BROOKSVILLE —
Wendy McGinnis knew she was listed as an officer, but insisted she wasn’t actively participating in her husband’s start-up financial business.
She said she attended one fundraising event wearing a shirt with the company’s logo emblazoned on it. She also designed the advertising flier.
Otherwise, she didn’t know a lot about Serve and Protect Financial Inc. Her husband, Brian McGinnis, said she once brought in a potted plant and put it on a shelf. She confirmed that by saying she helped with the interior decorating.
“I wasn’t sure what my obligations would be,” she said of her role.
Brian and Wendy McGinnis, veterans of the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office, were under an internal affairs investigation after they were accused of violating agency policy on submitting paperwork regarding additional employment.
Sheriff Al Nienhuis learned of the McGinnises’ company when he attended a March 27 event at a local restaurant. He thought he should have been notified more properly, according to reports.
The allegations of violating policy were sustained against the couple. Afterward they submitted their letters of retirement.
A third employee under investigation, Deputy Steve Klapka, had the same allegation sustained, but he appealed it and it was overturned.
Klapka was listed as director, but he said under oath during his interview with an internal affairs investigator that he was not employed, was not an owner and hadn’t done any work on behalf of Serve and Protect Financial.
Ten months before the probe, Nienhuis had appointed McGinnis to be the sheriff’s office’s public information officer, or media liaison. He promoted her to corporal soon thereafter.
When he learned of Serve and Protect Financial and McGinnis’ role in it, he reassigned her to patrol. That meant she would lose her corporal stripes and receive a pay cut.
On Friday, after the internal investigation findings were released to the media, Nienhuis was unavailable for comment. An agency spokesman said he would make himself available for questions early next week.
For her part, McGinnis said the punishment didn’t fit the crime.
“I was listed in the paperwork so that in the event something happened to my husband I could take over the company,” she said.
Col. Mike Maurer, Nienhuis’ second-in-command, stated in a report that there were too many reasons for McGinnis to know better than to take part in an outside company and not disclose it to the sheriff.
He also suggested she wasn’t forthright about her full involvement with Serve and Protect Financial.
“You used the agency email system on at least two occasions marketing the Serve and Protect Inc. logo,” Maurer wrote. “You are wearing your new business logo shirts at events closely associated with our agency.
“Your husband is a 50 percent owner of a corporation whose business venture appears to have tailored itself as a financial/retirement planning service focused at law enforcement officers and other employees of our agency,” Maurer continued. “You should have known that your actions certainly give the appearance that you are part of Serve and Protect Financial Inc.”
McGinnis said she only sent one company email with the company logo attachment and it was approved by the sheriff. She also said there was only one event during which she wore the aforementioned shirt.
Her last day on the job was April 17.
McGinnis’ husband, a patrol sergeant, submitted his letter of retirement Monday, and his last day is May 18.
Additionally, a second internal investigation was filed against him earlier in the week.
McGinnis said her husband did not retire because of the second probe. She said he is actively participating in the interviews with the investigator.
“He is perfectly, 100 percent willing to go through the IA,” she said.
The sheriff’s office would not disclose the nature of Brian McGinnis’ second investigation. A spokesman said the allegation was not criminal in nature.
Shortly after his wife submitted her letter of retirement, he posted a lengthy message on his Facebook page and divulged some of the details of the original internal affairs case. The agency has strict policy rules pertaining to social networking websites.
“If I am to be served with an IA, demoted or even fired for telling my friends, co-workers and family … then so be it,” McGinnis wrote on his page.
McGinnis, who founded Serve and Protect Financial and is 50 percent owner along with his stepson, received a written reprimand based on the latest closed investigation.
Maurer pointed out in a letter to McGinnis that he had invested a “large sum” of his own money into the business, obtained a license, searched and outfitted commercial business space, hosted public events at the office and began establishing a customer base.
“These historical facts show that you have been actively engaged in a commercial endeavor with a particular objective and purpose,” Maurer stated. “Part of your active endeavor should have been to follow agency policy and complete the required documentation for the sheriff’s approval and awareness.”