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Hillsborough OKs lawsuit to get ex-deputy out of park

Staff file photo (2004)

The lawsuit will 'seek any and all remedies' to get Cartwright off the property at Saladino Park.

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By RAY REYES | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 4, 2009

Updated: 11/04/2009 12:43 pm

TAMPA - Hillsborough County commissioners approved today a lawsuit against a former sheriff's deputy who has been living rent-free at a Brandon park for more than a year.

Parks and recreation officials had asked county attorneys to pursue a lawsuit against Michael Cartwright for his failure to vacate a mobile home and surrounding property at Saladino Park.

The issue was included in the consent agenda at today's commission meeting, and the agenda was approved with a unanimous vote.

The lawsuit will "seek any and all remedies" to get Cartwright off the property, according to the consent agenda. Cartwright could be charged with trespassing if he does not move out.

The county has not asked the sheriff's office to take any action against him, sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said.

No one spoke on Cartwright's behalf during the public comment portion of the meeting, although the former deputy sent mass e-mails to an undisclosed number of recipients Tuesday asking them to address the commission. Cartwright had also collected 69 signatures for a petition asking county officials to let him remain at the park, where he has lived for 21 years.

As a deputy, he signed an agreement in April 2007 to live there provided he patrolled the property and performed other security checks.

He was fired from the sheriff's office in August 2008, after internal affairs detectives said he brandished a gun at a motorist and threatened another earlier that year, court records show.

The county agreed to let Cartwright live and patrol the property provided he was a sheriff's deputy, and once he was fired, officials saw no reason to let him stay, parks and recreation spokesman John Brill said.

The mobile home at the park is owned by the county, and officials prefer that a sworn deputy performs security, Brill said.

Several deputies have already expressed interest in living at Saladino Park once Cartwright moves, Brill said.

Cartwright, a 21-year veteran of the sheriff's office, disputed the findings of the internal affairs investigation and received an extension to continue living at Saladino Park while he appealed his firing to the Hillsborough County Civil Services Board.

In the appeal, attorneys for Cartwright argued he was targeted by the sheriff's office because he had discussed job-related grievances to a police union.

Cartwright received four more extensions from the parks department. A March 3 letter from the department to Cartwright said it would allow him to stay at the park one more month "in an effort to be cooperative during tough economic times."

His last extension was granted for August.

Reporter Ray Reyes can be reached at (813) 259-7920.

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