OCOEE, Fla. — 9 Investigates reporter Shannon Butler sifted through dozens of law enforcement records that detail allegations against an Ocoee police officer.
But the stack of records doesn't explain what was or wasn’t done to the former Ocoee officer accused of having ties to the West Orange Gang.
Instead, the investigation conducted was to prove there was no investigation.
Butler discovered that a year after those claims surfaced, it’s still now known if the allegations were true, and nobody seems to be able to answer why.
Brad Dreasher is a former Ocoee police lieutenant who is in the middle of a mess after two Ocoee police officers said they had different informants who claimed the same thing.
They alleged that Dreasher was being bought by the West Orange Gang with money and drugs, according to the records 9 Investigates obtained.
The two officers were on the West Orange Narcotics Task Force and said they told their bosses what they had heard.
“What did the task force do with this information as far as you know?” an Orange County investigator asked one of the officers.
“I mean we didn't, we didn't investigate. We didn’t really do a whole lot with it,” Ocoee Officer Gregory Hegyes said.
The interview with Hegyes happened after there were questions about who really was looking into the allegations.
Some at the Ocoee Police Department, including Officer Carlos Anglero, thought there was a possible cover-up after a meeting between Orange County and Ocoee.
“It was your chief came over and spoke to the major and as of whenever the meeting was...`We’re not looking into this anymore. It's over. It's done. Don't talk about this anymore,’ ” Anglero told the Orange County investigator.
The Sheriff's Office conducted an investigation to prove the agency didn't cover it up, because it had never looked into the matter in the first place.
Paperwork shows they all believed the FBI was handling the allegations instead.
The Ocoee police chief chose not to speak with Channel 9, but did confirm for Butler that Dreasher was not investigated. What they haven't done yet is offer an explanation as to why.
“The community has to feel that that the police department is trustworthy and is not going to cover up allegations against its police officers,” said WFTV law enforcement expert Chuck Drago.
And if they didn't believe the allegations from the start, the question still remains: Why wasn't the source of the information investigated, whether it was the officers or the informants?
Dreasher recently retired after 25 years on the job. Ocoee police told Butler people are being investigated, but won't say for what or identify who they are. A lawyer representing Anglero told us Anglero is under an internal investigation because he brought forward the allegations.
Ocoee police also provided the following statements:
"There are on-going investigations, but we will not, at this time, comment about who those investigation are on or who/what they are about. We appreciate any latitude you can provide us as we work to close out our investigations and get to the truth of allegations. I can assure you we are in no way covering up for anyone and will present all investigations in their due time."
"There is no open investigation into Brad Dreasher. No internal investigation was done on Brad Dreasher. He retired after 25 years."
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