BREAKING NEWS: Third FBI Interview with Carey Released
Told she had learned a great deal since last interview; Felt Ramsingh brothers pressured her to remove Corradino Report from agenda in conspiring to remove former City Manager Al Childress
Commissioner Lissette Carey has been interviewed by the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Monroe County State Attorney’s office at least three times. , she said that she had come to feel that disgraced City Attorney Ron Ramsingh had used her to remove the Corradino Report—critical of Ramsingh’s brother, Chief Building Officer Raj Ramsingh—from the agenda of a City Commission meeting last year.
According to more documents obtained and reviewed by Above the Fold, the CBO was on the verge of being fired by then-City Manager Al Childress.
The CBO was indicted a third time on Wednesday.
The paper trail also showed that the Ramsinghs and now-retired Code Enforcement Director Jim Young conspired to hatch a plan to either force Childress to resign or be terminated without cause in an effort to save Raj Ramsingh’s job.
The triad also involved sitting commissioners Carey, Jimmy Weekley, Clayton Lopez, and Billy Wardlow in the successful coup attempt. Former KWPD Chief — now Commissioner — Donie Lee and Mayor DeeDee Henriquez were also named as alleged participants in texts uncovered by the joint investigation.
Carey was interviewed on May 1 by FBI agents J. G. Bennett, Rhonda A. Squizzero and Monroe County Major Crimes Prosecutor Colleen Dunne.
Commissioner Carey’s attorney, Paul Calli also participated.
At the outset of the interview, Carey told investigators “she had learned a lot since her last interview and had time to reflect on things CA Ramsingh said to her in the past or did in an effort to influence her.”
She said she depended a lot on Ramsingh for legal advice and trusted him due to a pre-existing professional relationship with him while working at the City before she was a City Commissioner.
The Commissioner said knew Ramsingh as a colleague and considered him a friend, even attending his wedding.
She told investigators that the CA had initiated a phone call to her to discuss the Corradino Report — commissioned by Childress after he became aware of conflicts between Building and Planning departments within the city.
“Ramsingh made statements about the report and gave legal reasons to CAREY why the report should not be on the City Commission agenda, such as the liability to the City and the fact that it was only 75% complete,” wrote investigators.
“RAMSINGH told CAREY that it would not be appropriate to be on the agenda and that it wasn't something the City Commission should vote on. It was a City Manager function.
“During the phone call, RAMSINGH told CAREY that nobody liked the Corradino Report and that nobody wanted it. RAMSINGH ended the call by saying that TONY (Estenoz), CAREY's brother-in-law, and SANDITO "SANDY" SANTIAGO, an old family friend, were mentioned in the report. After CAREY got off the phone with RAMSINGH, she thought it was odd that RAMSINGH mentioned TONY and SANDY.”
Eztenoz was one of the recipients of CBO Ramsingh’s largesse, receiving a fraudulent/falsified permit for work on property owned by he and his wife.
Carey told investigators it made her very uncomfortable and that she felt the comment was a little off.
“Upon reflection, CAREY can see that RAMSINGH used CAREY and pressured her into removing the Corradino Report from the Agenda because RAMSINGH's brother was in trouble.
“CAREY did not read the entire Corradino Report. She has skimmed the report, but thought she may have also got a summary of the report from RAMSINGH. RAMSINGH was always opposed to the Corradino Report. CAREY definitely felt RAMSINGH was pressuring her to remove the Corradino Report from the agenda.
“RAMSINGH called CAREY to ask her to sponsor a Special City Commission meeting to terminate City Manager AL CHILDRESS. RAMSINGH told CAREY that he had other Commissioners to sponsor the meeting. RAMSINGH told CAREY they only needed two sponsors.”
Carey told investigators that the City Attorney spoke negatively about Childress on a number of occasions over a long period of time.
“RAMSINGH also told CAREY that other people weren't happy with CHILDRESS. RAMSINGH complained to CAREY that CHILDRESS was bringing friends from Doral to Key West to help out with City issues and RAMSINGH did not like that. Specifically, RAMSINGH did not like CHILDRESS hiring "his buddy," JOE CORRADINO, to audit the Building and Planning Departments as he felt a report by CORRADINO would be more favorable toward the Planning Department. RAMSINGH also accused CHILDRESS of getting kickbacks in Doral.”
According to Carey “RAMSINGH showed frustration with his brother, RAJ RAMSINGH (RAJ). Due to CAREY and RAMSINGH's pre-existing friendship, she trusted RAMSINGH. In retrospect, she now sees that he was using his influence over her.”
“It really sucks,” Carey told investigators.
Regarding the submission of the group text messages with Henriquez, and Lee, Carey said that she did discuss with Ramsingh how to submit the group text to the State Attorney's Office in response to a state subpoena.
Amanda Willett helped the commissioner print out the screenshots.
Carey told investigators she provided Ramsingh with three different versions of the group text: one was redacted; one removed Henriquez and Lee's name; and one was in its entirety with nothing modified.
Ramsingh provided the text messages to the State Attorney's Office.
“As a result of their relationship, CAREY believed that RAMSINGH felt that he always had her vote.
“After the recent vote to terminate RAMSINGH's employment without cause,CAREY received a text from RAMSINGH saying, ’Just....thank you.’”
Carey said It made her feel sick and horrible.
“She did not vote that way because of RAMSINGH.” She told investigators. “That is when she realized that she was being used by RAMSINGH.”
Carey's attorney provided Agents a digital screenshot of the aforementioned text between the commissioner and the former City Attorney.
This is a developing news story. Watch this space for more updates.