The FDOT lawyer who admitted forging signatures on official documents has quit
The Florida Department of Transportation’s top lawyer resigned Thursday, amid an inspector general’s report this week that found he forged the signatures of underlings on official documents, a finding that prompted the Florida Bar to open a misconduct probe.
“Today, Erik Fenniman resigned from the position of General Counsel at the Florida Department of Transportation, effective immediately,” the agency said in a statement Thursday afternoon.
The agency’s Office of Inspector General released a report on Monday concluding that Fenniman improperly forged the names of subordinates on documents, including one who had resigned her post weeks earlier. The IG’s conclusions were first reported by Politico, and on Wednesday the Miami Herald reported exclusively that the Florida Bar was looking into the conduct of the top-level government lawyer.
The inspector general began investigating the forgery complaint against Fenniman after the agency was alerted in March by former staff lawyer Latasha Johnson, who’d been in charge of contracts and special projects under Fenniman.
Johnson said her name was on a March 9, 2020, letter from FDOT to St. Lucie Village, weeks after she had already left the agency to return to the private sector in late February. The inspector general’s investigation found a second letter, dated March 12, that had a similar-looking signature but the name of another FDOT employee.
The inspector general, seeking an explanation from agency leaders, cited potential violation of state government rules against falsifying records, along with misconduct and conduct unbecoming a state employee.
There was no immediate explanation for Fenniman’s conduct, but by Thursday he was out of his $132,000-a-year job.
“Mr. Fenniman’s actions are not in line with the high standards placed on the FDOT leadership team and its employees,” Kevin Thibault, Florida transportation secretary, said in a statement, noting he ordered the investigation upon learning of the accusation. “In no way does this misconduct reflect any direction given by me or any expectations set by this administration.”
Forging signatures was problematic enough, but Fenniman was also accused of asking two staffers — Latasha Johnson and Lorraine Moyle — to alter an administrative manual to reflect a false date of when new language was included.
That alleged incident happened as the Miami Herald had filed a records request in October 2019 specifically asking when language changed in the manual in the wake of the March 15, 2018, Florida International University bridge collapse that killed six people.
The backdating allegation was deemed by the inspector general’s office to be “inconclusive” — with Fenniman denying he made the request and Moyle and Johnson saying they refused to carry out the order.
Johnson, now a private-sector attorney, declined to comment Thursday on Fenniman’s resignation. In an interview a day earlier, she praised the inspector general’s office and Secretary Thibault for investigating her complaint.
Even though he is no longer a government lawyer, Fenniman faces the ongoing Florida Bar investigation. Bar probes are administrative in nature but can result in a lawyer losing the ability to practice law in Florida.
This story was originally published June 18, 2020 at 3:43 PM with the headline "The FDOT lawyer who admitted forging signatures on official documents has quit."
