The Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence (FCADV) was stripped of its funding and driven into receivership after the organization's leadership was exposed in a series of state audits and investigative news reports in the Tampa Bay Times and the Miami Herald. The stories were prompted by the complaints of a domestic violence survivor named Amy Ballon. Amy's complaint triggered an audit by the Florida Inspector General. February 26, 2020 The Florida Legislature passed a law that would prevent millions of additional tax dollars from being improperly diverted from domestic violence services into the personal accounts of FCADV staff. Amy Ballon reached an out of court settlement with FCADV July 2020.
In Florida, the organization responsible for domestic violence victim support services is the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence. The Coalition is responsible for managing domestic violence shelters and providing critical, often lifesaving, support services for victims of domestic violence in the state of Florida. The Coalition operates without competition as the designated state service provider for domestic violence shelters in Florida, yet they are almost entirely unaccountable.
The Coalition is not a public agency. It is a nonprofit private company with a 43-million-dollar annual budget supported almost entirely by public funds under a noncompetitive contract with the state of Florida. The Coalition oversees victim support services through its 42 domestic violence shelters. A twelve-month Policeabuse.com investigation shows that domestic violence victims in Florida are vulnerable to misconduct by domestic violence support staff, and there are no policies in place to protect them.
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| Miami Herald article on Coalition CEO Tiffany Carr |
The Coalition has been criticized for a lack of transparency, paying excessive executive salaries, and a failure of oversight.
Our investigation revealed that beds for women in need of shelter are at times unavailable, Coalition staff refuse to provide information to women seeking help, the main office of the Coalition has no administrative policies and a senior Coalition staffer engaged in sexual misconduct with a domestic violence victim.
Most organizations serving the public routinely have non-fraternization policies to protect their clients from inappropriate relations with staff. In Florida, only local domestic violence shelters are governed by non-fraternization policies, but the Coalition main office is not.
Our investigation was prompted by a complaint by a domestic violence victim reported through the Policeabuse.com app. The victim was referred to the Coalition in 2017 to get assistance removing negative content published by the Fort Lauderdale Police Department about her domestic violence incident. Steven Bradley, a retired police officer, was employed as the Coalition’s cybercrime expert. He was tasked with assisting the victim with online technical support. But shortly after they met, and while she was receiving help from him through the Coalition, Stephen Bradley had sex with the domestic violence victim. Weeks later, the victim began noticing unauthorized alterations to her computer files.
Bradley was suspected of attempting to destroy evidence of their interactions by hacking into the victim’s internet accounts to remove or alter evidence of their communications. Bradley allegedly refused to provide access to his equipment and internet accounts during an internal investigation launched by the Coalition in the wake of the victim’s complaint through her attorney.
The Coalition never called the police or filed a police report even though there is evidence showing that Steven Bradley may have repeatedly committed very serious computer and internet crimes. The Coalition failed to collect and preserve important computer and online evidence. Bradley was allegedly fired from his position for refusing to produce his work phone and for remotely deleting files from his Coalition computer while the Coalition investigation of the domestic violence victim’s complaint was ongoing.
The Coalition never called the police or filed a police report even though there is evidence showing that Steven Bradley may have repeatedly committed very serious computer and internet crimes. The Coalition failed to collect and preserve important computer and online evidence. Bradley was allegedly fired from his position for refusing to produce his work phone and for remotely deleting files from his Coalition computer while the Coalition investigation of the domestic violence victim’s complaint was ongoing.
November 2018, we visited the Department of Children and Family Service’s offices at three Tallahassee locations. We were directed to the Office of the General Counsel for the state of Florida’s contract division to get an answer to a simple question: Does the Coalition have a policy that prevents an employee from having a sexual relationship with a domestic violence victim?
We received answers through a series of emails and phone calls from personnel at the Department of Children and Family Services General Counsel’s office. We were told that there is no policy preventing an employee from having sex or any other type of relationship with a domestic violence victim. More shocking is that there are no policies covering any administrative staff conduct whatsoever.
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| Email General Counsel's office |
When we questioned the absence of Coalition policies in November 2018, the general counsel’s office told us that they would move immediately to ensure that non-fraternization policies were put in place. But when we contacted the general counsel’s office four months later, we found that non-fraternization policies have not been adopted.
Policeabuse.com obtained a copy of Bradley’s employment records from four Florida law-enforcement agencies. Bradley’s employment record makes it clear that he should never have been hired to work for the Coalition in direct contact with domestic violence victims. A review of Bradley’s personnel file demonstrates that he is disqualified for past misconduct. Bradley was forced to resign from the Leon County sheriff’s office, May 23, 2006, for lying during an official personnel investigation, and gross insubordination.
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| Bradley disciplinary records from Leon County Sheriff's Office |
An anonymous 2004 letter that was sent to Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell, warned Campbell about hiring Steven Bradley. The letter accuses Bradley of misusing his uniform and position as a school resource officer to prey on female high school students. The writer’s knowledge about Bradley and police operation suggests the writer may be a deputy who served with Bradley at the Hamilton County sheriff’s office.
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| Letter to Sheriff Campbell |
The Department of Children and Family Services is obligated to investigate misconduct by state contract recipients, including, reports of sexual misconduct that threaten the safety of women who are seeking services. As of the date of this publication, the Coalition’s administrative office and staff continue to operate completely without any policies according to records obtained from the Florida Dept. of Children and Family Services Office of General Counsel.
State officials must be held accountable. Governor DeSantis should explain why, under his administration, a state agency responsible for the care of domestic violence victims, is allowed to operate without a non-fraternization policy. The governor should also explain why the salary of the Coalition CEO should not be substantially reduced in the face of shortages of available shelter for women. Reforms should include published information about bed-space availability, the immediate imposition of a non-fraternization policy, and an audit should be conducted by the inspector general’s office to determine if public funds are being misappropriated.
