In case you missed it, the Miami New Times published an article on Wednesday all about NMPD Assistant Chief Larry Juriga.

In North Miami Interim Police Chief Once Claimed Discrimination for Being White “Redneck,” reporter Jessica Lipscomb wrote that when Chief Gary Eugene was fired, Juriga was appointed “as an interim replacement. But the decision to promote Juriga has raised eyebrows from many residents in the heavily Haitian community. Despite the fact that the police force remains overwhelmingly white, the interim chief filed an EEOC complaint as recently as two years ago claiming he was being discriminated against as an ‘anglo.'”

As we’ve already pointed out numerous times, Larry Juriga as Chief would be a disaster of epic proportions.  But for old times’ sake, let’s recap.

You might be a redneck if …

On June 6, 2015, Juriga filed a Charges of Discrimination with the EEOC against the City of North Miami.  Instead of letting this bogus complaint play out in court, former City Manager Aleem Ghany, who was also the subject of Juriga’s complaint, quickly settled by using $24,990.00 of his discretionary spending limit of $25,000.00 to make it go away without alerting the Mayor and Council.

In addition, since a twenty five thousand dollar bribe wasn’t pillage enough, Juriga also demanded and received:

• Legal fees in the amount of $7,500.00.
• A permanent annual pay raise at the same rate of the Chief of Police, or an additional $6,000.00 plus a year.
• Which raise resulted in an increase in his payout for any unused sick and vacation time up to a maximum of 2,500 hours when he leaves, which amounts to over $7,200.00.
• “Free” health insurance until he turns 65 years of age.  Since he was 44 years old at the time of the settlement, this “freebie” will cost taxpayers a almost $200,000.00.

Think about it.

For all the pain and suffering Aleem Ghany caused him by referring to him as a redneck, Larry Juriga bilked nearly QUARTER OF A MILLION in today’s dollars from North Miami residents.

KA-CHING!

His claim of being discriminated against because he’s white is laughable in itself.  As we’ve already reported, “he’s apparently forgotten how many doors have been opened for him because, well, he happens to be white.”

Wrong!

In order to defend herself against racial discrimination charges, and despite the fact that Juriga failed the promotional exam, a former black Chief of Police promoted this white officer “two ranks to Major, over an entire class of lieutenants who were not even considered for promotion, some of whom had been patiently waiting their turn for years.”

Juriga also claimed that a white chief and white assistant chief were “forced out” of the department because of their race.

Wrong!

We already revealed that they chose to leave at a time “there was a mass exodus from the police department due to looming budget, salary and benefit cuts.”  They were in no way “forced out.”  Juriga clearly lied to the EEOC.

Then again, he’s no stranger to lying.

After the shooting of an unarmed black man by one of his “expertly” trained, and questionably hired, SWAT team members, Officer Jonathan Aledda, Juriga outright lied to protect his protégé.

He contrived a plot to blame and frame Commander Emile Hollant (and by extension, implicate the newly appointed Chief Gary Eugene) for the shooting.  In response, Chief Eugene wanted to fire Larry Juriga, but he was told not to do so by Juriga-crony, Deputy City Manager Arthur “Duke” Sorey.

Meanwhile, Commander Hollant, who was wrongfully accused by the cop who actually did lie,  has been sitting home on paid administrative leave for sixteen months now, sending more taxpayer money down the drain – thanks to Larry Juriga.

KA-CHING!

This unfortunate decision to keep Juriga on the payroll, which he now regrets, led to Chief Eugene’s own firing for blowing the whistle on corruption in the department.

It also led to his own public humiliation for a myriad of false accusations against him conjured up by Team Juriga designed to get rid of the Haitian Chief of Police and his appointments.

Gary Eugene is now suing the city and his false accusers in federal court.  Despite several desperate motions filed the by city to dismiss the lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Marcia G. Cooke ordered the case to go to trial.  If Eugene wins, and he likely will, North Miami taxpayers will pay through the nose.

KA-CHING!

Juriga’s devious scheme has worked out well – for him.

The minute Gary Eugene was canned, Juriga saw his opportunity to get himself appointed as Interim Chief – with the help of good old Duke Sorey.

And now, he wants the gig on a permanent basis, despite the fact that there are two dozen vastly more qualified applicants for the job.

We recently posted the summaries of only ten of those applications.  We also included a survey so our readers could participate in the proverbial “mock trial,” with the caveat that our picks were “not-so random.”

The resumes of two of those applicants are already employed by the NMPD (Larry Juriga and Assistant Chief Robert Bage), while the other eight were from outside the department, and the ones considered as the top notch candidates.  (Note: Earlier this week we received an updated list of additional outstanding applicants, but it was too late to add them to our survey.)

We assume you’ve already figured out which of the ten candidates are the insiders, but you’ll have to wait for the results when the survey is closed.

One of them, however, is Larry Juriga, who is uniquely unqualified for the position.

Let us remind you that the North Miami Police Department lost its accreditation last year.  Yes, this disaster happened under Chief Lenny’s watch, but most of the areas that failed the assessment, including training, were the direct responsibility of Larry Juriga.

Despite all the screw-ups Larry Juriga has caused for the NMPD, he’s desperately vying to be appointed as the top cop even though he’s clearly undeserving.

Lobbyists, Politicians and Leeches!  Oh my!

In addition to his support by the corrupt Deputy City Manager, Arthur Sorey, Larry Juriga listed Florida’s Super Lobbyist, Ronald L. Book, as a reference on his application.

A lobbyist, Larry?  Really?

It should be noted that Ron Book is registered to lobby the Florida Legislature on behalf of the City of North Miami, which pays him an annual fee of $80,000.00 (according to the proposed budget for FY 2017/18).

The big question is:  Does the City of North Miami pay Ronald L. Book EIGHTY THOUSAND DOLLARS a year to lobby for the city in Tallahassee …

… or to LOBBY FOR LARRY JURIGA TO BECOME CHIEF OF POLICE?

Asking for a friend.

Nevertheless …

KA-CHING!

Larry Juriga has also enlisted the help of County Commissioner Sally Heyman to lobby city officials on his behalf.

This would be the same Sally Heyman who recently threw North Miami under the bus in favor of the Village of Biscayne Park.

Sally worked hard to have the Village annex a parcel of land across the Florida East Coast Railroad, directly adjacent to North Miami’s southern border.  Fortunately, the proposal died for lack of a second.

Had this disaster been approved by the Commission, it would have directly – and negatively – impacted North Miami’s resources, including its police department.

All of a sudden, however, Sally Heyman would have you believe she cares so much about the North Miami Police Department, that she’s willing to pressure the City Manager, as well as the Mayor and Council, that it’s in their best interest  to appoint Larry Juriga as the Chief of Police.

Sources have hinted that Sally has been blackmailing warning advising city officials that she, and she alone, can help get things done for them at County Hall … if only they see things her way.

Just saying.

From the Don’t Let a Good Crisis Go to Waste Department

On Thursday, while Larry Juriga and his hand-picked members of the “Illuminati” Executive Command Staff were out on patrol fighting crime riding bicycles, they happened to spot “a suspicious vehicle at the rear of an apartment complex at 12990 NE Sixth Ave. and approached the vehicle as it was stopped,” according to a Channel 10 report.

As fate would have it, the subject, who was apparently fleeing some kind of trouble, nearly hit one of the bicycling cops as he was speeding out of the driveway.

“Authorities said the officers were forced to jump out of the way to avoid being struck by the car,” the article stated.

Those same “authorities” (i.e., North Miami cops) quickly spun the story to their advantage by telling the Miami Herald that “he didn’t just drive away from police. He tried to drive over officers in an act of attempted murder.”

Seriously?

An “act of attempted murder?”

Oh, really?

Puh-LEEZE!

For one thing, take a look at this screen shot from the Channel 10 video.

Does this random group of yellow-shirted cyclists look like cops to you?

Of course not!

In fact, they look more like these dudes.

None of whom appear to be cops, either.

Worse, after giving out the wrong description of the vehicle,  which led to a multi-agency search for the wrong car, ended in the apprehension of some poor schmuck who had nothing to do with the incident.

The other poor schmuck, who was driving the actual car involved in the incident, is probably hiding out somewhere terrified that he’ll be arrested – or worse – for the attempted murder of cops dressed suspiciously like bike riders, who just happened to be in his way as he was trying to get away from whatever trouble he managed to get himself in.

Chances are, the real perp was probably up to no good or he wouldn’t have been speeding.  But, attempted murder of police officers?

Oh, come on!

Nevertheless, the real story didn’t stop Larry Juriga from sensationalizing and milking the incident for everything he could to gain sympathy from North Miami residents.

“Oh, look!  I almost got killed community biking protecting and serving y’all.  I’m a friggin’ hero!  I need to be your Chief!”

News flash, Larry:  The biggest danger you ever faced in your career was that time you were caught lying about a fellow officer and transferred out of the Investigations Unit, where you safely hid out for 17 years, to SANITATION and Code, so you could follow garbage trucks around town in your city-leased luxury SUV.

Just stop with the theatrics already.

“Some of my best friends are Haitians!”

And finally, it has not gone unnoticed by North Miami residents that ever since he’s been vying to be appointed Chief of Police, Larry Juriga has been going out of his way to escort city officials to Haiti and to make sure he’s photographed hugging minorities in order to “prove” he actually cares about the Haitian community.

Remember, this is a dude who threatened to sue the City of North Miami, claiming discrimination for being white, and therefore, more qualified than any Haitian-American who received promotions over him.

This is also the dude who conspired with his fellow “Illuminati” members to get rid of a Haitian-American Police Chief Gary Eugene and his newly appointed Haitian-American Commander.

Think about that for a second.

News flash, Larry:  It takes more than schmoozing with lobbyists and politicians, claiming victimhood, and staging strategically planned photo-ops to be the Chief of Police for the NMPD.

What it takes is a seasoned law enforcement officer with a broad range of experience in all aspects of police work, and not someone who spent the majority of his career languishing in one unit.

City Manager Larry Spring has a rare opportunity to restore the North Miami Police Department to its former glory before it was destroyed by decades of mismanagement.

With so many outstanding applicants for the job, all infinitely more qualified than Larry Juriga, it would be a crime – literally – if Mr. Spring settled for such an unqualified candidate for Chief of Police.

North Miami residents deserve better.

Stephanie

Klike la a pou tradiksyon kreyòl ayisyen.

Haga clic aquí para la traducción al español.