Tony was initially appointed sheriff in 2019 by Florida governor Ron DeSantis, to fill a vacancy. In November 2020, Tony won election to the office of sheriff, which he had previously held by appointment.
Early life and education
Tony was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the youngest of five children of Gloria Tony and William Scott.[3] He attended Olney High School in Philadelphia, graduating in 1997.[4]
He was first employed as a police officer by the suburban Coral Springs Police Department from 2005, when he was 26 years old, to 2016, ultimately becoming a sergeant.[8][9][3][10] Tony's resume indicates that for years he has also served as an adjunct professor.[6][7]
Tony started an active shooter training company, Blue Spear Solutions, with his wife in 2015.[11] From 2016 through 2017, Tony worked as Director of Community Development at North American Rescue, a South Carolina company that sold bleeding-control kits and stations.[11]
Sheriff of Broward County (2019–present)
Appointment
While running for Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis made a campaign promise to replace Broward Sheriff Scott Israel.[12] Press reported that Tony was one of three possibilities for the position, along with former sheriff Al Lamberti and county judge John Fry.[13]
According to the Sun Sentinel, newly elected governor DeSantis's vetting of Tony was "rushed."[12][14] The governor's office requested that a background check be performed on Tony one day before DeSantis appointed Tony to the position.[15]
Union vote of no confidence, and call for Tony's removal
In April 2020, four days after a 39-year-old Broward Sheriff's Office deputy died from COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Florida, and after 20 other deputies tested positive for the virus, President Jeff Bell of the Broward Sheriff's Office Deputies Association – a 1,400-member branch of the International Union of Police Associations – criticized Tony over the lack of personal protective equipment for the officers, and Tony's failure to respond to their memos about the situation.[22][23][24] Tony said Bell's actions were "dishonorable."[22] Three days later, Tony suspended the union president without pay, and placed him under administrative investigation. Tony then terminated the union president in January 2022.[25][23][22][26]
The union announced a vote of no-confidence by its officers in Tony.[24] On June 3, 2020, the union wrote governor DeSantis to formally request that Tony be removed.[27][28] The governor did not take any action.[29]
2020 election
Tony first ran against Scott Israel (whom he defeated with 37% of the vote, to 35% for Israel) and several lesser-known candidates in the August 2020 Broward CountyDemocratic primary election.[30] As of May, Tony had raised $1.1 million, to $0.1 million raised by Israel.[31] In the November general election, Tony then won against Republican H. Wayne Clark and independent Charles "Chuck" Whatley, with 63% of the vote in the overwhelmingly Democratic county.[32][33]
Discovery of 1993 killing by Tony
During the 2020 election campaign, the Florida Bulldog reported that Tony had shot and killed his neighbor when he was 14 years old and living in Philadelphia.[4][34] Tony was arrested for murder and weapons offenses and initially charged and ordered to stand trial as an adult and held without bail pending a preliminary hearing.[16][35][36][37][38] The case was then transferred to juvenile court.[39] There, he was found not guilty after he maintained that the shooting was in self-defense; the family of the deceased disputed that assertion, witnesses who said they had seen the killing and that the deceased had not been armed nor was it a case of self defense were not called.[4][40] The court records relating to the killing are sealed.[4][41]
Tony did not disclose the killing when he applied for law enforcement jobs.[36] When asked about the shooting, Tony denied he had been arrested, asserting that he simply went to the police station to provide a statement and was allowed to leave with his father.[42][43]
DeSantis did not know about Tony's killing prior to appointing Tony, and it did not come up in a background check of Tony during vetting.[44][43] When DeSantis found out about Tony's killing in May 2020, he distanced himself from Tony, but said that the shooting had not come up in the background check because it was self-defense and would not have made a difference. DeSantis added that he would leave the matter for Broward voters to decide.[45]
Investigations of Tony
Due to a complaint about whether Gregory made misstatements about his past on law enforcement documents, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) began an investigation in May 2020.[46] In January 2022, they released a report that alleged that Tony failed to disclose his arrest for the 1993 killing, his driver license suspension, his LSD use, and a charge against him for passing a bad check.[47][16] Tony declined to be interviewed for the report.[47][48][16] FDLE said that Tony could not be charged criminally because the relevant statute of limitations had expired and referred its report to the Florida Ethics Commission for its consideration.[49][47][16][50]
In June 2022, another FDLE investigation found that Tony had in February 2019 provided false information on an application for a driver's license by not disclosing the previous license suspension in Pennsylvania, a third degree felony.[51] The Fort Myers state attorney's office did not pursue charges because the driver's license office clerk could not remember the incident with certainty.[52][53] A three-member Florida Criminal Justice Standards & Training Commission panel recommended that a disciplinary process be initiated, and that Tony be barred from being a law enforcement officer in Florida.[51][54] In July 2022, Tony filed a request for an administrative hearing to dispute his police license being revoked.[54] In May 2024, the administrative judge issued an order recommending that Tony receive a written reprimand, be required to complete ethics training, and be put on 18-month probation.[55] The recommended order will go to the commission for a final decision.[55]
In early September 2022, the Florida Commission on Ethics, at a hearing arising from the FDLE referral, found probable cause that Tony misused his public position when he provided false information or did not disclose information which benefited him in getting his jobs.[56][57] As a result of the ethics commission's statement, Tony was added by Broward state prosecutors to its list of law enforcement officials who could be perceived as having credibility issues that might render their testimony in a trial less than credible.[58] In December 2022, the Florida Commission on Ethics, at a hearing arising from a separate citizen complaint, again found probable cause to believe that Tony misused his public position during the appointment process for the Broward County Sheriff position.[56] Another administrative hearing is pending on the ethics complaint.[58]
^Burke, Peter. "Who is new Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony?", WPLG (11 Jan 2019): "Tony received his undergraduate degree in criminology from FSU and earned a master's degree in criminal justice from Nova Southeastern University".
