Torres: Investigations into Lober and Tobia reveal poor choices and no prosecutions

Holding political office in Brevard County may not be a "get out of jail free card," but it certainly seems like a "stay out of jail free card."

It was a good week for both former and current county commissioners accused of misusing their positions. But it was a bad week for the rest of us who pay their salaries and expect more accountability from our elected officials.

Former County Commissioner Bryan Lober ― the subject of an 18-month criminal investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement ― should consider himself lucky. He could very well have found himself facing the prospect of five years in prison along with a $5,000 fine for allegedly using his tax-exempt status to purchase materials related to his reelection campaign, the maximum for a third-degree felony. He's "lucky" that FDLE waited until the statute of limitations on tax fraud charges expired before investigators submitted their report to Brevard State Attorney Phil Archer.

He's also lucky that Archer's office decided not to pursue two additional felonies ― grand theft and scheme to defraud ― alleged by FDLE in a 73-page report because the State Attorney's Office did not believe the allegations were backed up by enough evidence for a criminal prosecution.

"This investigation found clear evidence that Mr. Lober failed to maintain the ethical standard of conduct expected of an elected official representing the interests of our community," Archer said in a statement. "The apparent lack of specific policies to prevent improper use of taxpayer funds and support criminal prosecution does not excuse Mr. Lober from his sworn obligation to act in the best interest of the public, and not his own."

Hard words, yes. But when they're not followed up by any action, they sure sound empty. The State Attorney's Office rarely makes announcements regarding investigations they do not intend to prosecute.

In a totally separate case, an assistant state attorney in Daytona Beach said she too would not prosecute current Brevard County Commissioner John Tobia after he was investigated by FDLE for a series of allegations, including that he had county employees do personal errands for him while on the county clock, made by a former staffer. If the allegations are true, and other staffers in his office backed up some of it, for someone who touts his fiscal conservatism, that's not being a very good overseer of taxpayer money.

According to an FDLE report, some of the allegations were that Tobia:

• Used staff in his commission office to help him grade papers of students he taught at Valencia College while employees were supposed to be working on county business.
• Used staff to surreptitiously obtain information on Brevard County Supervisor of Elections Tim Bobanic's stay in a Washington hotel. A former staffer said that Tobia asked him to create an email account and write an email that appeared to be from Bobanic in order to obtain those records from the hotel in an effort to determine how the bill was paid and whether taxpayer money was used. The trip was paid for by a federal agency.

Tobia, who is being termed-out of his position on the commission and is running against Bobanic, called the investigation "a witch-hunt initiated by a disgruntled former employee terminated for cause and perpetuated by a desperate political opponent who believed this was his path to victory, while concealing his past as a registered Democrat."

Even if, as the prosecutors say, neither Lober's nor Tobia's actions rise to the level of prosecutable crimes, and there was a lack of rules for commissioners on their use of their county-issued purchasing cards at the time of Lober's alleged offenses, their actions were still questionable at best.

Both men should know better. We, the residents of Brevard, deserve better.

In Lober's case, FDLE investigators determined about $33,000 worth of supplies purchased by Lober had been returned to the county or accounted for by the audit. But an additional 108 items worth about $9,125 were still missing. Those items included a $444 waterproof camera, as well as computer parts and accessories.

Lober resigned his position while being audited, citing a death in the family.

"While Mr. Lober's spending practices may very well be viewed in hindsight as improper by some, there is insufficient evidence to prove that they were illegal," Chief Assistant State Attorney Stacey Salmons wrote in a disposition letter explaining why charges were not forthcoming. "It is clear that Mr. Lober took advantage of the county's lack of oversight regarding his district's spending."

Lober referred me to longtime friend and attorney Lia Allawas when I reached out to him for a comment.

“He feels absolutely vindicated,” Allawas said. “I've known Brian for almost 15 years now, and I knew that he would never intentionally do anything wrong, ever. I used to work at the State Attorney's Office, and we were adversaries in court, and he never even came close to doing anything that was inappropriate. He’s happy that it's finally over."

Regarding the missing items, Allawas said: “OK, here are some of the things they asked him about: batteries, pens, bottled water. Those are the things they wanted him to track. I remember him saying something about tissues, and I said, well go around gather up all the used tissues you can find and take them in and say 'here.' You use pens. Do you keep track of all the pens you have?"

Looking back, would he have done things differently?

"Hindsight is always 20/20," she said. "It's been a difficult time."

Former County Commissioner Curt Smith, who served on the commission with Lober, said Lober's own hubris was his undoing.

"His arrogance and thinking that he could outsmart everyone, and walk right up to the line of honesty and dishonesty and tiptoe over it, and no one would notice," Smith said. "And I think there is no excuse for foot-dragging until the statute of limitations expired. That should be embarrassing to everyone involved with the Brevard County State’s Attorney’s Office."

It's been a good week for Tobia and Lober, while the rest of us are left scratching our heads about the resources spent on two lengthy investigations that yielded little more than the proverbial slap on the wrist.

Contact Torres at jtorres@floridatoday.com . You can follow him on X @johnalbertorres or on Facebook at facebook.com/FTjohntorres .

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Torres: Investigations into Lober and Tobia reveal poor choices and no prosecutions