Grand Jury finds no probable cause county commissioners violated Florida Sunshine laws
An Escambia County Grand Jury has returned a No True Bill over concerns about Sunshine State law violations involving leaked text messages from Escambia County Commissioner Jeff Bergosh's cell phone.
The State Attorney's Office said the grand jury found that probable cause did not exist that any crime had been committed. The No True Bill was returned on May 21.
“Based on their finding, no further action will be taken,” said Assistant State Attorney Greg Marceille. “This dealt with whether there had been any violations of the Sunshine law, or any crime related to that issue. Whether or not there was any attempt or whether there's any communication between multiple commissioners regarding any matter that might come before them for action, and the jury grand jury did not find probable cause that had occurred.”
State Attorney Ginger Bowden Madden announced last December that her office was conducting a review of communications between Escambia County commissioners after her office received several concerns and allegations that there was improper communication.
The announcement came after an article published by the News Journal detailed leaked text messages from 2021 between District 1 Commissioner Jeff Bergosh and The Lewis Bear Company CEO David Bear, in which Bergosh asked Bear to share his redistricting proposal to move Perdido Key to his district with other commissioners.
Bergosh text messages: Bergosh texts illustrate behind the scenes plotting to redistrict Perdido
Escambia County Commissioner Mike Kohler also called for a state investigation into possible Sunshine Law violations over texts Bergosh exchanged with Bear.
The texts between District 1 Commissioner Jeff Bergosh and The Lewis Bear Company CEO David Bear show Bergosh asked Bear to send his proposal for new county districts to two other commissioners while telling Bear not to let him know what they said. Bear did not text a reply.
Marceille said the grand jury found there wasn’t any communication by text or by any other means, including the use of an intermediary to communicate amongst themselves.
He said the grand jurors did not hear any evidence involving how Bergosh’s text messages were leaked and that other agencies were handling that in a separate investigation.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Escambia County Grand Jury found no probable cause commissioners broke law
