Once upon a time there was rampant corruption in the North Miami Police Department.

Not surprised?

Okay, just humor us and read on.

In 1992, the North Miami Police Department hired Fred St. Amand, who was a member of a wealthy, prominent Haitian-American family.  His father, Fred St. Amand, Sr., came to the United States in the early 1960s, and founded Pax Villa Funeral Homes, which now has offices in Miami, Orlando, Oakland Park, New York, and Haiti.  According to the company’s website, Pax Villa will soon open in West Palm Beach as well.

Detective Fred St. Amand eventually became the highest-ranking Haitian-American officer in the NMPD.  In 1998, he was awarded Officer of the Year and had “risked his life in dangerous undercover assignments,” according to a July 8, 1999 Miami New Times article by Jim DeFede, There’s Something About Fred.

Despite his alleged heroism, North Miami Police Detective Fred St. Amand also had a dark side – a problem controlling his libido in the presence of women.

According to claims of harassment from five different women, including a 17-year old police Explorer, he made unwanted and inappropriate sexual advances toward them.  One of the women, a former code enforcement officer by the name of Cheryl Wolosz, filed complaints with the NMPD Internal Affairs Unit and the State Attorney’s Office, claiming he “committed lewd and lascivious acts in front of her.”

She told reporter Jim DeFede, “Three times he’s masturbated and ejaculated in front of me.”

It should come as no surprise, in typical NMPD tradition, Detective St. Amand was at the time in a “squad that investigates domestic violence and allegations of sexual assault.”

It should also come as no surprise that NMPD’s newly appointed chief, corrupt cop extraordinaire, Larry Juriga, became the head of the investigative division, and became Detective St. Amand’s supervisor that same year.

The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office took Cheryl Wolosz’s complaint seriously.  DeFede reported, “Last month investigators tore up portions of carpeting from the office inside the police station where Wolosz and St. Amand work.  Sources say the carpet samples have tested positive for semen. Investigators have asked St. Amand to provide a blood sample so a DNA comparison could be made, but the detective has refused.”

Semen on the floor of a police department office?  Seems legit.

As is typical of sexual harassment allegations, including instances of rape, St. Amand’s lawyer threatened to put the victim on trial.  The Miami New Times article reported, “He promises to explore Wolosz’s sexual history, and claims to have uncovered episodes in her past that will prove to be both enlightening and embarrassing to her. ‘Her sexual prowess is at issue,’ he says, ‘her sexual misconduct will be at issue.'”

Little wonder women rarely file complaints, let alone agree to press charges.

Investigators in the North Miami Police Department’s Internal Affairs Unit, under the “leadership” of Larry Juriga and his fellow “Illuminati” cronies, however, did everything in their power to prove her allegations were false and to exonerate one of their own.

In a follow-up column published July 29, 1999, Officer of the Year,  the New Times’ Jim DeFede reported that the State Attorney’s Office couldn’t file criminal charges against St. Amand, even though investigators “believed the victim.”  The article reported, “According to a memorandum closing the investigation, one of the women told prosecutors that St. Amand would walk around the office grabbing his crotch and commenting that ‘he had a big, black d–k’ and announcing to anyone within earshot: ‘You want it, suck it.'”

But, even though the carpet samples they tested proved positive for semen, SAO investigators “were unable to determine if the semen came from St. Amand because the detective refused to provide a blood or saliva sample for DNA comparison.”

Although no criminal charges were filed against St. Amand for sexual harassment, the State Attorney’s Office did open a criminal investigation against him for “allegations of official misconduct and filing false police reports in connection with at least four domestic-violence complaints he investigated” in 1998.

Despite four separate complaints against St. Amand for his filing false reports, then-Chief of Police Tom Hood never initiated an Internal Affairs investigation.  Instead, he chose to conduct “a less formal administrative review of St. Amand’s actions.”

Reporter Jim DeFede wrote, “By handling the matter as an administrative review, Chief Hood was able to limit the amount of damaging information gathered about St. Amand and his work unit.”

Once again, it should come as no surprise that high ranking cops in the North Miami Police Department would protect their cronies by trying to bury “damaging information.”

If you’re sensing a pattern here, you’re not alone.

The NMPD’s newly appointed assistant chief, Franzia “Idiot” Brea has attempted on several occasions to hide public records from VotersOpinion.  In September of 2015, she attempted to cover for accused sexual harasser Officer Jodlyn Antoine.

In October of 2017, she claimed that no complaints were ever filed against then-Sergeant Joey Kissel by police employee Natacha Jean-Francois, when we already knew this was not the case.

Two months later, in December of 2017, we learned that Franzia Brea had somehow helped bury or destroy the files of two Internal Affairs investigations against Juriga crony and serial harasser and cyber-stalker, Joey Kissel.

For her complicity in this cover-up, as well as her networking to get support for Juriga from prominent members of the Haitian community, he rewarded her with an assistant chief badge, and – again, no surprise – her fellow corrupto-cop Joey Kissel was promoted to commander.

As we all know, Juriga awarded other promotions to several of his cronies in exchange for their loyalty in helping him oust his predecessor, Chief Gary Eugene, and for framing Commander Emile Hollant, one of Eugene’s appointments.

Ironically, things were no different back in 1999, when the saga of sexual deviant Detective Fred St. Amand was in progress.  As you are about to see, there was one North Miami police officer in the cross-hairs of the “Illuminati” for exposing and fighting against corruption in the department – and he’s still a thorn in their sides.

On November 25, 1999, Miami New Times reporter Jim DeFede published an even more explosive article about the aftermath of the St. Amand scandal.

By this time, Police Chief Tom Hood had finally, albeit reluctantly, fired Detective Fred St. Amand once the State Attorney’s findings became public.

DeFede wrote, “This week I wanted to praise the City of North Miami and its police department for firing Det. Fred St. Amand.  Instead I find myself once again wondering if anyone in that city — the mayor, the city manager, the police chief, the city attorney — understands the difference between right and wrong, and if they can grasp just how far out of bounds they are now straying.”

When Fred St. Amand was sexually harassing her, Code Enforcement Officer Cheryl Wolosz instinctively knew she’d get no relief from the police administration.  North Miami Police Chief Tom Hood had already received complaints from other female employees about the detective, but he continued to cover up for him.  She did, however, tell Officer Cristina Casas, and together they approached then-Sergeant Neal Cuevas for direction because of his reputation for integrity.  He immediately counseled Wolozs to report the harassment.  She then reluctantly filed a complaint with Internal Affairs and also with the State Attorney’s Office.

In retaliation for the public embarrassment caused by the St. Amand scandal, Chief Tom Hood vindictively retaliated against Casas and Cuevas for doing what was morally right, even if they “circumvented the department’s formal chain of command” by encouraging Wolosz to go to the State Attorney’s Office.

Reporter Jim DeFede concurred: “As far as I’m concerned, Casas and Cuevas should be given commendations.  They could have ignored Wolosz, pretended not to hear what she had to say, and allowed a bad cop to remain on the force.  Make no mistake about it: There is no greater threat to the public than a bad cop left unchecked.”

Instead of acknowledging that he made a mistake with St. Amand, Chief Hood went after the whistleblowers by initiating Internal Affairs investigations on Sergeant Cuevas and Officer Casas.

And as it was with the bogus IA investigation of Commander Emile Hollant last year, Jim DeFede quickly caught on that the investigations of Casas and Cuevas were nothing more than a witch hunt.  He wrote, “The vengeance with which the department has gone after them, particularly Cuevas, raises the possibility that other, even more insidious motivations may be at work.”

DeFede also astutely recognized that for years, Cuevas “has been an irritant to the department’s good ol’ boy clique.”  He continued, “Cuevas joined the North Miami Police Department 25 years ago.  He was just twenty years old then, and was the city’s first Hispanic officer.  To his credit he persevered amid the racism that marked the department then and which lingers today.”

Eighteen years later, it’s déjà vu all over again.

• NMPD chief Larry Juriga’s current corrupt Internal Affairs Unit falsely accused Commander Hollant of lying about his involvement in the Aledda shooting.
• Chief Tom Hood’s IA Unit did the exact same thing to Sergeant Neal Cuevas in 1999, by accusing him of committing perjury in the Wolozs-St. Amand incident.
• Larry Juriga’s Internal Affairs investigator tried to nail Hollant on nothing but semantics.  The Commander stated he was not a “witness” because he didn’t see the shooting, but they claim he was a “witness” simply for being on the scene.
• Chief Hood’s IA also based his accusation of “perjury” on, yes, semantics.  When Cuevas was asked when he learned that Wolozs “had gone” to the SAO, he said June 24.  When another sergeant was questioned about the timeline, he said that on June 10, Cuevas told him the investigation “was going to”  the State Attorney’s Office.
• Larry Juriga’s Internal Affairs division manufactured “evidence” by dangling promotion carrots to IA Sergeant Diana Roman and Detective Mike Gaudio, both of whom just recently moved up the ranks of the NMPD.
• Chief Hood’s entire premise that Cuevas committed “perjury” was based on no evidence whatsoever.  As Jim DeFede observed, “Those words — going to — express what Cuevas believed would happen, not what he knew for a fact had already happened.”

On December 1, 1999, Sergeant Neal Cuevas’ attorney, Myles H. Malman, sent a letter to Chief Thomas Hood expressing his concerns about the witch hunt against his client.  He included several key points:

1. The North Miami Police Department is a hot bed of gossip described by your Internal Affairs Officers as a “rumor mill.”
2. One of your Internal Affairs investigators, Lt. Lynch, discussed this case, an extremely sensitive internal affairs investigation, with members of another police department with no official purpose only for the apparent purpose of spreading rumor and gossip.
3. Many members of your department knew of issues concerning Ms. Wolosz and/or inappropriate conduct on the part of Det./Sgt. St. Amand and failed to follow department procedures to address same causing St. Amand’s inappropriate behavior to spiral out of control.
4. Within your department, Sgt. Cuevas is viewed as a “trouble maker” and the clear public perception exists that the investigation against Sgt. Cuevas is designed to scapegoat him and once and for all rid the department of its first Hispanic police officer.
5. There is a perception that the North Miami Police Department is unable conduct a fair and honest investigation in this case.

Yes, folks.  The more things change, the more they stay the same.

This whole sordid St. Amand affair, and the bogus Internal Affairs investigation against Neal Cuevas that followed, took place in 1999 when Cuevas had been in the department for 25 years.

In his final article of his investigative series, Miami New Times reporter Jim DeFede wrote, “Trying to fire a 25-year veteran of the department, take away his pension, and risk his certification as a police officer over this sort of semantic trickery is simply outrageous.  If Chief Hood thinks Cuevas committed perjury, he should send that allegation to the SAO to investigate and prosecute criminally.  But Hood won’t do that because he knows the allegation is bullshit.  Instead he’ll use some trumped-up administrative panel he and the city manager can manipulate to get rid of Cuevas.”

Here we are, eighteen years later, and they’re still trying to get rid of Cuevas.

In 1999, Sergeant Neal Cuevas refused to ignore an egregious injustice, even under the threat of retaliation for doing so.

In 2017, Assistant Chief Neal Cuevas refused to ignore another egregious injustice, and is once again being persecuted and retaliated against for doing the right thing.

In response to the bogus Internal Affairs investigation against Commander Emile Hollant, and the contrived finding of “sustained” by the Disposition Panel, Assistant Chief Cuevas penned the now infamous Cuevas Memo, which unequivocally proved that the Disposition Panel had absolutely no “preponderance of evidence” that Commander Hollant did anything wrong.

In his latest blistering column, Juriga Takes Revenge, Biscayne Times reporter Mark Sell rips into the North Miami Police Department’s newest chief for, among other things, the retaliatory demotion of Assistant Chief Neal Cuevas three ranks down to Sergeant, and promoting the corrupt cops who assisted him in framing Commander Hollant.

While he was still interim chief, Juriga promoted Detective Mike Gaudio for changing his original FDLE testimony after the Aledda shooting, to a brand new version eight months later when interviewed during Commander Hollant’s bogus IA investigation.

In addition to Kissel and Roman, the newly appointed permanent chief promoted the incompetent Franzia Brea to assistant chief in exchange for the help of her ex-husband, Adam “33” Burden, who was brought in to steer the IA investigation against Hollant.

Participation trophies were also handed out to Angel Rivera and James Mesidor, both of whom accompanied Juriga to the State Attorney’s Office, in defiance of a direct order from the police chief, in an attempt to have criminal charges filed against Hollant.

Sergeant McNally, who filed a white discrimination lawsuit against the City of North Miami, was also promoted … because “Illuminati.”

As reporter Mark Sell noted, Sergeant Ransom Carter, “Juriga’s Barry University basketball teammate and recent representative to the Police Benevolent Association,” was promoted for his having scored a personal endorsement for Juriga by the PBA’s recently elected president, Steadman Stahl.

Some of the “Illuminati” faces have changed over the years, but several still work for the North Miami Police Department.  Larry Juriga, Joey Kissel and Diana Roman, for example, were NMPD cops in 1999, when Fred St. Amand was fired, and Neal Cuevas was wrongly accused of, well, pretty much everything.

The rest of the “Illuminati” members are relatively new inductees to the NMPD Corruptocracy.

And all of them stand ready to protect and serve the hell out of North Miami residents.

Whether they like it or not.

Stephanie