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Tampa code enforcement director under probe
FOX 13's Evan Axelbank reports.
TAMPA, Fla. - Tampa's code enforcement director, who is also the husband of former Tampa Police Chief Mary O'Connor, is under investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Keith O'Connor has been suspended with pay as FDLE looks into whether he improperly arranged for a lottery winner to collect their proceeds.
RELATED: Tampa police chief resigns after footage shows her flashing badge in golf cart traffic stop
Dig deeper:
During that investigation, agents discovered unrelated messages on a code enforcement employee's, named Aubrey Pierce, phone that showed him trying to arrange for the collection of lotto winnings that he was not entitled to, because he owed child support.
The person he was messaging was his boss, Keith O'Connor. Pierce is facing four charges, including taking bribes as a public servant and grand theft.
Sources said he allowed a company to dump dozens of tons of tires on city property while taking hundreds of dollars of kickbacks. During that investigation, sources said FDLE found on his phone communications with O'Connor relating to lottery winnings that he wanted his boss to collect for him.
VIDEO: Tampa’s top cop flashes badge during traffic stop: ‘I’m hoping you’ll just let us go’
What they're saying:
"When it's all said and done, [he] didn't make a nickel on this," said O'Connor's attorney, Ralph Fernandez, "whatever the allegation is, as to what's underlying."
Pictured: Former Tampa Police Chief Mary O'Connor next to her husband, Keith O'Connor.
For O'Connor's part, FDLE won't say what the potential wrongdoing could be, but numerous sources told FOX 13 that Pierce was trying to hide lottery winnings from those to whom he is ordered to pay child support.
O'Connor's attorney said the reaction to this echoes another incident involving the O'Connors from 2022.
The backstory:
Keith O'Connor was behind the wheel of a golf cart when his wife, Mary O'Connor, asked a Pinellas County deputy to let them go for a potential traffic violation. The flap ultimately led her to resign from the Tampa Police Department.
MORE: Former detention deputy found guilty in court case
Pictured: Keith O'Connor was behind the wheel of a golf cart during a Pinellas County traffic stop. Mary O'Connor flashed her badge during the encounter asking for the deputy to let them go.
O'Connor kept his job as chief of code enforcement – a job he has held since 2020.
"They each made it to the top tier of the Tampa Police Department," said Fernandez. "It's another chapter in the O'Connor saga... If it was Smith, Jones, Alvarez, Douglas, this wouldn't be going anywhere. But, it's the O'Connors."
What's next:
The City of Tampa said both O'Connor and Pierce have been suspended from their jobs. O'Connor is still being paid, while Pierce is suspended without pay.
O'Connor is suspended pending the results of an FDLE investigation, while Pierce is suspended pending the result of the court process. O'Connor and Pierce have known each other for decades.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered by FOX 13's Evan Axelbank.