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Century Town Council President Target Of Extortion Investigation, No Charges Filed
August 15, 2013
A Century Town Council member was the target of a now concluded extortion investigation, but no charges were filed after the State Attorney’s Office determined there was insufficient evidence that any crime had occurred.
According to documents obtained by NorthEscambia.com, a Century husband and wife, Harold and Denise Sanderson, made the extortion allegation on June 7 against Century Town Council President Ann Brooks. Brooks had previously filed a grand theft charge against the Sandersons’ daughter, 36-year old Sabrina Beverly Sanderson, claiming she stole an A/C-heater window unit after being evicted from a rental home owned by Brooks.
Brooks later presented the Sandersons with a letter offering to drop the charges for a $1,000 payment, an apology, and a signed easement allowing the Town of Century to install a gas line across a portion of their property. That letter prompted the extortion investigation after a complaint was filed with the Escambia County Sherrif’s Office.
Brooks told NorthEscambia.com that she felt like the extortion claim was made as “retaliation” or to make her “look bad” and “cause problems”. She denied committing any crime, as the State Attorney’s Office also concluded.
The Eviction And Theft Allegations
In February 2013, Brooks filed a report with the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office. Brooks had just evicted Sabrina Sanderson from her rental home at 811 Hecker Road and reported that her A/C-heater window unit valued at just under $400 had been stolen by Sanderson, along with a range hood. The heating and cooling unit had been sitting uninstalled on the floor of the residence.
Deputies made contact with Sanderson who said she took the unit because the door to the residence would not lock. Sanderson said she was afraid the unit would be stolen, and she would be accused of the crime. She also said she took the heating and cooling unit because Brooks still had her $1,000 deposit and would not return it to her after she moved out of the rental home. She denied stealing the range hood.
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office seized the A/C-heater unit from Sanderson and returned it to Brooks.
Brooks then advised that she wished to pursue charges against Sabrina Sanderson, who was subsequently arrested for grand theft and released from the Escambia County Jail on a $5,000 bond.
Escambia Building Inspector Cuts Fines Against Brooks
Escambia County provides code enforcement within the town limits of Century under an agreement approved by the Century Town Council.
On December 27, 2012 the Escambia County Building Inspections Department issued a violation notice to Brooks ordering her to “cease and desist” all construction work at her 811 Hecker Road rental property. She was directed to report to the Century Town Hall for a construction review.
An initial fine of $1,000 was set by a building inspector. That fine was later reduced to $100 by the building inspections department supervisor, according to Bill Pearson, Escambia County spokesman. “A notice was sent to Brooks and the fine was quickly paid via check,” he said. She was accessed a $50 fine for unlicensed contracting and an additional $50 fine for unpermitted construction. The building inspector was, according to county records, allowed access to the rental home by Sabrina Sanderson.
Building official Lynn Adams told an Escambia County Sheriff’s Office investigator that then Building Inspections Director Amru Meah reduced council President Brooks’ fine amount without indicating a reason. Adams told the investigator that fines can be reduced, but it would be “uncommon” for a fine to be reduced from $1,000 to $100.
“I never spoke to him,” Brooks said about Meah’s reduction of her fine. “As far as I knew, he did not know that I am a council member. I thought they reduced the fine because I was cooperative and because I had never had a problem with a violation before.”
The Letter
In a letter dated May 9, 2013, Brooks indicated that she would drop the criminal charges against Sabrina Sanderson for stealing her air conditioner and range hood if three conditions were met: (1) her parents signed a utility easement for a Town of Century gas line (2) a $1,000 payment for damage to the floor in the Hecker Street rental home, and (3) Sabrina Sanderson would make an apology for “taking my property and her spiteful text messages”.
Brooks later said she asked for the utility easement on behalf of the town because she had been informed by Mayor Freddie McCall that the Sandersons had already refused to the sign the easement, inhibiting the forward moving progress of a town gas project.
The Sandersons’ Response
Harold Anderson told deputies that his wife, Denise Sanderson, picked up their daughter from her job at Century Care Center on May 3 and took her to Brooks CPA office on North Century Boulevard. Denise Sanderson then provided Brooks with two $500 checks, for a total of $1,000, as requested in the letter. At that time, they were unable to contact Century Mayor Freddie McCall, but the Sanderson husband and wife agreed to, and subsequently did, sign the town gas easement for their property at 7505 North Century Boulevard.
Harold Sanderson later decided the letter, the $1,000 payment and the signed gas line easement amounted to extortion and filed the criminal complaint. Denise Sanderson stopped payment on the two checks on May 10, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
When the checks did not clear her bank, Brooks called Harold Sanderson and advised she would not be dropping the charges against his daughter, according to an Escambia County Sheriff’s Office report.
Sanderson’s Criminal Charges
The criminal charges against Sabrina Sanderson were dropped on May 30, 2013, according to court records. The State Attorney’s Office said the case was dismissed due to insufficient evidence that Sanderson had committed the alleged crime.
State Attorney’s Office Investigation
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office case files regarding the extortion complaint against Brooks were delivered to the State Attorney’s Office on July 1. On July 23, Assistant State Attorney Greg Marcille indicated that there would not be sufficient evidence to charge Brooks with a crime, and the case was closed.
Public Records Request
On July 25, two days after the case was closed, the State Attorney’s Office provided NorthEscambia.com with a copy of their documents related to the Brooks case, including her letter offering to drop criminal charges in exchange for the apology, $1,000 and the signed gas easement. The documents were provided in response to a NorthEscambia.com public records request.
As part of our investigation into the claims, NorthEscambia.com also made an official written public records request July 31 to the Town of Century for any documents related to the utility/gas easement between the Town of Century and Harold or Denise Sanderson, with the exception of documents (including the actual easement) on file with the Escambia County Circuit Clerk The request was sent to the Town of Century official email addresses belonging to Mayor Freddie McCall, Town Clerk Leslie Gonzalez and Council President Ann Brooks with a request to reply by August 2.
A few hours later, Gonzalez responded:
“Upon review of the Town’s records I do not find that the Town has any documents that you have requested. Also, upon discussing this matter with Mayor McCall, he does not have any records which you requested.
“The only document the Town has regarding the Sanderson’s easement is the actual Utility Easement.
I have not contacted Ann Brooks with respect to your request; however, I am sure that she will respond to you directly if she has any public records that are within the scope of your request.”
The email response by Gonzalez was also sent to the official town emails of McCall and Brooks.
On the afternoon of Friday, August 2, the requested deadline for the public request, NorthEscambia.com contacted Brooks by phone. She advised that she did not have any documents that would fulfill our request.
The following Monday, August 5, Brooks emailed NorthEscambia.com a copy of her letter offering to drop criminal charges in exchange for the apology, $1,000 and the signed gas easement. In the correspondence sent from her accounting office email account, Brooks wrote:
“I am attaching a personal agreement with the Sanderson’s which I didn’t think was subject to your public records request because it was personal correspondence, but I requested a legal opinion and was just advised that it would probably fall within the purview of your request.”
Comments
23 Responses to “Century Town Council President Target Of Extortion Investigation, No Charges Filed”
REGARDING:
“There are definitely ethics questions here.
– Why was she mixing town business with personal business?”
Mixing the two was unwise.
Unethical, though?
It would be unethical and corrupt to use the power of office to advance personal interest at the expense of the taxpayers.
If I read this correctly, she did not do so.
David for good renters
I sure would like to read a detailed explanation as to how an extortion attempt, in writing, signed by author is not sufficient evidence.
Especially when it is demanding something from the parents of the ADULT person involved.
Totally unrelated subjects.
When Assistant State Attorney Greg Marcille fails to do his job and rules “not enough evidence” it tells everyone else that only a select few are allowed to get away with such actions.
The opinion that people not residing in Century should not comment at all (as was suggested by Concerned Centurion) is really scary. ONLY if someone does NOT KNOW either party can they judge a case or situation strictly by its merits.. By the way, I did not come up with this wisdom, jurors have been selected using this method for years.
That is what is wrong with Century, to many people running their mouths about things they don’t know enough about. We have the best council the town has known in several years. I believe Mrs. Brooks is an honest person who tries to do the best for everyone. I can’t blame her for being upset about someone stealing from her. I hate a thief. I also thought a deposit would only be returned if the place was left in good clean condition, and I think that would mean you didn’t take anything from the house that didn’t belong to you. I think some of you just don’t like Mrs. brooks and you want to try to get rid of her. Some of you that’s running your mouth doesn’t even live in century.
CONTEMPLATING:
“said she took the unit because the door to the residence would not lock. Sanderson said she was afraid the unit would be stolen, and she would be accused of the crime. She also said she took the heating and cooling unit because Brooks still had her $1,000 deposit and would not return it to her after she moved out of the rental home.”
She stole it because she was afraid she would be accused of stealing it if she didn’t steal it?
She wanted her deposit back which was intended to cover the cost of damage and theft so she damaged and stole?
I love this country.
David for higher education
This lady obviously isn’t intelligent enough to know how wrong this action actually was..she put it in writing for christ sakes. And the funny part is apparently using leverage over someone for both personal and city business isn’t a problem in century. This is embarrassing.
Isn’t this the same thing our District attorneys do everyday across our country?
When you are charged with a crime our DA’s will will offer a plea deal
1) you pay the victim for their damages
2) you can be given community service
3) you apologize to the victim
4) your put on probation
Or
Your case goes before a judge and or jury and they can make u do all the above plus give u jail time!!
Sounds like mrs brooks saved the tax payers a good bit of money and a lot of time.
Also sounds like she didnt try to hide nothing
So why are most of you wanting to hang the lady for saving tax dollars and one less case in our court room?
Investigation should be done in this situation. I think that this is probably not the only time Ms. Brooks has blackmail or extortion on a citizen of Century. I hope that she will not be voted back or even run for a seat. Century is a poor town and needs someone who actually wants to help the people. I am not trying to say that this girl is innocent if she did take things that didn’t belong to her then she should get in trouble. But Brooks shouldn’t have got the girls parents involved just to get what she wanted. I hope that the city will not use the paper that they signed for the easement if they do not want to give up their property.
Well looks like our crooked politicians got away with another one. Of course we have no one to blame but ourselves because after all we the people voted her to her position on the town council. I hope the residents of Century are reminded of this incident when her council seat is up for re-election again.
Oh yes when the States Attorney says it didn’t happen you must believe him even when the extortion attempt was posted on Escambia.com. Many officials have made Brooks actions appear acceptable.
If you actually read the letter Brooks supplied, you can see that this is extortion. Any time you try to get money from someone in this manner it is extortion, unless you have the power to cover it up or at least get it dropped. I fail to see where the Sandersons owed her money for something someone else allegedly did. It is no big surprise that Brooks was not arrested or charged. It is also no surprise that the fines she was given for breaking the law were practically dropped. What will she do next and get away with it?
How about calling it a bribe? An offer to make a criminal charge go away in exchange for a $1,000 payment is certainly not ethical. I would look for an IRS audit if I had used her CPA services. Please tell other readers how to pay only 10% of an imposed fine – times are tough for everybody.
As far as I know, Ann Brooks does not own Century. But she acts like she does. She may own rental property, but when she strong arms someone for the Town of Century, she is out of line. A complaint needs to be filled in Tallahassee and the corrupt officials removed from office at once. Its clear that she misused her office.
There are definitely ethics questions here.
– Why was she mixing town business with personal business?
– Why was she doing unlicensed construction? She is president of the town council that sets the laws that says you can’t. Ethnical problem
– Why did she not go to town hall and get a permit like everyone else? Is she above the law she is in charge of overseeing? She can’t claim she did not know the law existed. Ethical problem.
– Why was her fine reduced from $1,000 to $100? When someone complains about code enforcement to the council, she shrugs her shoulders and says too bad, you’ll just have to pay what they say. But she didn’t. Ethical problem?
– Offering to drop charges for $1,000 for damages that she did not report to the police in the first place? Ethical problem.
– Not turning over the letter to a public records request until a lawyer said she had too? Ethical problem.
Someone should file a complaint with the state ethics commission and let them rule. Most of the evidence you need is right here.
Am I the only person in Century that read this:
On July 23, Assistant State Attorney Greg Marcille indicated that there would not be sufficient evidence to charge Brooks with a crime, and the case was closed.
Has it been too long since a “burning at the stake ” occurred in Century? Always some misinformed individual quick to grab a match, willing to light that fire ! This is why I literally avoid letting people know I live in Century. Sad.
Amazing there are individuals “willing” to serve the public here! Seems anyone, anywhere, who has the courage to stand up for their personal rights, as Ms. Brooks obviously did, meets with little more than disrespect and unsubstantiated criticism.
Once again we learn that “power corrupts and absolute power, absolutley corrupts.”
that this is small town politics at its finest. Better than a comic strip!
It is good to know that politicians still stick together. I hope they will reduce our fines from $1000 to $100 when we break the law and get caught.
I sure hope the sandersons file an ethics complaint in Tallahassee. This may not be a crime but it sure is unethical. She needs to be dealt with she is not above the law. If any other town official had anything to do with this they should be dealt with also. These are elected officials and they should remember this.
@Carolyn – Why wait until next time? We Americans should start demanding immediate action when our elected officials fail.
She has no business mixing government (public) business with her personal affairs. This behavior should be met with swift punishment and my vote is she be removed from her post immediately.
One things for sure–they sure have a lot of fun with board meetings and so on in all of the small towns at the Fla & Ala line.
Big Brother Big Bully. I will certainly not be taking my business to Ms. Brooks. Nor will I vote for her or McCall at the next election. This is government corruption and this ishe legal system protecting politicians. Once again tax payers and citizens get trampled on.
What? Something sounds unethical at the minimum to mix person business with town business. This lady maybe should be removed from her spot next time up.