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Parks officials move to oust former sheriff's deputy from rent-free home

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By RAY REYES | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 3, 2009

Updated: 11/03/2009 03:16 pm

TAMPA - Hillsborough County parks officials have asked county attorneys to file a lawsuit against a former sheriff's deputy who has lived rent-free in a Brandon park and has not moved out since he was fired last year.

County commissioners will vote at their Wednesday meeting on whether to pursue the lawsuit against Michael Cartwright for his failure to vacate the property at Saladino Park.

The issue is included in the commission's consent agenda. The meeting starts at 9 a.m. on the second floor of the County Center in downtown Tampa.

Cartwright sent a mass e-mail to an unknown number of recipients Monday night asking residents to attend the commission meeting and speak on his behalf. The former deputy has collected 69 signatures for a petition asking county officials to let him continue living at the park and monitor the property.

Cartwright said today that he plans to attend the commission meeting, but could not comment on the park issue or his firing until he confers with attorneys. He said he wants an opportunity to tell his side of the story.

"I want to clear my name," he said.

Cartwright has lived at the park for 21 years. As a deputy, he signed an agreement in April 2007 to live in a mobile home in the park provided he patrolled the property and performed other security checks.

He was fired from the sheriff's office in August 2008, after internal affairs detectives said he brandished a gun at a motorist and threatened another earlier that year, court records show.

Cartwright, a 21-year veteran of the sheriff's office, disputed the findings of the internal affairs investigation and received an extension to continue living at Saladino Park while he appealed his firing to the Hillsborough County Civil Services Board.

In the appeal, attorneys for Cartwright argued he was targeted by the sheriff's office because he had discussed job-related grievances to a police union.

The board upheld the decision of the sheriff's office and Cartwright asked a judge to overturn the ruling. But Circuit Judge Sam D. Pendino refused, dismissing the request June 19 and saying Cartwright failed to state a legal reason why it should be reversed.

Cartwright received four more extensions from the parks department. A March 3 letter from the department to Cartwright said it would allow him one more month to stay at the park "in an effort to be cooperative during tough economic times."

His last extension was granted for August.

Reporter Ray Reyes can be reached at (813) 259-7920.

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