‘I’m angry’: 3 deputies resign after tampering with evidence, sheriff says

POLK COUNTY, Fla. — Three Polk County deputies were arrested Friday after they were accused of tampering with evidence, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff Grady Judd said all three deputies resigned upon request, but that they would have been terminated had they not resigned.

Now-former deputies John Raczynski, Jamal Lawson and Garrett Cook each bonded out of jail after their arrests.

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The Sheriff’s Office said Raczynski searched a woman’s car during a December traffic stop and found narcotics and cash before Lawson and Cook arrived at the scene as backup units.

In Raczynski’s report, he said “the driver was found to have a large amount of U.S. currency inside her right pants pocket. The denominations of the U.S. currency are consistent with small narcotic sales.”

On Dec. 23, deputies said Raczynski placed 13 items of evidence in a property and evidence storage locker at his substation. The money was not listed as an item of evidence, and it was not logged in the suspect’s property at the jail, according to a report.

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During an investigation, detectives found a supplemental report created by Raczynski on March 16, adding $723 as an item of evidence in the “property insert” portion of the report.

He electronically signed the report and it was approved by Cook as a notary. The electronic notary was later found to be fraudulent, deputies said.

Detectives then interviewed a property and evidence officer who told them that on March 15, Raczynski called her at work and asked her to call him back from her personal cellphone.

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When she did, Raczynski told her that all of the evidence from the December arrest was accounted for except the money, according to a report.

He told the officer that Lawson moved the evidence from his trunk to Raczynski’s trunk and they couldn’t find the money after that.

The sheriff’s office said Raczynski asked the officer if there was something he could do to replace the money. After the phone call, the officer checked all of the databases, reports and locations, but was unable to find the money.

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She then reported the phone call to her supervisor, who notified Raczynski’s sergeant, investigators said.

The sergeant then called Raczynski about the phone call.

Raczynski told the sergeant that he and Lawson were going to “make it right” by submitting their own money into evidence to replace it. The sergeant told Raczynski that wasn’t proper procedure and to take no further action.

Deputies said on March 15, Lawson sent Raczynski $500 through CashApp. They said the plan was for Raczynski to add the remaining $233 of his own money and submit it to property and evidence. When that attempted failed, deputies said Lawson asked for the money back.

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“Everyone at this agency knows that they are held to the highest standards, and they also know that if they break the law, we’re going to hold them strictly accountable,” Judd said in a statement. “I’m angry that these three violated the law, and in the process, betrayed the trust of our citizens. Their actions are reprehensible, and do not reflect the mission and vision of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. I also commend the agency members who immediately took action to do the right thing and correct this unlawful conduct.”

The sheriff’s office said the deputies’ commanding officer contacted the State Attorney’s Office and requested that the charges be dropped against the arrestee from the Dec. 21 arrest.

Deputies said an extensive audit of all three deputies’ criminal case reports and lists of seized property and evidence is underway, and that if any additional discrepancies or unlawful activity is found, more charges will be filed against them.

Cox Media Group