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Article Courtesy of The Sun
Sentinel
By Lisa J. Huriash
Published January 27, 2018
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A Broward Sheriff’s deputy resigned several months into a criminal investigation
of whether he falsified state documents to conceal his after-hours activities,
according to records released Thursday.
Former Deputy Christopher Kapish could have been suspended without pay for 20
days but he had retired with just three days’ notice in May.
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Kapish, a 28-year veteran of the agency,
told the Sun Sentinel on Thursday that “nothing was
falsified, that didn’t happen” and blamed his homeowners
association’s management company for a clerical error.
The investigation started when a resident complained Kapish
was president of the Estates at Turtle Run Homeowners
Association but his wife was listed as the president in the
annual reports filed with the state.
Kapish’s bosses had told him in November 2014 that he wasn’t
allowed to be the association president or serve on the
Turtle Run Foundation, which is the master association of
the HOAs, because it was a conflict of interest with the
agency.
Kapish argued the Sheriff’s Office was violating his rights
to tell him not to serve on the board: “You can’t tell
somebody they can’t do something.”
Turtle Run, a Coral Springs Community Development District
that can tax itself, has more than 500 single-family homes
and 2,000 apartments and condos. Kapish has been president
of Turtle Run for more than a decade through election or
appointment, according to the sheriff’s Internal Affairs
investigation.
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Broward Sheriff's Deputy Chris Kapish, pictured in
2014, was accused of falsified state documents so his bosses
wouldn’t know what he was doing in his off-hours.
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Kapish used his wife’s name in the
annual corporate records filed in 2015 and 2016 with the Florida Division of
Corporations.
Although his wife, Lynn Kapish, told prosecutors it was her idea for her to
be president in name only, Assistant State Attorney David Schulson said he
and the Sheriff’s detective “strongly suspect” it was Christopher Kapish
“who formulated and implanted the charade,” there was insufficient evidence
to be charged criminally for falsifying records, according to documents.
Kapish said he left the Sheriff'’s Office because “people were using my job
to make complaints. They didn’t want to follow the rules in the HOA.”
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