Florida’s main law enforcement agency launched an extensive investigation of two former employees who are tied to a contentious battle and litigation against the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis over the handling of public records.

The 129-page report prepared by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and obtained by POLITICO delved into allegations of conflicts-of-interest, workplace harassment, whether the two employees misled other top officials about FDLE’s budget and whether they tried to obtain improper pay raises for other employees, including the daughter of one those who was investigated.

The lengthy report, which was finalized in May, says that FDLE took the findings to a Tallahassee prosecutor but he declined to pursue any charges. It does say that investigators concluded that the two employees — a former chief of staff and former deputy chief of staff — violated state rules regarding insubordination, ethics, and workplace conduct. Investigators also contend there is enough evidence to suggest the two were involved in an improper “romantic relationship.”

The report done by the Office of Executive Investigations paints a less than flattering picture of the agency run by FDLE Commissioner Mark Glass, an ally of DeSantis. Several of the allegations related to FDLE’s budget centered on whether the agency — which is responsible for guarding DeSantis and his family — had enough money to protect DeSantis as he ramped up his unsuccessful campaign for president.

But the lawyer representing former chief of chief Shane Desguin and deputy chief of staff Patricia Carpenter says the investigation is part of a pattern of continued retaliation against her clients, who were caught in a tug-of-war over whether to hand over records that were being sought by The Washington Post. The Post is suing to get the records and is challenging the constitutionality of a law legislators passed last year ahead of DeSantis’ run for president that shields the governor’s travel records.

Gretl Plessinger, a FDLE spokesperson, said the two former FDLE employees “created workplace chaos, endangered the safety of other employees, and acted dishonestly and unprofessionally … We are glad that our association with these bad actors has ended, considering the disturbing allegations that were substantiated after a thorough investigation.”

Marie Mattox, a well-known employment and civil rights attorney in Tallahassee representing the two, noted the investigation was started after the employees had filed complaints about the handling of records and after one employee — Desguin — got a departure form from FDLE that showed that he was not resigning from the agency due to any misconduct.

The report is also coming out right before Desguin and Carpenter are expected to file lawsuits contending that were illegally forced out of their jobs.

Mattox compared the allegations to a lawsuit designed to shut down public critics and said it was an effort to “smear their names and character after they made serious allegations not only against the Commissioner of FDLE, Mark Glass, but the governor himself for blocking the release of his travel records to the press and others.“

Mattox added that “they cannot give Mr. Desguin a clean bill of health by stating that he engaged in no wrongdoing at the time he was forced to resign and then come back later and accuse him of wrongdoing for actions that they knew about, and were not a problem, prior to his resignation. I cannot overstate the fact that he was cleared of wrongdoing when he left FDLE in November of last year.” She also called it “highly suspicious” that FDLE sent the report to a state prosecutor but decided to return Desguin’s service weapon to him.

Desguin’s and Carpenter’s tangle with the DeSantis administration occurred amid an ongoing legal fray with the Post. The news organization in July 2023 sued to obtain four separate public record requests, including a request for records dealing with DeSantis’ publicly-funded travel. The lawsuit came shortly after the GOP-controlled Florida Legislature passed a law that shielded the governor’s travel records from public access, including those about trips he had already taken.

Desguin and Carpenter were aware of internal discussions about whether to turn over certain records to the Post late last year. The Post has asserted that at one point they held phone conversations with FDLE and that the agency had agreed to release some records. But then FDLE officials said the records would not be released and cited in part the new law.

According to documents filed in the Post lawsuit, Carpenter on Nov. 28 sent an email to Glass, the FDLE commissioner, that mentioned a contentious discussion between agency employees and the governor’s office over the records. Her email stated that during the meeting — which she did not attend in person but learned about from Desguin — the governor’s office staff told the agency to not to release any records and instead require news outlets to sue the administration.

Carpenter’s email asserted that after the blowup, agency general counsel Janine Robinson was denied a promotion and raise because she disagreed with the governor’s office over what records should be made public. The email said that Anastasios Kamoutsas, a deputy chief of staff for DeSantis, called Desguin and told him not to promote Robinson.

This email from Carpenter was sent nearly two weeks after Desguin — who had been with FDLE since 2005 and had been chief of staff since 2022 — had been forced to retire. On December 1, the same day that Carpenter was fired, Mattox filed complaints with the Florida Commission on Human Relations.

At the same time, the FDLE Office of Executive Investigations was given “multiple complaints” about both Carpenter and Desguin. Over the course of several months, agency investigators wound up questioning 39 people — including Glass, but not Desguin or Carpenter. The report does state FDLE was given written declarations from the two.

Investigators ultimately concluded that Desguin and Carpenter were involved in a “personal relationship” with each other and that some employees were “uncomfortable” about the way the two worked together and treated each other.

Mattox pointed to a part of the report that stated Carpenter’s husband had mentioned the potential affair to Glass months before Desguin and Carpenter were forced out. In the report Glass told investigators that he talked to Carpenter’s husband three times during the summer of 2023 and on one of the calls Glass told him that he had not observed anything to suggest that Desguin and Patricia Carpenter were having an romantic relationship. Glass did ask Desguin about it in September 2023, but he told investigators that Desguin told him that he was helping Carpenter with medical issues and that he denied multiple times he was “romantically involved” with her.

“He did nothing, so how is this now a problem when he did nothing then?” Mattox said in response. “Second, even if there was something going on between them, the appropriate action is not termination but separating them, as has repeatedly occurred with other employees, which never happened here.”

Investigators also highlighted an incident where it was alleged that during in a demonstration of defensive tactics Desguin brought out his gun in his office, cleared the gun of ammunition and then pointed it at Carpenter while explaining what to do in response. “This is a lie and never occurred,” Mattox said in response.

A substantial portion of the report revolves around concerns raised by Desguin and Carpenter — who had overseen the public safety unit in DeSantis’ budget office prior to coming over to FDLE — about whether the agency had enough money to provide security to DeSantis amid his run for president. Both raised questions about whether the agency was on pace to run out of money due to all the time agents were spending on the campaign trail.

At one point, this led FDLE to “double up rooms” for agents, use flex time to eliminate overtime and use fewer rental cars “to accomplish the mission.”

“The effect on the agents and inspectors who worked the presidential Campaign detail included, per Commissioner Glass, zero privacy after working 12-hour days, which impacted family life, ability to get sleep and reducing the mission readiness of the members protecting the governor,” the report states.

In the end, FDLE officials contend that there were not any budget problems and that Desguin and Carpenter reached incorrect conclusions. Mattox denied that as well, saying there “was a potential projected deficit but the number keeps changing.”