Hillsbrough County Jail

Sheriff's officials say Kevin White tried influencing them on towing company

TAMPA — Kevin White was on the line. Hillsborough sheriff's Col. Greg Brown had never before gotten a call from the Hillsborough County commissioner.

Brown wasn't pleased about what he heard.

White asked him to place a company called Tri-County Auto Towing on a rotational list used by the Sheriff's Office when they need vehicles towed, Brown said. It was lucrative business.

"I thought he was using his position to force me to put someone on the list," he said of the June 2010 call from White. But the colonel dug in his heels.

"I wasn't going to do it."

Brown, the third-ranking member of the Sheriff's Office, testified Friday in the fifth day of White's trial on federal corruption charges. U.S. Attorney Robert O'Neill then rested his case after calling a dozen witnesses.

What happened next might seem odd in a trial in which the most compelling evidence is a secretly recorded video of White accepting $5,000 from an undercover FBI agent.

The judge appears to be giving consideration to dismissing four bribery charges against White.

White's lead attorney, Grady Irvin Jr., made the customary motion for a judgment of acquittal, asking the judge to dismiss all 10 charges against White because prosecutors hadn't met their burden of proof.

A judge is required by law to consider in a "light most favorable" to the prosecution if the evidence holds up. That means such motions are usually denied.

But on Friday, the judge paused.

White, 46, is charged with accepting bribes in exchange for influencing an agency that gets $10,000 or more annually from the federal government.

But Irvin argued the Public Transportation Commission, the agency White is accused of trying to influence, is independent from county government.

The County Commission and the various offices it oversees gets millions in federal funding. The PTC, which White formerly chaired, gets nothing.

In state court, this isn't a problem. But in federal court, it could lead to a dismissal of bribery charges.

"Obviously, Mr. Irvin has hit on an issue here," said U.S. District Judge James Whittemore.

O'Neill, the U.S. Attorney for Florida's Middle District, said there was plenty of overlap between the PTC and county government. White, for one thing, got his PTC chairmanship by virtue of being a county commissioner.

Also, O'Neill said, PTC money is deposited into the county's general fund and its employees get county benefits.

Hillsbrough County Jail (Orient Rd) « Cmullens's Blog

The Orient road jail facility in Hillsborough County is the only booking facility in Hillsborough County, It along with the Falkenburg facility are the main correctional facilities in the county.  This means that every arrest of around twenty-seven law enforcement agencies in the Hillsborough area are processed though the facility at Orient road.

An interesting fact about Orient road was the doors showing the progression of incarceration at the jail.  Starting with metal door and bars for windows and progressing through standard bar doors to todays “complete supervision” method doors. 

The complete supervision method is the idea that inmates receive a little more freedom but are watched closely at all times by an officer. These inmates are allowed to watch tv and move about in a common room where their cells, mostly 2 person per cell, are adjoined.  This method is for general population. Confinement inmates do not receive theses luxuries.

The doors currently in use for general population at Orient road jail are wood doors with safety glass windows. Not unlike what you would see at public school, but much stronger.

The orient road facility is roughly six hundred thirty-six thousand square feet and can house up to 1,700 inmates, male and female, adult and juvenile.   Currently the jail has around 900-1000 inmates.

Orient road jail in broken up in to three commands;  north, south and central.  North and south commands are strictly housing commands. These are used to house inmates in different areas depending on risk, behavior, gender, age etc. The central command houses some of the other important parts of the facility including food services, video court (important because all video shot in the jail is public record), booking and outside security.

Within the three commands there are also three types of sections for inmates; Booking, general population and confinement.  Booking is the process of registering any new inmate or detainee at the jail. The general population area of the jail is your typical common pod with multiple cells adjoined and an officer on duty.  Confinement is the last and most extreme form of incarceration.  Confined inmates will spend as little as twenty-two hours of their day alone in their room. They will receive one hour of inside recreation( this is basically a shower and a phone call) and if the behave possibly an hour of outside recreation .

As for public documents at the jail; the main one is the videos.

Immigration of the Irish Quakers into Pennsylvania, 1682-1750, with their early history in Ireland

Irish Quaker arrivals to Pennsylvania, 1682-1750, list of certificates of removal from Ireland, received at the Monthly Meetings of Friends in Pennsylvania, 1682-1750

Prologue to independence, New Jersey in the coming of the American Revolution

The National dean's list