Key Biscayne detective gets one-day suspension for calling victim’s mom a ‘scumbag’
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Key Biscayne’s Dark Secret
Key Biscayne gymnastics coach Oscar Olea had been trailed by sex abuse allegations for over 12 years. Weeks after the Miami Herald published an investigation, Olea was arrested.
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After an internal investigation, the Key Biscayne Police Department issued a one-day unpaid suspension to a detective who was caught calling the mother of an alleged sexual abuse victim a “scumbag,” disparaging another alleged victim and talking to his brother about an open case, according to a statement released Thursday by village officials.
In January, Det. Fernando Carvajal had been taping the testimony of a 26-year-old woman who told police that her childhood gymnastics coach, Oscar Olea, had sexually abused her when she was 13. The next month, Olea was charged with six felonies related to child sexual abuse of the 26-year-old and one other former gymnastics student. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and his former lawyer previously denied any sexual misconduct by Olea.
Carvajal forgot to stop his phone from recording when he finished the interview with the 26-year-old woman, and his phone captured various off-color comments to fellow officers and others after she left. The audio recording from Carvajal’s phone was entered into evidence in March to be used in Olea’s pretrial detention hearing.
Along with the alleged victim’s testimony, the recording captured Carvajal talking to other officers about a closed case involving Olea, calling the mother of a 4-year-old alleged victim a “scumbag,” talking to other officers about their penises, talking to his brother on the phone about the case, and disparaging an alleged victim and another alleged victim’s mother.
When the media obtained the recording in March, Key Biscayne Police Chief Francis Sousa said that Carvajal had “immediately” informed him about the incident and that an administrative review was “underway.” But the statement at the time was inaccurate. The investigation did not begin until over a month after the recording was made and at least a week after Carvajal was made aware of its content, according to the village’s report.
Carvajal did not know about the accidental recording when he submitted it as evidence to the State Attorney’s Office following Olea’s arrest, according to the village investigation, which was obtained by the Herald. When the State Attorney’s Office informed Carvajal about “the entirety of the conversations included in the audio,” he made another copy and turned it over to Key Biscayne Lt. Martin Santiago. Then, “both Detective Carvajal and Lieutenant Santiago went in person to Chief Sousa and notified him of the audio recording,” Key Biscayne administrative Lt. Kristina Andreu, who conducted the internal affairs investigation, wrote in the investigator’s note of the report.
Chief Sousa did not assign Andreu to investigate the matter until March 18, according to the report. That was five days after the Herald published an article on the matter and over a week after the audio became public and was discussed in Olea’s pretrial detention hearing in court. According to the State Attorney’s Office, Carvajal provided the audio testimony — which included the accidental recording — on Feb. 29, a day after Olea’s arrest.
The village said Thursday that the police department had completed an administrative review of the audio recording and found three policy violations. It was conducted alongside the Coral Gables Police Department Internal Affairs Unit “to ensure full transparency,” according to a statement sent by Jessica Drouet, communications officer for Key Biscayne.
Along with the one-day unpaid suspension, Carvajal will also receive additional training, according to the statement.
“The Key Biscayne Police Department is committed to maintaining trust, which is crucial for ensuring public safety and encourages cooperation and crime reporting,” the statement reads. “The department takes any violation of its policies seriously.”
The interview in question occurred just a few days after the Miami Herald published an investigation about Olea that included allegations by two former students who said they had been sexually abused by the coach and a third woman who was 16 when she says she was first sexually abused by Olea, who worked with her at the Key Biscayne Community Center.
The Herald story also mentioned a closed investigation involving two young girls, ages 7 and 4, who told their parents and later police that Olea had spoken to and touched them inappropriately during gymnastics lessons in 2023. That investigation did not lead to any charges.
Following the interview with the 26-year-old alleged victim in January, Carvajal called in the mother of the 4-year-old, who was in the waiting area of the police department. He can be heard on the recording assuring her that police felt they had enough to take the case back to the State Attorney’s Office after hearing the testimony from the 26-year-old.
After the 4-year-old’s mother left his presence, he told a fellow officer: “She’s a scumbag. She actually screwed up the first case.”
In the recording, officers can also be heard disparaging another woman who had come to report abuse by Olea just a day before. Carvajal called the woman “a 43,” a reference to Florida’s Baker Act, which allows people to be involuntarily committed for a mental health evaluation in certain circumstances.
Two of the violations of policy include failure “to conduct himself in a manner that reflects credit on the Village government, the department, fellow employees, and himself” for calling a potential victim’s mother a scumbag and for calling a victim a “43.” The third violation is for failing to “maintain information of a confidential manner secret” for talking to his brother about the case, the report states.
Following the Herald’s reporting, some residents have publicly questioned the police and the village’s handling of the Olea case. In a May Council meeting, Key Biscayne resident Cecile Sanchez brought up the incident with Carvajal.
“I’m sure there are victims out there,” Sanchez said during the public comment portion of the meeting. “They’re intimidated. I’m sure they’re afraid of coming out, especially after the ‘scumbag’ detective said what he said and was caught on tape.”
“Isn’t that embarrassing? Would I go to a police station to say they raped my child, they molested my child, knowing that that’s the detective that is going to be interviewing?”
The statement shared by the village Thursday partly addressed those concerns.
“As the leader of this department, I recognize the impact these statements have had on the public. We will continue to work hard to uphold community trust,” Sousa said in the email. “Your Key Biscayne Police Department remains committed to this community and to maintaining a safe and secure environment.”
This story was originally published May 30, 2024 at 5:27 PM.
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