interesting story about a Boynton Beach police officer who is presently standing trial for allegedly raping a young woman last October.

Boynton Beach Police Officer Stephen Maiorino was arrested after the woman accused him of raping her at gunpoint and, according to an October 30, 2014 article on Channel 5 West Palm Beach article, he was going to be charged with “armed sexual battery and armed kidnapping.”

On December 2, 2014, the Sun-Sentinel article reported that the woman who accused Officer Maiorino of rape filed a lawsuit against the City of Boynton Beach, claiming that “the city and the Police Department knew Maiorino had a history of misconduct and that the entities are liable for his crimes because they continued to employ him.”

The legal term for this allegation is “negligent retention.”

Boy, does that sound familiar, or what?

According to the Sun-Sentinel article, before being hired by Boynton Beach, Maiorino had an arrest record for “driving under the influence and providing alcohol to a minor.”  He was also the subject of “three excessive force complaints” between 2010 and 2012, which investigations determined the complaints to be unfounded.  In 2013, he was investigated for not transporting a prisoner directly to the Palm Beach County Jail after an arrest, and received only a written warning.

After Maiorino’s arrest, however, Boynton Beach Police Chief Jeffrey Katz fired him.

Stephen Maiorino’s rape trial started today.  In case you’re interested, you can follow the live blog on the Palm Beach Post website by clicking here:  Boynton Beach Rape Trial

Like North Miami Police Officer Jodlyn Antoine, Stephen Maiorino has a less than stellar record.

While Antoine hasn’t raped anyone … yet … Antoine’s “rap sheet” is a lot longer than Maiorino’s.

On top of that, Antoine was disciplined TWICE for ILLEGALLY accessing the police database for the purpose of carrying out his predatory deeds.

The first time was on June 6, 2012, for which he received a written reprimand, and the second time on December 10, 2014, which resulted in his last suspension.

Like Stephen Maiorino’s victim did, it really is only a matter of time that one of Antoine’s victims files a lawsuit for negligent retention.

Should such a lawsuit be filed, I imagine all of Antoine’s previous victims, some of whom may have been fearful of coming forward before, may actually feel courageous enough to follow suit.

Just saying.

In any event, no one should be surprised by what may happen next.

Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”