Ken Jenne has been a public servant in Florida for many years. After obtaining his law degree, he served in the Florida State Senate from 1978 – 1996, and then was appointed as Sheriff of Broward County in 1998. He was a rising star in the Democratic party.
But then things went wrong. Local10.com reports that he received payments for various items that didn’t make their way to his tax return. A surveillance company that serviced the Sheriff’s Office made $5500 in payments. His old law firm helped him with loan payments on his car—to the tune of $41,000 from 2002 through 2004. He received two payments from developers totaling nearly $20,000. And then in 2003, Jenne had trouble paying his income tax. His secretary got a $20,000 loan, which was then loaned to Jenne.
That loan became a big issue. When the Florida Department of Law Enforcement questioned the then-Sheriff about the loan, his answer was basically, “What loan?” And then he paid his secretary $21,000 to pay to the developer who gave the loan in the first place to cover the scheme up.
And then the US Department of Justice began investigating. The toothpicks holding up the scheme began to fall down, and Jenne resigned his post yesterday, and agreed on a plea deal today. He has pleaded guilty to three counts of tax evasion and one count of mail fraud. The plea deal will send the former sheriff to ClubFed for nearly two years.
It sure would have been easier to just pay those taxes in the first place…and if he had done so, Ken Jenne might still be sheriff.