FDLE: Former Lowry zoo director did nothing illegal

Lex Salisbury might have had a conflict of interest when he was Lowry Park Zoo president and CEO at the same time he was setting up a for-profit exotic animal park, but he didn't break any laws, according to the results of a yearlong investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The FDLE report, released Wednesday, came on the heels of a city inquiry into Salisbury's dealings with the Tampa zoo. The city's inquiry was spurred by a News Channel 8 and Tampa Tribune investigation showing that zoo money, staff and supplies were used in Salisbury's efforts to start a for-profit exotic animal park in Polk County called Safari Wild.

Tampa's audit, initiated by Mayor Pam Iorio, flagged more than $200,000 in specific expenses. Auditors found that Salisbury gave himself an unauthorized bonus, took a zoo-paid side trip to Paris after an international conference, and traded a lawnmower to the zoo for an antique Mercedes safari vehicle.

But in the 13-page FDLE report issued Wednesday, assistant statewide prosecutor Harold Bennett concluded there was "no evidence to support allegations that Salisbury intended to use the structures built at Safari Wild for his own private use, or that Salisbury intended to misappropriate Lowry Park Zoo funds for his personal benefit.

"Additionally," the report continues, "Salisbury did not attempt to conceal the construction of the structures or the fact that Lowry Park Zoo funds were being utilized. All invoices for these structures were handled no differently than any other Lowry Park Zoo invoices and were accounted for by Lowry Park Zoo officials."

The report shows that FDLE investigators looked into 16 issues but concluded Salisbury did nothing illegal in regard to any of them. Most were dismissed because administrative policies were unclear, property in question was donated by the zoo, there was a lack of evidence or because the issues were civil, not criminal.

$150,000 was central

It appears that FDLE investigators focused most of their attention on whether Salisbury inappropriately used $150,000 of Lowry Park Zoo money for capital improvements at Safari Wild. The agency says it reviewed audits and zoo policies and interviewed "various Lowry Park Zoo staff members and members of the Lowry Park Zoo Board of Directors."

The zoo board asked Salisbury to resign from his $339,000 a year job in December, a couple of weeks after the release of a preliminary audit. Salisbury reached an agreement with the zoo in which he agreed to pay back some expenses auditors identified and to return $150,000 in barns, shade structures and fencing the zoo built at Safari Wild.

Salisbury's attorney, Robert McKee of Tampa, said Wednesday that his client was happy with the FDLE findings, but not surprised.

"We have been saying all along that the guy did nothing that amounted to any criminal violation," McKee said.

Salisbury's actions were designed to benefit the zoo, the lawyer said.

Salisbury had a large property in Polk County. The zoo needed a safe, open space to put animals that were stressed from captivity, McKee said.

He said that once the situation gained momentum, it snowballed. The FDLE investigation became a recurring tag line Salisbury couldn't separate himself from, the attorney said. "It just took on a life of its own," McKee said. "And he just got crushed under the weight of it."

Santiago Corrada, Tampa's representative on the zoo board, said the city's inquiry into the Salisbury's dealings was never personal. "It's not about Lex, and getting Lex," Corrada said Wednesday. "Everybody knows what came out of it."

Discomfort on the board

The FDLE report shows that some zoo board members were uncomfortable with Salisbury's connection to both the zoo and a private business. Despite those concerns, on Nov. 21, 2007, Salisbury and the zoo board chairman, Fassil Gabremariam, executed a "memorandum of understanding" establishing a relationship between the zoo and Safari Wild.

Between Feb. 1, 2008, and July 2 of that year, Safari Wild sent the zoo invoices for $150,000 worth of capital projects at Safari Wild. The report says Salisbury authorized the projects and Gabremariam approved the expenses.

In January of 2008, the zoo board asked an external auditor to examine the agreement between the zoo and Safari Wild, with some board members again voicing concern about whether there was a conflict of interest. The auditor determined the agreement was adequate as long as all dealings between the zoo and Safari Wild were "at arm's length."

Later that month, the zoo board held a strategic planning retreat at Safari Wild and toured the facility. According to the FDLE investigation, some board members didn't realize at the time that zoo money had been used to build some of the structures. The zoo ended the relationship with Safari Wild on June 20, 2008.

"While it is clear Mr. Salisbury's actions presented a conflict of interest, there is no evidence to support any criminal intent," the FDLE report states in its conclusion.