What began as an ill-timed, minor infraction by a beachside Vero Beach Police Department patrol officer escalated to an alleged mole hunt in 2024 as two prominent island businessmen were gunning for Chief David Currey’s job, and now a civil lawsuit has exposed the embarrassing details to public scrutiny.

More than 1,700 pages of deposition transcripts and city documents released so far this month in a hostile workplace suit filed by 37-year officer Lt. Dan Cook give city residents a look at the inner workings and power struggles with the department, and at how City Hall handles personnel matters. Since Cook is seeking a summary judgment instead of a trial after turning down a settlement offer, the depositions and exhibits can be disclosed without having to be formally admitted into evidence by Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Cox.

Cook claims he was targeted for allegedly leaking internal goings-on to former criminal prosecutor and Gorilla Ammo CEO Lanse Padgett and Padgett’s silent business partner, George E. Warren Corporation CEO and prominent John’s Island philanthropist Thomas Corr. Both men wanted police Chief David Currey replaced, they said, for what they believed to be incompetent leadership, botched investigations, questionable ethics and a lack of transparency.

Records requests from Padgett and from crime blogger Jeff Andros sent the police department into a tailspin as records rolled out into the sunshine.

Currey was deposed about this and said, “I believe from what I recall, [there were] close to a couple hundred emails, requests for public records, probably very close to that over a period of time. Requesting personnel files, emails, case reports, incidents, those types of things.”

In one email to City Manager Monte Falls, Padgett wrote: “I have offered you and the mayor multiple examples of mismanagement and botched investigations at the VBPD. I have given you multiple police reports of serious weapon related crimes that were closed out with little or no investigation. In addition, I have pointed to more than one instance of the Chief of Police being unethical and mis-stating the truth to both myself and you.”

Padgett’s emails are among exhibits included in a 408-page document relating to the deposition of Human Resources Director Gabrielle Manus in the Cook case.

Manus opened an investigation into Cook’s hostile workplace complaint in April 2024, conducting more than 20 interviews before clearing Currey and his leadership team and closing the investigation.

Manus blamed the police department’s corrosive recent culture on the fact that the department’s business was coming under heightened public scrutiny, due to the flurry of records requests.

“It was expressed, to me, over and over [in interviews with Vero officers] that the constant request for public records and outside interference is severely impacting the morale of the officers. They feel that they are always looking over their shoulders and are afraid to do their jobs. They fear that if they make even a minor mistake, they will be the subject of the next public records request,” Manus wrote in an April 16, 2024, memo to Falls.

Manus said the “intense scrutiny from outside individuals” had hurt morale.

Despite the outcome of the Manus investigation, the controversy continued and boiled over into an April 29, 2024, public meeting in which Currey responded to the accusations against him and his department and managed to retain city officials’ favor and keep his job.

Depositions in Cook’s lawsuit given by Falls and Currey offer a peek at the time and effort exerted to control information and keep employees in line in the aftermath of beachside incident and requests of records of what happened.

The Incident

It was late February 2024, peak season, and the barrier island was teeming with tourists and winter residents. But this was no normal year, as several bizarre crimes had shaken the otherwise safe and secure Ocean Drive business district. A few months earlier, a nighttime scuffle at Humiston Beach Park had turned into a brief gun battle, leaving bullet holes in a Corey’s Pharmacy window. Then on New Year’s Eve a young bar patron was stabbed inside Grind + Grape, an upscale night spot popular with Vero’s young professionals.

Looking to avoid additional trouble leading up to or during spring break, the police department offered officers overtime shifts to boost the uniformed police presence in what Vero cops call the Beachside Zone.

Two officers were reported by their corporal for showing “little activity” on an overtime shift. When GPS data placed one officer at home in Vero Isles instead of on Ocean Drive, he was written up.

That should have been the end of it, but it wasn’t.

Padgett and Corr got wind of the dereliction of duty incident and submitted another public records request, this one on March 7, 2024, for internal police emails.

The Mole Hunt

City emails, memos and the Cook case depositions reveal that, in the weeks following Padgett’s public records request, Currey’s command tried to find out how Padgett knew about the slacker cops, and Cook became the focus of their informal investigation.

Cook had asked around for details about the incident and the officer who was written up and Deputy Chief Matthew Monaco reprimanded Cook for not bringing what he learned forward. Cook said he believed patrol division supervisor Lt. Matt Harrelson was already aware and handling the situation.

Feeling mistreated, Cook appealed the reprimand to Falls, and the problem landed on Manus’ desk after Cook lodged a hostile workplace complaint, citing the recent write-up plus a partially negative performance review in 2024 for an unrelated matter.

At some point, Cook also looped city council members in on his complaints, resulting in his suspension.

Unhappy with how his grievance was handled and unwilling to retire, Cook filed suit in circuit court in November 2024. That matter is still pending with a hearing set for May 7.

But in light of the depositions being made public, the city may soon settle the dispute. The Vero Beach City Council is expected to schedule a “shade meeting” in the coming days to talk legal strategy in the Cook case.

The upheaval of exposing conflict and suspicion within the police department cannot be undone. However, the frustration, lack of training and desperate need for strong leadership alleged in the 1,700-page public disclosure could lead to a closer look at Vero’s cherished police department.

Some good news did come out of the cache of documents, which included anonymous police officer survey responses reflecting poorly on top police and city leaders. Despite being disillusioned and stressed out, most Vero police officers said they were still dedicated to serving Vero citizens and keeping the city safe.