Fired Tampa Police Sergeant Wants his Job Back

Fernandez was fired from the Tampa Police Department last month because of doubts about his involvement in the Campbell arrest. The DUI arrest he made on Campbell had been investigated by the Hillsborough State Attorney, who dismissed the charge. The reasons cited by Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor for Fernandez’s dismissal included five counts of misconduct. They included misuse of authority, lack of truthfulness, and failure to meet the department’s standards of philosophy of enforcement, conduct and professional responsibility.

Ex Sergeant Fernandez appealed the dismissal last week and his attorney thinks he has a good chance of being reinstated, or his dismissal changed, at least, to a suspension. He is being represented by the Police Benevolent Association.

Fernandez has been a member of the Tampa Police Department for 19 years and has made many DUI arrests during that time. Because of the suspicion that the arrest of Phil Campbell had been a set up arranged between himself and Adam Filthault, a lawyer working for Bubba’s legal firm, a special team of investigators has been set up to examine past DUI arrests in which Fernandez had a leading part.

Fernandez’s lawyer said that the police department had to show “just cause” for dismissal. He will get a chance to explain his side of the story at an appeal hearing that may take place next week.

The story surrounding the Campbell arrest has been dragging on most of the year since the arrest took place in January. His dismissal hinges on how much Sergeant Fernandez knew about a meeting between Phil Campbell and a paralegal working for the Adams and Diaco firm. Adam and Diaco was the firm working for Bubba and the paralegal, a young woman called Melissa Personius, had apparently not let on who her employer was when she arranged a drink with Campbell at Malio’s Steakhouse the night that Fernandez made his arrest.

Fernandez was a good friend of Adam Filthault at the Diaco firm and it appears that a flurry of text messages, 95 in total, had been sent between Ms. Personius, Filthault and Fernandez in the hours leading up to the arrest.

The police department had made the judgment that not only was Fernandez involved in a set up to make the DUI arrest, but he also lied about his involvement in the whole affair afterwards.

The appeal process involves several stages through which the former Sergeant may be able to have his dismissal overturned. He first gets a chance to meet with two police chiefs, Major Mike Baumaister and Assistant Chief John Newman. He can still make an appeal to both the director for human resources and then an independent arbitration hearing if his initial grievance is denied. Even if the arbitrator, whose decision is supposed to be binding, refuses to overturn the dismissal, his attorney says that a further appeal is still possible, although unlikely to be successful.

Fernandez’s appeal will no doubt be watched very carefully by anyone involved in DUI defense in Tampa and surrounding counties. In particular, questions will be asked about what a successful appeal and possible reinstatement means for the between 40 and 60 former DUI cases that are presently under scrutiny as well as the 12 DUI cases that have already been dropped by the Police Department.