Bob Norman/Florida Trident

If Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno were to leave or be removed from office, there are lawmen who could be considered frontrunners to replace him.

A run-in at the Luminary Hotel put an honorary deputy's badge to the test for a friend of Sheriff Carmine Marceno.

Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno put Ken Romano on the public payroll as a consultant in 2022 at $5,700 a month to provide “guidance regarding public relations” and social media at the agency. The consulting agreement, released by LCSO today, claimed the 55-year-old Romano possessed the “ability, certifications and experience” to do the job and was “duly qualified.”But Romano isn’t a public relations or social media expert. He’s a Bonita Springs jeweler and former Marceno gambling buddy who said in a recently surfaced audio recording that his LCSO consulting job was a no-work sham and a portion of the money — $1,700 a month — was used to pay for a Mercedes Benz the sheriff bought for his father, Carmine Marceno Sr.

Bonita Springs jeweler Ken Romano didn’t hide his association with Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno.The two men were allegedly close friends who shared a taste for gambling, bling and high-end cars. The 55-year-old Romano defended the sheriff in social media posts and displayed a framed “Keep Carmine Marceno Sheriff” campaign poster and badge-bedecked plaque from the sheriff’s office at his jewelry store on Bonita Beach Road.But the friendship blew up recently, and audio recordings allegedly show Romano making serious allegations against the sheriff involving Romano’s own employment as a “consultant” with LCSO. In the recordings, Romano alleged Marceno gave him a no-work contract at LCSO paying him $5,700 a month, $1,700 of which was paid to the sheriff’s father, Carmine Marceno Sr., for car payments on a Mercedes Benz.

Members of the government board overseeing the Sebring Regional Airport — which includes the historic Sebring International Raceway — tend to speak slowly in a southern drawl, but they pulled a fast one last year with the sale of 17 acres of publicly owned land.Without properly notifying the public of the proposed sale or opening it up for competitive bids, the city-appointed Sebring Airport Authority sold the land to a partnership that included local developer Mark Gose, who has private business ties to several board members, and former board member John Haviland.

In an exclusive story, The Florida Center for Government Accountability's Florida Trident reports that Trump VP hopeful Byron Donalds’ ex-wife shares her story, says what he’s doing is “super-dangerous.”

While Moms For Liberty cofounder Bridget Ziegler and her husband, former Florida GOP chair Christian Ziegler, fight in court today to keep law enforcement records related to the latter’s closed rape investigation from public view, a recently released police report provides startling details about the couple’s sexual practices. The report, obtained by the Florida Trident and authored by Sarasota police Det. Angela Cox, recounts how Christian Ziegler went “on the prowl” in bars for women to bring home to Bridget, a Sarasota County School Board member who has backed a number of anti-LGBTQ measures at both the state and local level, for threesome encounters.

A top Florida ethics expert is sounding the alarm about an ethics bill passed by the state Senate Thursday that would make it easier for corrupt officials to avoid investigation – and much harder for residents to hold them to account.“This bill would be incredibly destructive and corrosive,” said Carolyn Klancke, who heads the non-profit Florida Ethics Institute and is a past deputy executive director and general counsel for the Florida Commission on Ethics.

Sarasota police have recovered video of Florida GOP chair and alleged victim in rape investigation