Thursday, June 4, 2009

The Monroe County state attorney said he plans to launch an investigation into a Sheriff's Office lieutenant who closed a drug case against the son of a prominent Upper Keys attorney without bringing it to prosecutors.

Lt. Corey Bryan, who works in Key Largo, wrote a supplement to a deputy's report about Matthew Mulick, the 19-year-old son of civil attorney Nick Mulick, who confessed in a signed statement.

"The case will remain closed with discontinuance of probable cause at this time pending future developments which will better serve the interest of justice," Bryan wrote.

The brief annotation contains no explanation for why Bryan made that decision. He referred The Citizen's questions to his boss, Capt. Lou Caputo, who did not return phone messages.

Mulick was stopped for allegedly speeding and making rapid lane changes. He was issued a warning for his driving and a notice to appear in court for a marijuana offense after a deputy, who reportedly smelled pot as he approached the car, found it and pipes in the car.

A shift supervisor signed the deputy's April 18 report. Bryan added the supplement three days later.

Prosecutors are pursuing the case nonetheless.

Ward said he became aware of the case after County Judge Reagan Ptomey asked when it would come before him because he planned to recuse himself due to a conflict of interest relating to Nick Mulick.

"I got back from lunch and I had three prosecutors who said there is something going on here," Ward said. "I think ethically there is a problem here."

Ward said he may ask the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate as an objective third party.

Bryan is a close friend of former State Attorney Mark Kohl, who Ward unseated last year. Ward vocally opposed Bryan being promoted to captain of the Islamorada sector in 2007.

"If that is going to color the investigation, I'd rather have an investigation where there's an agency that looks at it and no one can say Dennis Ward did this just because he dislikes Corey Bryan," Ward said.

Nick Mulick denied asking anyone to do any favors for Matthew, and said being a lawyer makes him a good political target for Ward.

"I wish this had never happened. I wish the Sheriff's Office had just prosecuted my son," he said. "I hope that by prosecuting my son, Dennis Ward will get whatever political benefit he needs to protect his backside."

Sheriff Bob Peryam said he welcomes the investigation, adding that he runs a transparent agency.

"If they say we did something inappropriate, we'll act accordingly. So be it," Peryam said.

Peryam and sheriff's spokeswoman Becky Herrin defended Bryan.

"There is a whole lot of officer discretion involved in law enforcement, and in this particular case discretion was used," Herrin said.

Both she and Peryam said it is not especially unusual for a superior officer to drop a case brought by a deputy after reviewing paperwork -- even when there is a signed confession. Neither would provide an example of a similar case in which such a step was taken.

Natalie Oce, a former public defender and an affiliated faculty member with the Florida International University criminal justice program, said authorities fairly typically discontinue cases for a variety of reasons.

"Whomever has connections can call in and say you shouldn't go forward with the case. That can happen," she said. "Or it could have been a bad case to begin with. There are so many things that could have been behind that."

rsilk@keysnews.com