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I am one member of a five person board. The opinions I express on this forum are mine only, and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Escambia County Staff, Administrators, Employees, or anyone else associated with Escambia County Florida. I am interested in establishing this blog as a means of additional transparency to the public, outreach to the community, and information dissemination to all who choose to look. Feedback is welcome, but because public participation is equally encouraged, appropriate language and decorum is mandatory. Although this is not my campaign site for re-election--sometimes campaign related information will be discussed, therefore in an abundance of caution I add the following : Political Advertisement Paid for and Approved by Jeff Bergosh, Republican, for Escambia County Commissioner District 1








Wednesday, November 22, 2023

Stolen County Files Part I: The Story Doesn't Add Up and the Dates Don't Jibe Either, "Darth" Newman

The "force" is not strong with attorney  "Darth" Newman's  version of the timeline of his receipt of stolen Escambia County files and records....

The problem with lies is that they will always be found out.  A liar who lies and tells lies will invariably lose track of the lies he tells and then the lies he or she told will be discovered.  Then, that person will be discredited, ostracized, ridiculed and even made a pariah. 

Or it could be worse.

Sometimes you lose a relationship when you get caught in a lie---- be it  a business, personal, or other type relationship.

Worse than this--if a lie is told to a federal agent--that's a crime.

And if a lie is told under oath, that's perjury.

If a lie is told to a judge by an "officer of the court "-- well, there are professional ramifications that can be significant and career threatening or career ending: there could be sanctions up to and including a formal bar complaint, a reprimand, a sanction, or disbarment.

So liars ought to be careful about telling lies--lest they get wrapped up in their own webs of dishonesty and have to pay a price for it.

Currently---there are lots of lies flying around Escambia County as it pertains to stolen Escambia County files that contain lots of county records, medical records, personal identification information, attorney-client protected conversations, and a host of other records that are not public records and would never be released under any circumstances--let alone unredacted--- under any valid public records request ever.  Yes, there may be a number of bonafide public records within the larger file of stolen records as well, any one or all of which would have been provided upon request because these files were saved from deletion via action taken by the county---but the majority of the file would not have been a public record.  

Nobody ever asked, though, and no public records requests were made of the information in these files.  until the whole thing was stolen.

And, again, the vast majority of what was stolen and disseminated inappropriately and unredacted by Jonathan Owens is NOT public record.

Webbed into all of these lies, potential crimes,  and other problems are the issues of the separate, frivolous Federal Quitam and harrassment case brought by lawyers for former Medical Director Rayme Edler. 

That case is baseless, meritless, and frivolous and will be defeated in court--that's my opinion.   

And that separate federal lawsuit against the county, along with the previously settled cases of 5 former EMS employees (ALL but 1 of whom were NOT prosecuted) has apparently provided Gannett and the Pensacola News Journal with just enough cover for them to use (conflate) the stolen, unverified county text message files they now possess unlawfully---somehow----- with the 2019 EMS challenges and the former Medical Director's currently stalled case.  

That's their pretext.

The thing is this, though.  The files at issue, from my phone, were stolen from the county, and after being stolen--these files have been manipulated.  

And this issue, this case, and this Escambia County lawsuit to recover these files are separate and distinct and have NOTHING to do with previously settled EMS cases or with Dr. Edler's current, frivolous and meritless lawsuit(s) against the county which will be defeated in court.  

I have it on very good authority, from a source that knows, that manipulation to these stolen files has already happened, and there will be much more to come on this in the next 6-12 months as discovery, depositions, the currently confidential but soon-to-be released FBI investigation report, potential prosecutions, ethics violation investigations, and other evidence and information is brought forward, gathered and presented to the court to bolster the county's replevin lawsuit.  

By contrast to the files the PNJ have---which have been manipulated---my original jump drive  (provided to me and in my posession since imaged and copied by the county IT staff in February of 2022 and provided to investigators recently and upon their request) is an exact duplicate of what was on the county's harddrive after my phone was imaged.  That has now been confirmed, again, by a source intimately familiar.  

The file that Dr. Edler's attorney's have, by contrast, is NOT an exact copy, it has been manipulated, the hash signitures do not match.  This, again, is the same file the PNJ has.  

So as we do discovery for our replevin case, and we take depositions, we will find out how this happened as we ask a lot of questions about this.  Lots.  And we'll be asking questions of lots of people including the PNJ reporters and editors that have this manipulated copy of stolen files and ran with it in multiple stories they have manufactured and  published as gospel truth anyway--never bothering to do what legitimate, honorable and reputable journalists do----- verify the authenticity of the data from the source-----the county or me----before publishing inaccuracies.

As bad as all of that is, (And it is REALLY BAD) worse is the fact that the timeline(s) of the "when" Dr. Edler's attorneys first received this manipulated, unredacted copy of my files to attempt to use in their separate, frivolous lawsuit(s) against the county does not add up with what Jonathan Owens----their lynchpin star witness himself-------- is saying. 

The Story Doesn't Add Up and the Dates Don't Jibe, Either, "DARTH"

Lawyer Darth Newman from Pennsylvania has submitted an affidavit in Federal Court to Magistrate Hope Cannon in Rayme Edler's case that he (Newman) is working.  In it, he states that he had no idea the stolen county text message data file was coming to him, did not request it (of Owens), and that it was emailed to him unsolicited, unannounced on March 15, 2023.  "Darth"  goes on to state he is the only one of Edler's co-counsels that have "substantially" (whatever that means) viewed it and that he notified the defense counsel "shortly after coming into possession of the file."  Read his sworn statement, here.  (Notably--the notification from Darth Newman to the County Attorney did not come until nearly two weeks later, on March 27th, and this notification was nonchalantly offered up multiple paragraphs into (buried) and within the body of a voluminous email full of legal mumbo-jumbo and minutae on a variety of ongoing, monotonous discovery gripes--AND obviously and conspicuoulsy NOT highlighted.  Nevertheless--the notification should have been immediate, via a call to the county or a stand alone email as this was an important development.  And county staff moved WAY too slow catching on and I was not told until nearly 3 Months later which was massively disappointing.  But that is a separate issue which I have discussed at length with the county attorney privately.)

Meanwhile--Jonathan Owens has proudly, in cocky fashion like a weird sort of proud rooster, stated on the radio and in the press on August 7th of this year that he kept the file after he left county employment, read the files,  was asked by Edler's lawyers if he had anything else that could help their case for Edler and against the county----------- AFTER he was interviewed by them and AFTER he provided an affidavit for their case against the county.  Problem is--their interview and Owens' affidavit is dated April 3rd, 2023.  Three weeks after Darth Newman said Owens sent him the file unsolicited on March 15th 2023.  Read Owens' sworn affidavit, here

None of these tools have a time machine, so this is obviously a lie.

Someone is lying, obviously, and these timelines don't mesh.  Owens even states in the transcript of his radio interview from August 7th of this year---on page 11 of the county's lawsuit filed against him and two others, here----that he provided Edler's attorneys a copy of the stolen files "Last year."  

Wait-----That would have been 2022--way before "Darth" says he received the unsolicited email on March 15th of 2023.  Did "Darth" get the file in 2022 as Jonathan stated, or is Jonathan lying?  Or is "Darth" Newman Lying?  Or did co-counsels actually have it and read it in 2022 as Jonathan clearly stated and did/does Rayme Edler actually possess this stolen file, too?  If co-counsels to "Darth" had it "Last Year" like Owens proudly stated--this makes the entire affidavit submitted by "Darth" Newman inaccurate at best--a series of lies at worst.  So, who is lying? 

These stories do not jibe, people are lying, and timelines are changing, evolving, and revolving.

Lying liars are lying all over the place on this timeline, in affidavits, on the radio, and in the press using manipulated, stolen data to bolster their lies.  

Did they even lie to the Federal Magistrate, Hope Cannon, with this "timeline?"

Wow---too many questions.  

But make no mistake: between the FBI investigation report (which will be made public once the federal prosecutors and/or state prosecutors are done with it and have made decisions on prosecution(s)) and what the county will find and learn as we move forward with our replevin case and enter discovery and begin multiple depositions of multiple persons, we will get to the bottom of it all.  All of it.

And folks will be under oath and they will answer the questions or invoke their 5th Amendment protection from self-incrimination, because that's how depositions work, folks have to answer the questions, objections can be noted but the questions will be answered lest the Judge in the case have to get involved---and that's not good when that happens.  So understandably--- we'll be meticulous in our questions of multiple individuals we will depose as we seek to get back the property, every copy of it, that was stolen from the county and now possessed still to this day, unlawfully and unredacted, by multiple individuals and entities.

I have it on good authority and have been told by multiple persons with firsthand knowledge that clerk of the court Pam Childers unlawfully possesses a copy of this stolen, maniplutlated file.  She will not answer direct requests of her made by the county attorney as to whether or not she has a copy-- so we

do not have enough currently to add her to this complaint, yet.  But we will if she has it and possesses it unlawfully which I believe she does.

And oh, by the way, once we find out who else has this file and is holding it unauthorized, no matter who they are, the complaint will be amended and those individuals will be named as well, and subsequently deposed. 😀

We will get the answers.  From everyone.

My only advice to folks who are involved in this horror show of lies:  Stop lying and tell the truth, otherwise you will stumble and trip yourself up on your own yarns, misstatements, exaggerations,  lies and fabrications and that might become something much worse than what this particular civil trial is going to be for you.  

That's my advice.  

Because, as I have stated recently on the radio, we are going to be very deliberative in how we move forward in this.  Deliberative, methodical, detailed, precise, and thorough.

We are playing this "Old Bull" style.  Definitely not going to act "Young Bull" and run down the hill to the pasture and quickly do ONE thing.  Nope, we are going to WALK down the mountain, Old Bull style, and do it ALL. 

All of it.

Old Bull style.

That's the way this works.  To coin and make my own a somewhat crass pop-culture trope: 

"F&%K around with my family, the truth, and stolen County files and FIND OUT!"

Happy Thanksgiving, "Darth" and Jonathan, and Jim, and Lisa,  and Alex, and Pam, and  anyone and everyone else that has copies of this stolen, manipulated, unredacted file unlawfully.  

Remember--don't choke on this "Turkey Neck" you're all trying to eat in one gulp.....

10 comments:

Mel Pino said...

They can't stop lying, Commissioner Bergosh. It's all they know how to do; it's as natural as breathing for them.

My first response on finding out that "they have a copy of text messages from such and such a date to such a such a date" stands--10 to 1 have a hell of a lot more than the text messages you know about, and it goes back a lot longer than they're saying, in any iteration.

I've even wondered if the whole "I kept Commissioner Bergosh's texts in case he ever needed them again" was a ruse to cover for the fact the the D2 office had access to a lot more than those files over the years. It's just a hunch, and could of course be wrong. But it's possible that the lower guy on the totem pole got stuck taking the fall on that. Because remember, we had already had a similar instance of this when Arduini "somehow" got his hands on Commissioner Barry's sensitive info including social security.

Anybody done a serious inquiry into how much access Pam Childers has to sensitive County information since the previous head of IT gifted her with control of so much of the County tech?

Anonymous said...

It’s hilarious the guy who was “Godzilla “ is telling people to stop lying.

Jeff Bergosh said...

5:36 when the PNJ allowed comments everyone utilized pseudonyms. Everyone who posted to their stories online. Then a funny thing happened, the posters started ripping on the content because it was so bad. Then they outed posters that had signed up to comment registering utilizing their real names but posting utilizing pseudonyms. Then the PNJ got excoriated by the Columbia Journalism Review and other papers for outing their posters and using information from their subscriber database to do this. So yes, folks posted using pseudonyms. But I'll say this--everyting I said on the site was true and I stand by it. And thank God I didn't go through life with a "real name" like Darth. And none of it was under oath or submitted to a court. Remember that, because it's real important. And really, to get back to what is truly important and not trivial BS from 15 years ago--these new liars that are lying are lying in filings with federal judges and lying in their statements to federal agents and lying in media and lying in radio interviews and their lies are going to find them. Now go eat a giant Turkey leg (don't choke on it) and stuffing and mashed potatoes with gravy---- and have a Happy Thanksgiving! and remember.......Don't be a lying liar that lies like the guys in this post. :)

Eric Sharplin said...

Commissioner Steven Barry was correct when he said never never turn his phone over to the county I T department.

I see that Nikki Haley is rising in the polls Desantis is now in fourth place. Robert Kennedy jr is polling around 20 percent as a Independent.
a
I went to food an turkey give away on Tuesday at the fairgrounds Sponsored by the Watson law firm only bad thing there was one person was getting two turkeys an two hams only to supposed to have gotten one turkey one ham for one person so they ran out alot of people got nothing its was very sad

Anonymous said...

Duh. Odds are Dildo Doug did the Dirty Deed before he left.

Dirty Deeds .. done dirt cheap.


Patterns.

Who spilled the beans, who sent stuff to the FWC while trying to keep BA 4 for their own use.

Even who was Mr. Emissary with ole Dupe the Welsh

Who sent stuff to Marlette. Who dropped stuff to Arduini with sensitive private info on HR records of commissioners.

Who sent stuff to some antimask facebook group.. trying to get strangers to mob the BCC when COVID policies were being considered.

Who probably sent a box labeled industrial strength dildos to himself.

Who sent stuff trying to get your brother in trouble.
Who was behind sending info and encouraging Edler sue Pino.

It ain't Colonol Mustard in the Consevatory.

I like the old bull analogy and the FAFO mindset you've taken.

Bout time.

Tom Jardine said...

Jeff,

This is an extremely regrettable situation. I certainly empathize with you that your personal text messages have been released. And it’s extremely unfortunate that taxpayer resources are being allocated towards yet another court battle.

I don’t agree with your personal policy of solely maintaining Escambia County public records on your personal cell phone. Am I correct? Is that your method?

If one retains personal communications on the same device as public communications; it would seem inevitable that personal communications would very possibly wind up inadvertently released into the public sphere. That unfortunate outcome seems completely foreseeable.

I don’t understand why you can’t maintain a county phone. I don’t understand why you can’t regularly submit your public communications to a custodian.

Public business that inadvertently is performed on your personal device should be immediately forwarded to your county device.

Frankly, I don’t understand why all public communications are not made available to the citizens for 24/7 online access.

What advantage do the citizens achieve from your hoarding of public records?

You have been paid extremely well by the great citizens of Escambia County for many years. You are our paid representative.

I sincerely regret this entire episode, but I feel that your flawed methodology is largely to blame.

The great citizens of Escambia played no role in this and we are certainly NOT benefiting. You are supposed to represent us in a manner in which we benefit.

While I sincerely empathize with you; I feel that you let the citizens down.

Jeff Bergosh said...

Tom Jardine: You are glib, I get that. Here is the thing, for your edification. Every one of us, the elected officials locally and I would say statewide as well, are the custodians of the public records contained within our personal emails, personal cell phones, personal facebook and other social media platforms, etc. etc. It would be IMPOSSIBLE to make county staff responsible for every official's personal devices and accounts. This said, as you know, we as the elected officials still have a duty to protect, preserve, and provide (as requested) these records when they are needed. So yes, when elected officials do not turn over records when bonafide requests are made, this becomes problematic. When these officials do it over and over again---and this fact is established in court---- and there are ZERO consequences---it disincentivizes others who are all watching from cooperating with the law, the process, and the spirit of the law. Sadly, in Escambia County this has happened in recent memory. So, when I lost my Apple ID and could not recover it and my phone was out of memory and malfunctioning and I knew the phone contained some important public records that I had a duty to maintain, the IT department told me they could easily image and download the contents so I could preserve the public records contained therein. This is what I did and I was able, because of that, to answer two records requests subsequent to that episode that otherwise I would not have been able to do. If I did not take the action I took and instead just did a "shoulder shrug" like some former IT personnel did, apparently, the records would have been lost, Tom. The disappointing part of this is that staff did not destroy the duplicate copy of my total download file on the county hard drive as I directed them to do. (Just so you know, Tom, there is no legal requirement to maintain "duplicate" public records under the law--so deleting the redundant copy not only made sense--it was the only way to ensure the data was not inappropriately dissemniated) Nope, someone decided on their own to keep the copy and we all know what happenend next and conversations between my wife and myself that are not public records, under the law, were splashed on the front page of the paper. And you are correct that because of the bad decision to keep a copy allowing for the opportunity for the entire file to be copied and disseminated unredacted unlawfully----yes we are now expending resources to make sure folks that did this in contravention to law are held accountable for what they did. Tom--the stick drive provided to me and the one apparently provided to others has information contained on it that is NOT a public record and more importantly--it has information that is unlawful for anyone to possess without authorization. It has Personal Identification Information like passport pictures, driver's license pictures, photos of tax returns for my children, and other protected medical records. The mere possession of this information by someone not specifically authorized to possess it is a violation of Florida law Florida Statutes § 817.5685. Read it and let it sink in. It is serious. So when you say "I emphathize with you; I feel that you let the citizens down" that is an incredibly ignorant, uninformed, emotional knee-jerk that demonstrates your glibness, and does not comport with the reality of what happened. I hope you understand better after reading this factual reply to your gibberish. And maybe now you understand why I am walking down the hill old bull style and we are going to get every one responsiblefor possessing this file, unlawfully one by one. :) Old Bull Style.

Now, get back to the Escambia Hate Chamber on Facebook and spend your day banging away at the keyboard on that site like a woodpecker while the rest of us get to work.

Anonymous said...

No matter how many times you explain this, county business should not have been mixed in with your personal information, conversations, and sensitive information from coworkers at your old job. This should have never happened. Maybe you have but I don’t recall you taking ownership for any of this or explaining what you will do differently. No, you’re pointing at everyone else, maybe rightfully so, and spending our tax dollars to put a stop the dissemination and the possible retrieval of all copies of that file.

Take some ownership for this mess. Submit what is public from your computers, phones, and even this blog to IT for retention in a timely fashion. Explain to the citizens what recommendations you will push forward for all county staff, commissioners included, to avoid this from ever happening again.

Eric Sharplin said...

Tom Jardine seems to be afraid to say all these things at public forum. Its makes me wonder if Tom Jardine is scared of Jeff Bergosh. Does Tom have skeletons in his closet that he trying to hide.

It really to hard to question Jeff Bergosh since you have never been in his situation

I am convinced someone in the IT department had a vendetta against Jeff Bergosh its truly disgraceful Its shows people dont know what respect is.

Ajnal said...

wow…so rude to constituents.

FYI, records that contain information exempt from the sunshine law are still public records.

The real questions should be about why you conduct county business outside of the sunshine, why you run county plans by David Bear before submitting them to the commission for review/votes, why you asked David Bear, who is not on the commission, to "carry the message" to Commissioner Lumon and others, and who keeps sensitive information (personal or county business) on their phone?

This sounds like you are quite comfortable skirting the sunshine laws: “Jeff Bergosh 10/1/2021 7:49:48 AM It would really be helpful if you could speak with Lumon about that of course don't tell me what he says LOL”

LOL? what’s so funny about the sunshine law?



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