State won't prosecute identity theft case

He saw his name on an Internet posting and bristled at the message that came after it.

Cpl. Bert Stockton told detectives he has known Mike Maurer for 25 years and would never log on to a widely read police blog and leave mean-spirited comments about him.

The veteran of the Hernando County Sheriff's Office said his identity was stolen. Someone else, he doesn't know who, typed that message.

Now it appears he will never know the culprit. He pursued charges and Detective Ed Ciccone of the sheriff's office's Economic Crimes Unit requested a subpoena through the State Attorney's Office.

Ciccone wanted the Internet protocol (IP) address so he could find out who stole Stockton's identity, according to a sheriff's report.

The request was denied and the case was subsequently declared inactive.

"I am not inclined to authorize a subpoena in this matter," wrote State Attorney Brad King in a letter to Ciccone dated Jan. 11. "For a crime to be committed there would have to be a showing that the posting was meant to cause substantial emotional distress to the persons whose names may have been used."

Maurer is the second-in-command at the sheriff's office. He was among those who applied for the top job left vacant by Richard Nugent last year and was the preferred choice in several circles.

Also among the sheriff's candidates was Brooksville prosecutor Don Barbee. King is Barbee's boss.

Then-Gov. Charlie Crist passed over both Maurer and Barbee and selected Al Nienhuis, formerly the second-in-command at the Pasco Sheriff's Office.

Barbee said he doesn't have any first-hand knowledge of the case, but remembers seeing the subpoena requests on his desk.

Coincidentally, King was in Barbee's office the day the requests were submitted. King voluntarily took them and promised to review them, Barbee said.

Strong words against

Under the heading, "Mike Maurer is not the answer for sheriff," someone using the b.stockton handle wrote, "He wasn't qualified even when he only worked the road for 5 months. He maybe used his handcuffs twice, both times when he oiled them."

The post was made at 11:21 p.m. Dec. 23, 2010.

Crist appointed Nienhuis five days later.

The blog is called LEOaffairs.com. It claims to be "the largest law enforcement message board, or blog, on the planet."

The site has approximately 500 law enforcement agencies online in 18 countries and it generates more than 20 million hits per month, according to its homepage.

Stockton wasn't the only Hernando County Sheriff's Office employee who was victimized.

Sgts. Brandon Ross and Clayton Miller also filed reports.

On a message posted at 9:03 p.m. Dec. 28 - the day Crist announced his choice - someone using the name sgt.ross wrote, "like the song goes, 'na na na na na na ... hey, hey, goodbyeeeeee ..."

It was a pointed shot at Maurer.

Two hours earlier someone using the name Sgt. Clayton Miller wrote, "A new beginning for all of us! Politics stink and I'm glad someone else got it on the receiving end this time. I never cared for the uppers anyway. My brother works in Pasco and he said our new sheriff is a biotch. So whatever."

All three veteran deputies, with a combined 57 years at the sheriff's office, were victims of identity theft, they said.

None agreed to be interviewed for this story.

Sgt. Jeff Kraft, who heads the Economic Crimes Unit, also declined a media request.

King said he told Maurer of the case during a meeting last month with him and Nienhuis.

Maurer told Stockton, Ross and Miller he believed them and he wasn't concerned about the online messages. He also didn't question King's decision to deny the subpoena requests.

"If you give it attention, you're just feeding the monster," Maurer said. "If you leave it alone, it withers on the vine."

He said he isn't a fan of LEOaffairs.com and didn't think twice about what was posted. He didn't even read them.

"It's just anonymous people sitting behind the computer who are disgruntled," said Maurer.

Prosecutor: Lack of evidence,

Barbee estimated he's turned away subpoena requests less than 10 percent of the time.

In the rare instance he has questions or doubts, it's usually because detectives omit too much information, he said. If they make a follow-up call and divulge more, he'll generally give it the stamp of approval.

The Stockton, Ross and Miller case, however, was taken out of his hands.

Barbee said he's familiar with LEOaffairs.com. He's a former police officer. King hadn't heard of it.

Still, King wanted to examine the subpoena requests more thoroughly once they were brought to his attention.

He thought Barbee, who has said he plans to run for sheriff in 2012, was too closely involved.

"I think that's why he decided to take it on," Barbee said of King. "He didn't want it to look political for me."

Barbee denied knowing anything about the Web postings.

King reiterated his reasons for not granting the subpoena requests.

"My response is my response," he said, referring to the letter he wrote to Ciccone.

In the same letter, he listed his phone number and offered the opportunity for the detective and anyone else involved in the case to call him.

A month has gone by and no one has contacted him, King said.

King, whose office is in Ocala, said he couldn't remember the exact details of how he got his hands on the subpoena requests or how he learned of the case. He said he remembered being contacted by Barbee via e-mail.

Barbee works in Brooksville.

"I think he mentioned it to me and I told him to send it to me and I would look at it," said King. "I told him it would be easier if I did it than have him involved in it."

King said he had copies of the blog postings faxed to him.

After being told of Barbee's statements to Hernando Today , King said he was in the office one day in early January and that was probably the day he picked up the subpoena requests.

"I was down in his office when it first came up," King said.

King said he based his decision to halt the case on the legal requirements outlined in the statute. To prosecute an Internet identity crime, he must prove there was distress caused by harassment.

"I have to prove in a criminal case there was substantial distress to the person whose name was used," said King. "To me, there wasn't a basis to believe there was substantial distress."

King denied a cover-up and said he doesn't get involved in politics.

"That's not what I do," he said. "My job isn't to uncover political motivation for something ...I wouldn't do that for anybody."