HCSO Command Staff Criticized by Chronister for 'Judgment Lapses' Following Cheating Scandal

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In Tampa, Florida, Sheriff Chad Chronister addressed a recent scandal involving his command staff, describing their involvement as “lapses in judgment” while emphasizing that no laws were broken.

“I want to make it clear that I will not condemn the individuals involved in this situation. They are not bad people. They are esteemed leaders, accomplished professionals, and compassionate individuals—mothers, fathers, husbands, and wives—who have collectively dedicated decades to protecting and serving our community,” Chronister stated.

In a separate incident, a sting operation in St. Pete, dubbed ‘Operation Spooky Surprise,’ resulted in the arrest of four men accused of targeting child predators.

Four members of the sheriff’s command staff have resigned, and two others were dismissed following revelations that one individual may have completed coursework or written assignments on their behalf in career advancement training sessions.

The scandal came to public attention when the wife of former Chief Deputy Anthony Collins sent an email revealing the unethical practices.

“I am writing to formally report a serious incident of academic dishonesty that I witnessed during training at the FBI Academy. I believe it is my ethical duty to bring this matter to your attention to uphold the integrity of the Bureau training programs and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. This behavior not only violates the standards of academic integrity set by the FBI Academy but also undermines the professionalism and ethical expectations of all law enforcement personnel. Below are images displaying incidents of ethical dishonesty. In these incidents, Chief Deputy Anthony Collins shares confidential course material with an outside party, that is completing class assignments on his behalf.”

Collins resigned immediately after an investigation into the incident began.

The sheriff’s office said the person who completed the course work is a man named Robert Roush.

Monday, the sheriff’s office released more than 6,000 pages of documents related to its investigation into the incident and included audio recordings that investigators made of interviews with those involved.

During his interview with investigators, Roush claimed he cannot remember who first contacted him from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office but said he’s tutored many people.

Roush maintains he did nothing wrong and only edited papers for those involved.

The sheriff’s office said after Collins resigned, the agency did an internal investigation and searched for Roush’s name and email address on email accounts at the sheriff’s office.

Chronister said he does not feel an outside investigation is needed.

“This isn’t criminal. FDLE, FBI wouldn’t have access to an employee’s personal emails, no different than we have access to their emails,” Chronister said.

However, the sheriff said he cannot be certain if anyone else at the department used Roush to write their papers, if they used private email accounts for their communication with him.

Still, he said the people involved have paid a price.

“They paid with their careers. Their careers in law enforcement are over. Every single person had the opportunity to resign. The two that I terminated made a decision that they were going to continue to go through the process,” Chronister said.