Botched burglary: Two deputies demoted after internal investigation

Bystander dies after high-speed chase

Fatal crash leaves two deputies injured

Adrian James Powell LCSO

David Jarrod Newsome, also known as Jarrod Darnell Newsome LCSO

LEE COUNTY — Two Lee County deputies were demoted for sloppy police work that resulted in improper charges against two suspects, according to an internal investigation released Monday.

Detective William Lucas, 38, of the agency’s eastern district, was transferred from detective to road patrol, removed from the sergeant’s examination list and placed on probation for six months. He was cleared of an allegation of untruthfulness.

Lucas’ supervisor, Sgt. Kevin Karlsen, 40, also of the agency’s eastern district, was demoted to deputy, stripped of 5 percent of his pay and placed on six months probation for substantiated charges of neglect of duty and poor job performance.

Both men are prohibited from taking the sergeant’s examination for a year.

The investigation concerned a July 2009 home burglary in Lehigh Acres and its immediate aftermath — a high-speed chase down Palm Beach Boulevard in Fort Myers. A Lee County detective responding to the chase struck a vehicle that pulled in front of him to make a U-turn on Palm Beach Boulevard, killing the driver.

The two men being pursued in the chase, David Newsome, 28, and Adrian Powell, 34, were nabbed after ditching their SUV. They were charged first with the burglary and later with second-degree homicide for the death of the driver, 61-year-old Mateo F. Matias Mateo.

State law permits prosecutors to link a death caused by police pursuit to the subject of that pursuit, so long as the suspect can be tied to a criminal act. In this case, Newsome and Powell were linked to Mateo’’s death because of the burglary.

Yet the case against the two men dissolved as prosecutors discovered holes in the burglary case.

A series of interrogations of Newsome, for example, ended with the suspect confessing to kicking in the window at the Lehigh Acres home to gain access. When State Attorney’s investigators interviewed the homeowner, however, they discovered the window had actually been broken by a tool.

Because Lucas never responded to the burglary scene, he couldn’t compare the evidence with the statement.

“It is highly likely if he had (visited the scene), he would have noticed there were discrepancies in Newsome’s statements and that Newsome’s statements were likely not consistent with the scene,” the report stated.

Among other errors named in the report, no photographs of the burglary scene were taken, a witness was never interviewed and no forensic evidence was developed.

In the investigation, Lucas acknowledges he made assumptions that those steps had been taken when they had not. He rejected any suggestion of covering up or glossing over evidence, and he denied there was any discussion within the district about forcing the charges against the suspects.

“Like I said, I’m the case agent, I wrongfully assumed that things were done and they weren’t done,” Lucas is quoted as saying in the report.

Karlsen, as Lucas’ supervisor, failed to ensure that Lucas did his job properly, the investigation concluded.

Newsome ultimately pleaded guilty to resisting an officer without violence and was released on 320 days time served in the Lee County Jail. Powell pleaded no contest to resisting an officer without violence, fleeing police at high speed and driving with a suspended license. He was sentenced to 25 months state prison and a year suspension of his driver’s license.

Both Karlsen and Lucas have been with the agency for roughly 12 years. Karlsen makes $59,619.82 annually and Lucas earns $49,375.04.

A third internal investigation is mentioned but not included in the reports released Monday. That case appears to be against Captain James Leavens, commander of the eastern district. Leavens was formerly chief of internal investigations.

A Sheriff’s Office spokesman said he couldn’t comment on whether that case or others would be released in the future.