Clearwater detective arrested on public corruption charges for giving info to accused drug traffickers: PCSO
CLEARWATER, Fla. - A detective with the Clearwater Police Department is facing public corruption charges after officials say he provided information to two accused drug traffickers who were arrested in a recent dog fighting scheme.
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri and Clearwater Police Chief Eric Gandy held a joint press conference on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the arrest.
Gandy says Clearwater Police Detective Fredrick Lise is a nine-year veteran of the department and has served in narcotics since 2022. Lise has also been the president of the union that represents Clearwater police officers for the last three years, according to officials.
He was arrested on Tuesday on eight felony public corruption charges, according to Gualtieri.
"Fredrick Lise decided to cross the line from being a law enforcement officer to being a criminal," shared Gualtieri.
Clearwater detective arrested for public corruption, officials say
According to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, a Clearwater Police Department detective was arrested for public corruption. Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri and Clearwater Police Chief Eric Gandy held a joint press conference to discuss the arrest.
On July 24, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office announced the arrests of 13 people on drug trafficking charges. An ongoing narcotics operation and a dog-fighting ring led to the arrests and the seizure of drugs, guns, money and more than 100 dogs in Pinellas County.
Matthew Turner and Henry Smith were both arrested as a result of the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office's year-long investigation.
Courtesy: Pinellas County Sheriff's Office
"This organization was obtaining significant amounts of drugs from a source of supply in California and distributing the drugs throughout the Tampa Bay area, especially in St. Petersburg. The evidence shows that from August of 2023 through July of 2024, that this Pinellas County based drug trafficking organization, of which Turner and Smith were two of the primary participants, obtained and distributed about 220kg of cocaine, 660 pounds of methamphetamine, 25kg of fentanyl, 5.5kg of black tar heroin and 14kg of MDMA," explained Gualtieri.
The sheriff's office coordinated with the Clearwater Police Department, which is when officials say Detective Lise was told about the investigation regarding Turner and Smith. Lise is accused of using confidential law enforcement databases to provide information to both men.
According to the sheriff's office, detectives learned that over the course of several months, Lise had sent several text messages to Turner and Smith.
"Lise placed an alert in that system regarding Turner and Smith, so that he would be notified if there was an investigation being conducted into their activities by other narcotics units, including the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office," said Gualtieri.
He also contacted a PCSO detective to get more information about the investigation of Turner and Smith, according to authorities.
Courtesy: Pinellas County Sheriff's Office
Investigators say Lise told both men that they were under investigation and in trouble. Once Turner and Smith found out they were under investigation, Gualtieri says they concocted a scheme with Detective Lise.
"They're going to go out and buy drugs from somebody that they know and set that person up with Lise so that they would be acting as informants, if you will, for Lise. And they could get credit later on for setting this person up ahead of time, so that when they got arrested, they could say they were working off charges with Lise and that they would get, what we call, substantial assistance or good time off of their sentence," explained Gualtieri.
The sheriff's office says Lise faces felony charges of misuse of public office for the unlawful disclosure of criminal investigative information and unlawful use of two-way communication devices.
"His friendship with these drug traffickers was more important to him than upholding his oath of office and his loyalty to fellow law enforcement officers. Lise, especially as a union president, is supposed to be looking out for cops, not putting them in harm's way," said Gualtieri.
Lise was booked into the Pinellas County Jail with a bond of $200,000. According to Gandy, Lise is on administrative leave pending the outcome of Clearwater Police Department's internal investigation.
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