PHCC officials fired over handling of law academy sex scandal

A videotaped sex act and intimidation tactics were behind the ouster of a part-time Pasco Hernando Community College law enforcement instructor in June.

The failure of the program's administrators to properly investigate the incidents resulted in the termination of three of those administrators this week, the college announced today.

Three female cadets told Pasco County Sheriff's Office investigators that they had consensual sex with Jeff Gattuso, who was fired from his state Department of Corrections job, as well as being dismissed by PHCC. The circumstances involving Gattuso's DOC job were "separate" from the PHCC scandal, records show.

One of the female cadets was unwittingly filmed performing a sex act on Gattuso at the school, records indicate. The video was discovered by a male cadet, who said Gattuso tried to intimidate him after rumors of the discovered video tape began to spread.

Gattuso also sent threatening text messages to a sheriff's detective and fellow PHCC instructor who brought the allegations to PHCC officials.

However, Gattuso's messages to the detective - including one that read "watch your back i will find you" - did not "rise to a criminal level," sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll said. The detective has had no further contact with Gattuso, records said.

The three female cadets told investigators that they engaged in consensual sex with Gattuso between February and June, records show. Each told investigators that they had sex with their instructor in classrooms, as well as the auditorium, gymnasium and weight room.

One of the women said she also had intercourse with Gattuso at his home. Another said the sex occurred after she failed a test and was given a make-up exam. After she passed the second test, Gattuso told the woman, "You owe me," sheriff's records said.

Fired from PHCC on Tuesday were: Dan Griffith, director of the law enforcement and corrections training center; Jim Lefevre, a program coordinator; and Greg Schnake, also a coordinator. They are being replaced on an interim basis by other members of PHCC's staff.

The school is searching for permanent replacements.

It was unclear whether the cadets completed the program.

According to information released by PHCC:

Griffith, Lefevre and Schnake "failed to fully cooperate in [a four-month investigation] by withholding pertinent information in the initial stages."

After program administrators were made aware of the sex tape, cadets were interviewed "without notification of college administrators."

"These interviews were conducted without guidance by the college's administration or attorney and information gathered in the interviews was not properly recorded or filed."

Interviews with Griffith, Lefevre and Schnake indicated that they knew "sexual relationships between part-time instructors and cadets was not unusual in the academy but took no action to address this issue."

Program officials also mishandled allegations of inappropriate conduct between Gattuso and a female cadet in a previous class.

The recent shake-up isn't the first to involve instructors at PHCC's law enforcement program.

Last year, Zephyrhills Police Chief Russell Barnes resigned after his termination was recommended by Zephyrhills City Manager Steve Spina; Barnes had created a special log so that former Sgt. Robert Perrault Jr. and Detective George MacKnight II could be paid by the city when they were actually teaching law enforcement classes at PHCC.

Perrault resigned from the department before an investigation was launched and MacKnight was later assigned to patrol duty. All three denied wrongdoing.