Did ex-Miami mayor give Rolexes to officers? Suarez acknowledges holiday ‘gifts’
Thursday marked a big moment for newly elected Miami Mayor Eileen Higgins, her first City Commission meeting since winning last month’s runoff race.
But Higgins’ predecessor unwittingly cast a shadow over the moment. As the first meeting of the year was getting started Thursday morning, City Hall was abuzz with chatter about “watch-gate,” as it was dubbed by a staffer.
Following a Christmas Eve complaint from local activist Thomas Kennedy, the Miami Police Department’s Internal Affairs Unit is investigating an allegation that former Mayor Francis Suarez gifted Rolex watches to four sergeants-at-arms who worked a security detail for him while he was mayor.
That could put the sergeants-at-arms at odds with a police department rule regarding gifts, which states that “an employee shall not place himself/herself in position of compromise by soliciting or accepting gratuities, even where such activity might otherwise be considered an acceptable form of business negotiation, outside the department.” The Miami New Times first reported on the allegation.
In a new statement to the Miami Herald, Suarez acknowledged Thursday that he had given “a gift” to the sergeants but said he only had good intentions.
“Toward the end of my tenure as Mayor, during the holiday season, I chose to give a gift to my sergeants-at-arms as a personal expression of thanks for their many years of dedication to protecting me and my family,” Suarez said Thursday. “These gifts were purchased with my own personal funds, in recognition of the time and sacrifices they made—often away from their own families—in service to mine. They were intended solely as a token of appreciation and gratitude, and nothing more. I am disappointed that this gesture has been characterized as anything other than that.”
Miami Police Department spokesman Michael Vega confirmed in an email that Internal Affairs is investigating the claims and that “in full transparency and public accountability,” the department has also forwarded the allegation to the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust, as well as to the city’s new Office of the Independent Inspector General.
Email records show Internal Affairs forwarded the complaint to those agencies late Thursday afternoon. The complaint lists Suarez as a witness, not a subject, of the investigation, which is administrative and not criminal.
Kennedy, the complainant, told the Herald he didn’t have firsthand knowledge of the matter but that he had learned about it from “credible sources.” He provided a sworn audio-recorded statement to a police detective on Dec. 30.
In a follow-up email to Internal Affairs this week, Kennedy alleged that another sergeant-at-arms, Alexander Lamprou, had been offered a Rolex from Suarez but may have declined.
Standing in the City Hall chambers Thursday, Lamprou declined to comment on the matter, saying he was unauthorized to speak to the press. He did, however, make a point of extending his arm outward to reveal his wrist, sans watch. Another sergeant who was not named in the complaint gestured to show off his humble Apple watch.
Although Miami’s Internal Affairs unit forwarded the complaint to the Ethics Commission, Executive Director Ignacio J. Vázquez, Jr. responded Friday morning that under state law, the agency can only begin an inquiry with a sworn complaint based on the complainant’s personal knowledge, “including non-hearsay sources such as government and public records which may arise during the review addressed in your message.”
“At the conclusion of any assessment by the Miami Police, the review of another entity, or the submission of a legally sufficient complaint by a third party, Commission staff would commence evaluating the allegations,” Vázquez wrote.
Antonio Diaz, who heads the city’s new Office of Independent Inspector General, confirmed Friday that his office “has been notified of the allegation involving former Mayor Francis Suarez and several Miami Police Department Sgt-at-Arms” and that it “has opened a monitoring file to track the progress of the Internal Affairs review and any related ethics disclosures that may arise.”
Diaz declined further comment, citing “an open matter under review.”
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