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SWORN STATEMENT OF CHARLES HURLEY MARCH 29, 2012 CHARLES HURLEY having been first duly sworn testifies as follows: MR. LOPEZ: Today is March 29. It is

approximately 11:17 a.m.

I am Commander Lopez,

and internal affairs investigator for the Miami-Dade Schools Police Department. present is Detective Alicia Neal. Also

Please read

the affidavit into record placed before you. THE WITNESS: I, Charles J. Hurley, being

first duly sworn hereby state that my name is Charles J. Hurley, reside/work at 6100 Northwest 2 Avenue, Miami, Florida 33127. is the headquarters building for Miami-Dade Schools Police Department. January 12, 1970. My date of birth is It

My contact phone number is I am making the

305 area code, 757-7708.

following statement to Commander Edwin Lopez who has identified himself as an internal affairs investigator for the Miami-Dade Schools Police Department, State of Florida, in connection with case numbers 12-003, 12-004, 12-005, 12-006. I am of sound mind and I am

not under the influence of drugs or alcohol at

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this time.

I understand that giving false

information in this statement is a violation of Florida Statutes 837.05, false reports to law enforcement authorities, punishable as a misdemeanor of the first degree, 837.06, making false official statements punishable as a second degree. MR. LOPEZ: Thank you, Chief. You have

signed the affidavit and I have signed as a witness. Sir, are you appearing here today

without any promises and without any threats or duress to provide information in an investigation being conducted by the Miami-Dade Schools Police Department? THE WITNESS: MR. LOPEZ: I am. Are you aware that your

conversation with me is being recorded? THE WITNESS: MR. LOPEZ: I am. Are you aware that anything

you say may or may not be used in a departmental hearing or in a court of law? THE WITNESS: I am.

DIRECT EXAMINATION Q (By Mr. Lopez) Okay Chief, please make

your statement.
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During a conversation with my internal

affairs unit yesterday evening I was advised that as it relates to the case involving a deceased child, T.M., who is a former student of Miami-Dade County Public Schools at Dr. Michael Krop Senior High School, where we have a current investigation ongoing that several employees from the investigative division played an active role. In

what capacity and in which form and to what degree of involvement, I do not know. With the handling of

evidence, with the inquiry to the police reports that exist regarding the deceased child, T.M., in the printing, viewing, and possible dissemination of information related to the deceased child, T.M., into possible leaks of information regarding the deceased child, T.M. Q Okay Chief, what officers specifically

were brought to you by the investigators that conducted the witness interview yesterday? A In speaking with the internal affairs

unit, as I said, there was a previous investigation involving two members of the investigative division as it relates to the deceased child, T.M. That

investigation is on a separate -- or separate case numbers and I was briefed yesterday and indicated
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that four additional personnel, again, had a role in this case, and I am not clear as to what degree. These four people in question are, in no particular order, Sergeant William Tagle, Sergeant Brad Rosh, Commander Deanna Fox Williams, and Detective Gylmar Ochoa, all of whom are assigned to the investigative division of the Miami-Dade Schools Police Department. If I can, I'd like to because I think

it's appropriate, I think it's important for me to give a lay of the land as to what has transpired in these four cases and the two that I made previous reference to, and I believe those case numbers are 12-001 and 12-002. T.M., a deceased child, in the State of Florida and a former student of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Dr. Michael Krop Senior High School and a previous student at Miami Carol City Senior High School, was tragically killed in Sanford, Florida on or about February 26, 2012. Obviously I

am not aware of the facts and circumstances surrounding that case and there is an ongoing investigation taking place in Sanford, Florida by a number of law enforcement agencies. I know this

based purely and solely on reports from local and national media that I have viewed, heard, and read.
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The case has become a racially charged event across the nation. It has drawn a significant amount of

controversy which have resulted in inquires as to the handling of this case, the facts and circumstances as to what took place in this case, as well as student demonstrations here in Miami-Dade County Public Schools and demonstrations across the United States. White House. It has even drawn attention from the Given that, we have some degree of

history with this child aside and apart from the fact that he was one of our former students. Today

no arrest has been made in this killing and I think it's important for us to make aware of our history with this child as it relates to this police department. The individuals that I named, the

employees from the investigative division, and the four that I named in addition to the other two, and there could be more either as subjects or witnesses all surround potential leaks of information to the media, the public, and law enforcement. And that's

correct, just because a law enforcement agency requests information does not give the proper authorization for us to share and disseminate information because that violates department policies. It could even violate certain state laws
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and the FERPA, which is the Federal Education Records and Privacy Act regarding student information. As I said, the deceased child, T.M.,

was killed in Sanford, Florida on or about February 26, 2012 I am told. Our contact in terms of the

Miami-Dade Schools Police Department with the deceased child, T.M., to the best of our records indicate that on or about October 20, 2011, an incident involving the deceased child, T.M., took place at Dr. Michael Krop Senior High School. The

report was made on this case the day after which is October 21, 2011. The report was written by one of

our Miami-Dade Schools Police Department officers, Officer Darryl E. Dunn. The report indicated the

following, that on October the 20th, 2011, the deceased child, T.M., was observed writing graffiti of some sort on school property. The following day,

the deceased child, T.M., was in fact contacted by that officer, as well as in the company of school personnel and the graffiti, it turns out, the damage was very, very minor. It is not -- and I am also

told that it was the initials, "W.T.F." which generally stands for what the explicit word, F-U-C-K. I am told the damage was very minimal and

it is not uncommon for our police department to work

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in the best interest of our youth.

In this case,

T.M., or any other youth in similar cases, and evaluate the totality of circumstance and issue either a warning and give it back to the administration to handle. We can in fact, of course

issue a civil citation which is an arrest diversion program which was actually created by this police department and authored under my time as a sergeant and a commander here at Miami-Dade Schools Police Department. Or we can in fact, make a full blown

arrest because technically there was damage and defacing of school property. There was probable

cause to make this arrest and we know who the person was that committed this damage. In this interest in

taking that approach it does nothing to benefit the child and the officer in this case should be commended for exercising discretion and referring it back to the school administration for administrative purposes. That's what also makes this particular

case on October 20 and October 21, 2011 interesting. Because of the fact that it was exceptionally cleared by Sergeant Rastrelli, this report was dead at that point. There was no further police

authority or action to take place and one could presumably question the fact that it was done for
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administrative and disciplinary purposes, given back to the school administration which would certainly have it protected under the Federal Education Records Protection Act, FERPA. This case was

exceptionally cleared and went into our OSSI system where it sat along with every other type of case like this and we would never, ever bring it back up for life unless there was some type of circumstance or situation. The Sergeant Rastrelli approved it

and authorized an EC, exceptionally clearing, on October the 26, 2011. Subsequently, the report was

selected for our quality control process on November the 15, 2011. The quality control process is a The reason

process implemented over 18 months ago.

that I implemented the quality control process is because quite frankly and embarrassingly, this police department doesn't do a very good job -- or certainly wasn't doing a very good job of writing police reports. work. It is our most measurable body of

It is our primary work product and the police

department was notorious for writing poor reports which led to a poor body of work, unlawful arrests, and in a host of other concerns that I had. I

created the quality control process to significantly improve the body of work, improve report writing,
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and hold supervisors accountable for doing their job. I've also been very critical as everybody

knows over the work product of our supervisors here in this department. This was 18 months ago that we

implemented quality control and I do believe that it is one of a number of tools that we are using to improve the quality of work here at the police department. Now coincidently for some strange

reason, and as I said, T.M., a deceased child and former student of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Dr. Michael Krop Senior High School, was killed in Sanford, Florida on the 27th of February. For some

strange reason three days later on the 29th of February, Detective Steve Hadley viewed and printed this report. There was never any mention to anybody During the spring break

as to why he did this.

period of which we returned on March the 19th, 2012, the day before and the week leading up to during spring break I became aware that the child in question, T.M., the deceased child at Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Dr. Michael Krop, was in fact one of our students. I was not aware of that until I immediately notified the

the spring break period.

school operation side of the house and a number of other individuals in this agency and in the school
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district including crisis management, including school operations, the school superintendent, and my senior staff, that we could potentially have some ties to this incident because it was one of our students. At that point, by the way, I had no idea

that we had ever had any contact with this child in the capacity that I mentioned, being the police report taken on October 21, 2011 of the incident in which took place on October the 20th of 2011. was I aware of that specific incident. Coincidently, sometime in February, shortly before the child was killed he had another contact with our police department in which he was found to be in possession or close proximity of an empty marijuana bag or bag with small amount of marijuana residue and possibly some other type of contraband, both a misdemeanor. Just like the criminal mischief case I The officer once again Never

spoke about, a misdemeanor.

exercised tremendous constraint and discretion of which has been my chief concern as the chief of this police department and that is changing the philosophy of this police department as it relates to being heavy handed and arresting juveniles. Particularly, children of color, minority children. Particularly, minority boys, such as
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African-American boys.

The child once again was

handed back to the school administration and subsequently suspended. It is during that time of

suspension where this boy was visiting his father in Sanford where he was killed. There are a number of

other employees who I have now learned who have either viewed this report, in some cases edited to what degree, I am not sure, this report, and even printed this report. None of which could be

explained, all of which rise to a level of significant concern to me. Our records clerk first

initial L, last name Perez, printed the report for our police information officer on the 23 of March. That was so that we could provide that copy to the Miami-Dade School Board Attorney's Office prior to releasing it because we had received an influx of public information requests from the media seeking copies of this police report. all of these requests. My office has denied

Another individual, first

initial R last name Kearse, printed this report on that same day March 23, 2012 for reasons unknown. It is the position of the Miami-Dade School Board Attorney's Office that these two reports are protected under FERPA and will not be released. Yet, the information has been leaked to several
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media outlets and the public with a great degree of specificity, and in some cases local media outlets have claimed to have obtained copies of this report. They can speak to it and actually quote the language of this report. I feel that this is indicative and

clearly illustrates a leak, a violation of the policy set forth by my office and this police department. The office of the chief and police

information officer are the only points of release of information to the media. The only points of

release of police reports, and obviously this suggests that somebody else somewhere else within this police department leaked information to a number of external sources. There is also

indication to support that a member or members of the local media were allowed inside the investigative division for reasons unknown and were allowed to engage in conversations with members of the investigative division. There is also

information that suggests that several members of the investigative division requested copies of this report, had copies of the report, touched copies of this report, and actually handled evidence that was impounded regarding the deceased child, T.M., a former student of Miami-Dade County Public Schools,
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Dr. Michael Krop Senior High School to include jewelry and a screw driver. There's no apparent

reason for anybody to have handled this or certainly if they did have a reason they should have done so back in October when the report was taken, not as a result of the media frenzy and the highly controversial stir that has come upon this case that has become a racially charged event and a controversial investigation taking place in Sanford. I have great concerns as the chief of police here that several members of the investigative division are the points that the leak occurred. That unit is

not operating with synchronicity and has not comport with the manner in which I want this police department or that unit to operate. I have

significant concerns that releasing information on this case or any other case to the media or members of the public or anybody else can jeopardize investigations. I also find it highly inappropriate

to release information on the deceased child, T.M., using him as a pawn for any other reason, purpose or agenda. Whether it be to bring discredit on this

police department, on me, on this profession, on this case or for any other reason. And as such I

want this thoroughly investigated and looked into by

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the internal affairs unit to be able to identify the individuals responsible for this in question as well as to identify points of weaknesses within the agency to be able to improve. Lastly, I received

information requests from outside police departments, mainly the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, seeking copies of this report and other information. I have returned those phone calls at

least four times and I have not gotten any call back or answer. That suggests they've gotten their They got what they were

information elsewhere. looking for.

It is my direction to the internal

affairs unit that you look into this case and find out exactly where the leaks took place, why they took place, and why such a significant amount of activity on this case and everything surrounding it takes place. I have now locked out that report from

viewing, editing, or printing from everybody with the exception of the internal affairs unit. This is

alarming, this is unacceptable, and it will not be tolerated here at this police department. I have no

further information right now unless you have any questions. Q Is there anything that I may have failed

to ask you that you would like to add to this

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statement? A None that I can think of at this time.

This isn't the first time that I've had concerns with this unit leaking information to the media and again, I think that's not only unacceptable but I also understand it's part of the business, it's part of the profession. But in this particular case it

is harmful to the investigation and it is disrespectful to this deceased child and his family. Q Are there any other persons who are

witnesses to this alleged act? A The people that I named and in the event

that more people pop up, which I anticipate, could be the case then we will you know, examine that from that perspective when that situation arises. Q Has everything you've said been the truth

to the best of your knowledge? A Q Absolutely. This concludes the statement. It is now

approximately 11:41 a.m. (Statement concluded at 11:41 a.m.)

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