A clearer picture is emerging of how a decades-old secret in Sheriff Gregory Tony’s past went undetected when he was vetted by Gov. Ron DeSantis over a year ago.
Tony, 41, never disclosed on forms that he had shot and killed an 18-year-old man when he was a teenager living in a rough neighborhood in Philadelphia. Tony said in an interview this week he fired in self-defense and was never found guilty of wrongdoing.
Compounding that was a scramble to find a replacement for former Sheriff Scott Israel in the wake of the Parkland school shooting. The governor’s office didn’t request state investigators conduct a background check on Tony until Jan.