Some Republicans are shaking up party politics in Manatee County.
A shuffle began when April Culbreath joined the competition for the District 3 seat on the Manatee Board of County Commissioners just as D3 incumbent Kevin Van Ostenbridge flip-flopped to seek the countywide District 7 seat.
It was a move to block a less conservative Republican candidate in District 3 in favor of Culbreath and for Van Ostenbridge, a self-professed Trump Republican, a move to oust a less conservative D7 incumbent, George Kruse.
But a history of misconduct during Culbreath’s time with the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office might have voters thinking twice before casting their ballot.
Culbreath was the subject of 31 allegations of employee misconduct as a sheriff’s deputy — with 12 sustained complaints — from 1999 to 2023, according to public records requested by The Islander.
Of the sustained complaints, four were due to neglect of duty as a law enforcement officer, four were for conduct unbecoming a deputy and three were for insubordination/disobedience.
Another is for a second occurrence of a minor avoidable motor vehicle crash.
As a result of the sustained allegations, Culbreath was suspended for 808.4 total hours, transferred between bureaus and received multiple reprimands, according to MCSO records.
She retired from the MCSO in 2023 and is current chair of the Manatee County Republican Executive Committee.
Conduct unbecoming
The bulk of disciplinary action against Culbreath — including 774 hours of unpaid suspension —is due to sustained allegations that her conduct was unbecoming an officer.
While she only received a letter of reprimand for partly sustained causes in the first case of unbecoming conduct in June 2001, the next three sustained allegations resulted in suspensions.
Chief Inspector Ed Judy of MCSO’s Professional Standards Office investigated all three cases.
Judy’s investigation into an Oct. 8, 2005, incident sustained allegations that Culbreath danced suggestively while on-duty and in uniform at a wedding reception.
An investigation involved collecting information from multiple witnesses, whose reports led Judy to conclude Culbreath’s actions were “provocative, sexual in nature, and inappropriate for the circumstances, and an embarrassment to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.”
She was suspended for 387 hours without pay for the incident, following four previous letters of reprimand and an 8.6-hour suspension for other sustained allegations.
In February 2006, two alleged counts of conduct unbecoming were sustained against Culbreath due to sexual activity with another MCSO deputy.
Judy’s investigation found that Culbreath and Greg Bass engaged in a consensual sexual relationship that began in November 2003. They were both off duty when the first incident occurred, but Bass was wearing an MCSO uniform.
Judy wrote that Dugan “was fully aware of Bass’ status and knew such acts were improper, inappropriate and would reflect negatively on the agency.”
The second count of conduct unbecoming is due to subsequent sexual occurrences between Culbreath and Bass between 2003 and 2006.
Culbreath was suspended for 129 hours without pay for the two sustained counts.
The third sustained allegation of conduct unbecoming of a deputy was due to an Oct. 25, 2011, incident at the Premier Center for Cosmetic Surgery, 300 S. Hyde Park Ave., Tampa.
Culbreath was there off duty and requested a copy of her medical records from the business but, after learning there would be a fee, she allegedly stole the printed records and left the building.
When an employee chased her outside and attempted to retrieve the records from Culbreath, she refused to comply and struck the man in the face, resulting in a struggle.
The employee retrieved the files from Culbreath’s vehicle and retreated inside the business. Culbreath gave chase but stopped outside and called police.
There were no charges filed against Culbreath for theft or battery, but she was issued a trespass warning.
Judy, in the conclusion of his investigation, said the case began due to Culbreath’s “intentional theft of her patient medical records” and the altercation was a result of her “repudiation to return the medical records.”
Judy found Culbreath’s actions violated the MCSO’s policies by causing “substantial doubts concerning the employee’s honesty, fairness, or respect for the rights of others or for the laws of the state and nation.”
Culbreath was suspended for 258 hours without pay in that case.
Insubordination/Disobedience allegations
Records show Culbreath also has a history of insubordination and disobedience, beginning with a sustained count from May 2001.
The incident involved Culbreath’s unauthorized use of her MCSO vehicle to drive to her home in Hillsborough County. She had previously submitted a request for permission to do so but was denied.
The second sustained case of insubordination occurred in March 2005, when Culbreath was a detective working for the investigative bureau.
The case was the result of Culbreath’s failure to respond to her supervisor’s March 2, 2005, call to assist in an investigation involving burglary suspects.
Due to her failure to follow an order, she was suspended 8.6 hours without pay and transferred to the enforcement bureau.
A third case involved Culbreath’s alleged use of “profane, obscene and insulting language” to her supervisor May 29, 2009, that was witnessed by two child protection specialists.
The incident began when Sgt. Preston Spear called her into his office to assign her to an immediate call-out involving a child with a brain injury.
Culbreath allegedly arrived at the office with a hostile attitude and repeatedly questioned why she was assigned the case.
The sergeant described her behavior as “insubordinate, unprofessional and totally unacceptable.”
Judy wrote in his investigation’s conclusion that her lack of respect for Spear compromised his ability to supervise detectives within the unit and that her “disdain” created dissension in the division.
The allegation was sustained, and Culbreath was suspended 17.2 hours without pay.
Neglect of duty
Culbreath has an even lengthier history of neglecting her duties as a law enforcement officer, spanning from her first sustained allegation in September 1999 and ending with the most recent sustained complaint in September 2015.
In the first case, Culbreath, whose last name was Watson at that time, responded to Manatee Memorial Hospital in Bradenton to investigate the alleged abuse and possible sexual battery of an 11-year-old.
She was not dispatched to the call and notified no one that she was responding.
Culbreath also interviewed a suspect and the parents but failed to complete a supplemental report detailing her involvement in the case before signing off duty.
She was issued a letter of reprimand, which later was amended to a verbal reprimand.
In the second neglect of duty case, Culbreath allegedly failed to properly secure her weapon while working as a mounted patrol deputy.
On April 11, 2004, her horse broke loose from a trailer parked in Bradenton Beach and Culbreath took chase.
Her handgun was later found on the ground by the trailer, which was near a picnic area “occupied by numerous adults and children playing and socializing in the immediate area.”
Judy wrote in his investigative conclusion that there was sufficient evidence to show that Culbreath “failed to properly secure her duty weapon in the issued holster using both security snaps as required.”
Culbreath received a letter of reprimand for that sustained neglect of duty allegation.
The third case resulted in an 8.6-hour suspension without pay for Culbreath’s failure to immediately respond to a scene while she was a detective.
On Dec. 28, 2009, Spear called Culbreath to respond to a case involving a missing 5-year-old.
About 10 minutes later, Spear learned the child was found, so he called Culbreath to inform her that her response was no longer necessary.
However, Culbreath was found to have never left the operations center and instead had been discussing off-duty issues with personnel and meeting with a detective for lunch.
Judy sustained the allegation against Culbreath for neglect of duty, writing that her “lax response does not support the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office mission statement or its ‘community focus’ core value.”
The fourth allegation of neglect of duty is the most recent sustained complaint against Culbreath.
The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles conducted a random statewide audit regarding emergency contact information usage from February 2015 to August 2015.
The audit, as well as Lt. Eric Isola’s investigation into the matter, found that Culbreath accessed emergency contact information without proper authorization on eight occasions.
State law prohibits law enforcement agencies from accessing emergency contact information contained in a motor vehicle record without consent unless in an emergency.
Culbreath was issued a verbal reprimand for the sustained allegation.
Reactions
Walter Zalisko, president of the Fort Myers-based Global Investigative Group and a retired police chief, told The Islander July 19 that Culbreath’s misconduct should have resulted in termination.
“This is someone who should not have been a cop,” Zalisko said. “If she was one of my officers in either department, she would have been fired a long time ago. There has to be some integrity and professionalism in a department, and she certainly did not show that based on her multiple internal affairs complaints.”
He said Culbreath’s history of misconduct displayed poor decision-making skills that voters should consider before casting their ballots.
“The electorate needs to seriously consider whether they would want someone like that representing them,” Zalisko said.
Culbreath did not respond to calls July 18 and July 19 from The Islander.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement did not respond to a July 18 email from The Islander.
At a glance: District 3 race
Four candidates qualified to run for the District 3 Manatee County commission seat, including Republicans April Culbreath and Tal Siddique, Democrat Diana Shoemaker and write-in candidate Jeffrey Gray.
District 3 covers the western side of the county, including all of Anna Maria Island, Cortez and the north half/Manatee County portion of Longboat Key.
The Republican candidates will square off in a closed Aug. 20 primary election for the party’s nomination.
The winner will go on to face Shoemaker, the unopposed Democrat nominee, and Gray in the November general election.
Manatee County commissioners earn a $98,743 annual salary and serve four-year terms.
— Ryan Paice
Thank you for informing voters of Culbreath’s dismal record. I do, however, disagree that Commissioner Kruse and the other R candidates are somehow less conservative. What do you base that on? VanOstenbridge voted to give new Supv of Elections Satcher $840K with zero justification. Is that conservative? Kruse was the conservative one by questioning such a huge expense. VanOStenbridge is ripping out oak trees in Medians and replacing them with expensive Palms and taking over the maintenance from the city – is that conservative? VanOStenbridge used his county-issued credit card to purchase the private data of all district 3 voters – is that conservative? VanOStenbridge proposed and voted to make his friend and felony-indicted Scott Hopes the highest paid Administrator in Manatee County history – is that conservative? Conservative is common sense – which is exactly what Commissioner Kruse provides.