Mark Michael Guerra arrested in DOC probe

"I believe Jeb initially allowed these people free spending with their budgets and now has told these people to start quickly cleaning up."

Man is arrested in DOC probe

By JOE FOLLICK and KAREN VOYLES
Sun staff writers

October 05. 2005 6:01AM

TALLAHASSEE - A former minor league baseball player is the first arrest in a months-long federal and state investigation into the Florida Department of Corrections.

Mark Michael Guerra, 33, was arrested Monday night on charges of grand theft, a third-degree felony. The theft allegedly occurred when Guerra received nearly $1,300 in pay for a job he did not perform.

Guerra told investigators that he was ''hired to play softball'' for the ACI team, including their participation in the Florida Department of Corrections Secretary's Tournament in Jacksonville in May.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the FDLE have been investigating the highest reaches of the Department of Corrections for most of this year. One official, regional director Allen Clark, has resigned and FDLE
investigators have indicated they were working with a statewide prosecutor on myriad charges ranging from embezzlement to abuse.

This week's arrest centered on a prison that Clark oversaw and where he lived until his resignation. The FDLE arrest warrant said Guerra was hired in April as a librarian at Apalachee Correctional Institution in Sneads, a small town near the Georgia border.

Guerra said he worked for four to six hours a day as a librarian and also ran errands for administrators. He told investigators he resigned from the ACI job after about one month due to conflicts with his tree-farming business and his duties as a baseball coach at Sneads High School.

But investigators interviewed numerous ACI employees, including the woman who supervised Guerra's position, who said she had never met Guerra.

Additional interviews also found little evidence that Guerra performed the work.

Guerra did not return a message requesting comment Tuesday.

Mike Hanna, DOC chief of staff, said that he could not comment on ongoing investigations, but added that ''the Department of Corrections takes these matters very seriously and is working along with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement focusing on this matter. This kind of behavior is unacceptable and will not be condoned at the Florida Department of Corrections.''

The FBI and FDLE have been investigating the corrections department since 2003 when it was discovered that steroids were being distributed among current and former DOC employees in the region surrounding Starke where many state prisons are located.

Five arrests were made in connection with the separate steroids investigation earlier this year.

Clark, a high school dropout who is a protégé and friend of DOC Secretary James Crosby, quit the $94,000-a-year post with no explanation on Aug. 30.

Clark was warden at Florida State Prison and New River Correctional Institution where some of those arrested for the steroids distribution were employed. In April, FDLE investigated a fight involving Clark.

The investigation found that during a softball banquet in Tallahassee on April 1, Clark beat a man who had accidentally slipped and knocked down a female acquaintance of Clark's.

The investigation found that ACI Col. Richard Frye joined Clark in punching the man.

Guerra's arrest warrant also states that Frye was the coach of the ACI softball team, which won the 24th annual tournament in Jacksonville.

Frye has been rapidly promoted within DOC with Clark's approval.

In the Guerra investigation, Guerra's supervisor said Frye pressured her to ensure Guerra was paid. In the arrest warrant, FDLE investigators wrote that she ''felt compelled to complete Guerra's time sheet as Colonel Frye was in her chain of command and she feared for her job.''

According to numerous online sources, the New York Mets drafted Guerra in 1994 after pitching at Jacksonville University. He pitched for a number of AAA teams for six years until 2003.

Joe Follick can be reached at 850-224-3309. Karen Voyles is a reporter with the Gainesville Sun and can be reached at (352) 486-5058 or voylesk@Gvillesun.com.
 

OTHER BALLPLAYERS

Sunday, October 09, 2005 10:34 PM

FDOC: BRIAN WHITEHEAD BALLPLAYER

Currently at the Lake City Community College in Olustee where the Corrections Training Academy is there is a recruit by the name of Brian Whitehead, who just recently started the certification process but while making very good money for the railroad was placed on payroll at RMC in Lake Butler as a delivery driver for Aramark, just so he could play in softball tournaments. Whitehead did not have any shame at admitting this at the time.

This guy is the brother of  Brad Whitehead who works in Tallahassee for the DOC. He would come to work for about 1 hour then go on about his business.

Now all of a sudden they put him in the academy when all this stuff started breaking  out. Makes me wonder how much he was being paid. Usually when a new officer is hired he is on the compound until the academy starts. He never did come inside except once a month to make his delivery at the chow hall.

Wanting to remain anonomous

NOTE: FOIA (119) Brian Whitehead, timesheets and payroll.

I am trying to put together a roster of FDOC ballplayers.  If you can help me with such a list, please contact me, Kay Lee at kaylee1@charter.net or by phone at 404-212-0690.
 

If you have any information concerning sports in the FDOC, you should also contact Kathy (Reporter/Owner) TWIN CITY NEWS in Chattahoochee, Florida who has been covering the story and has covered the ballgames and kept records of the many complaints and illegal activities done by the so-called Mafia over the past two years.  She may have more of Jeb Bush's involvement to give as well.   TWIN CITY NEWS (850) 663-2255"
 

JAMES CROSBY'S OTHER HIRING PRACTICES
Seems the FDOC is full of nepotism and favoritism.