In a social media conversation Tuesday afternoon, Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno discussed the state of the agency with most of the little more than 15 minutes of talk highlighting what he described as the agency's accomplishments and next to nothing about an ongoing FBI investigation.
At the end of Marceno's 5 p.m. conversation with Lee County Sheriff's Office PIO Nestor Montoya-Seaborn, the sheriff did, briefly, touch on the FBI issue when asked by his PIO:
"Sheriff, you know, there has been discussion about an investigation with the FBI. What can you tell us and how we are working with the FBI," Montoya-Seaborn asked.
"Again, you know, people always look at the negative, right," Marceno said. "They want the clicks, the click bait. The FBI requests the documents, we supply the documents, and we move on. I'm so happy with what we've done in '24 and going into '25. It's gonna be the best this county's ever seen."
After allegations emerged last September that Marceno had laundered taxpayer money, the sheriff's office communications staff released a quote from Marceno calling the accusations "politically motivated" and "baseless." The FBI investigation, ongoing for several months, started after those allegations surfaced, made by a former friend of the sheriff.
Marceno has declined to talk about the FBI issue.
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The remaining minutes in the 16 minute and 21 second talk was about the agency and Marceno's view that the LCSO couldn't be in a better place.
"I couldn't be more proud. We have so many amazing things coming in '25 and I couldn't be more happy and honored to be the sheriff," he told Montoya-Seaborn.
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