From: Mary Mead, 12525 Meadson Road, Pensacola, Florida 32506
Sent to: Jason R. Coody Esq., Acting U.S. Attorney, Tallahassee Headquarters, 111 North Adams Street, 4th Floor U.S. Courthouse, Tallahassee, FL 32301
Dear Mr. Coody
I am a 77-year-old woman veteran, and am asking for your help. My late husband (of 39 years) and I are veterans and long-time residents of Pensacola – over 70 years each. City Officials have committed illegal/criminal actions, mostly felonies, against us since July 1, 1998, when we bought a business, an art gallery/antique shop hosting functions.
We intended to operate the same business with the same classification and same use to augment our retirement. It is located in an historic property in Pensacola which was built in 1883 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
My husband and I relied on the Florida Officials, including Pensacola City Officials, to obey the laws that they are paid to obey and enforce. They refused.
Pensacola City Officials consistently refuse to obey the U. S. Constitution, refuse to obey the Florida Constitution, refuse to obey Florida Laws, and refuse to obey Florida Construction Laws. They have kept our legally authorized business illegally closed down for 18 years out of the 23 years we have owned it.
About a week after our purchase, Pensacola City Officials used the Certificate of Occupancy (CO) swindle apparently to defraud us and other citizens of Pensacola. They refused us the authorized operation of our business for almost two years and, repeatedly, trespassed on our property, repeatedly stalked us, took pictures of our historic artifacts, and repeatedly made illegal demands and false charges against us. They used extortion to force us to submit to their illegal demands that we pay to have all exterior historic artifacts (spindles, rails, shutter hardware, etc.) removed from the house and pay to have all interior walls and over mantels (8) removed which had been on the house for over 115 years. This was apparently to steal our historic artifacts since there was no legal reason to do so. I repeatedly gave them a copy of the pertinent construction regulation. They refused to obey the law.
On November 23, 1998, in answer to my request, the Florida State Building Commission issued a Declarative Statement that our use of the house does not constitute a change of occupancy and that a Certificate of Occupancy is not required. They ruled in my favor. City Officials ignored the Florida Statutes concerning construction and ignored the decision by the Florida Building Commission which had determined that I was right.
I repeatedly reported the City Official's lawbreaking to Florida authorities (Escambia County Sheriff, State Attorney Golden, etc., all the way up to Governor Jeb Bush) they sided with those breaking the law. It appears that they made Pensacola a Sanctuary City for crime.
Finally, three City Council members (Rita Jones, Hugh King and Debra Thompson) stated that I was right and that City Officials had to stop their illegal/criminal demands, mostly felonies, which were harming property owners and their property, especially historic properties. On page 59 of the Pensacola City Council Minutes dated January 27, 2000: “COUNCIL MEMBER KING: I just want to say this is another one of those good situations where, you know, the citizens speak up. This has been – well, I guess I do need to compliment Ms. Mead for being very vigilant in kind of directing us to a point where we can all agree – and even she can even agree that the situation is much better.”
I had finally publicly proven that I had been right through two years of illegal actions against my husband and me to include: grand theft of irreplaceable historic artifacts, illegal construction demands ($300,000.00) which took our life savings and put us deep in debt, constant harassment, stalking, extortion, false statements by City and State officials, illegal closing without a hearing which is required by the U.S. Constitution, threats of suing me for libel, etc. Their actions also appear to constitute detrimental reliance since it is reasonable to assume that Pensacola City Officials will not fabricate false requirements to steal private property.
City Officials refused to make restitution for the harm they had done to us and our historic property. In fact, they appeared to seek vengeance on me for exposing their certificate of occupancy scam which they had used to trespass on every property in Pensacola and make illegal demands.
The contractor, Mr. Miller, confessed to the Escambia County Contractor’s Competency Board Investigator to taking our property. I repeatedly reported the contractor’s grand theft and the contractor’s confession to the Pensacola Police Department and their boss, City Manager Bonfield. Pensacola Police Chief Potts refused to arrest the contractor and stated that he could keep our property, including the historic artifacts which were made specifically for our house in 1883.
This is documented in the official Pensacola Police Department investigation which is located in Council Files, cityofpensacola.com, Memo dated 08/14/2000, Subj: 520 North Spring Street – Responses to Ms. Mary Mead’s Complaints. The official police report is printed on pages 24 to 32. Investigator Stone stated on page 25, “Miller states in the record he has some materials of Meads he is holding because Mead owes him money.”
All of this is illegal. We had submitted the contractor’s invoices to the Pensacola Police Department where he had signed them all “paid in full” because we had paid in full. Even if we owed him money, which we didn’t, grand theft is not allowed, ever. If a contractor thinks he is owed money, he must file a mechanic’s lien, not steal. The historic artifacts belong to us since we did not file for insurance but still own the property and want the items back. The forests of wood they are made from are extinct and no craftsmen are around to recreate these important parts of our historic property.
We cleaned up the mess City Officials and the contractor had left and won the award for best restored historic property in the North Hill Historic Preservation District for 2000 and were asked to be on the Tour of Historic Homes for 2000. We were finally allowed to operate our legally authorized business in May, 2000.
We operated our business, as we were authorized, as an art gallery/antique shop and hosting functions. Authorization can be found on line at the City of Pensacola website: see cityofpensacola.com, city government, sunshine center, search available records, click on I understand...Click on “02 council records,” enter 01/11/2001 in the to and from dates and enter “Mary Mead” in the keyword space, click find – page 6, third paragraph, second sentence, states, “The meads propose to use the structure for an art gallery, antiques, crafts and functions.
Artists displayed their works in our gallery, we refurbished and sold beautiful antiques, and we had many successful functions. Our contract called for no hard liquor, less than 100 attendees and all noise abated by the City specified time. My favorite functions were weddings for the young military personnel at the close-by Naval Air Station. I decorated the house with candles and flowers from my yard and charged only a nominal fee. The young couple and a few friends came, usually at dusk for the candlelight setting, and I performed the ceremony since I am authorized as a notary public. Afterward, they usually went for a nice dinner out. These were especially festive events.
Hurricane Ivan hit in September, 2004. We worked hard and were able to reopen our business in about a week. Many wedding venues were closed so we offered our venue to couples who still wanted to marry at this time.
At 7:00 PM on March 19, 2005, out of nowhere, a police cruiser showed up during a wedding causing a disturbance with lights flashing and driving the wrong way on a one-way street. The Pensacola Police Officer loudly declared, in front of many witnesses, that we were not authorized to have functions and stated that our business was closed down. His statement was false and constituted slander. He did not have a single piece of paper or proof of due process of any kind, as required by the United States Constitution – only a verbal demand that we close down. This was illegal. The fifth amendment of the United States Constitution states that no one shall “be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” We were illegally deprived the use of our property for income from our investment property.
I reported this illegal action to Pensacola City Manager Bonfield. We had operated peacefully for almost five years. We had received no complaints or had incidents of any kind. I stated to him that we had been authorized by the Pensacola City Council, see above, to have functions and that functions had taken place at our location for 25 years, including the previous owner, with no complaints from City Officials, neighbors or clients. Mr. Bonfield refused to obey the U. S. Constitution and refused to lift the illegal prohibition on us operating our authorized business.
This happened the evening before City Officials announced in the Pensacola News Journal that they were going to build a forty-million-dollar Maritime Park at the end of our street.
City Officials had again refused us the protection of the law and had violated our Constitutional rights. The Florida Constitution Article II Section 5, paragraph (1) requires each elected or appointed official to take an oath which includes “hereby solemnly swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States and of the State of Florida.” Florida Statutes 876.09 Scope of law, and 876.10 states, “If any person required by the provisions of ss. 876.05-876.10 to execute the oath herein required executes such oath, and it is subsequently proven that at the time of the execution of said oath said individual was guilty of making a false statement in said oath, he or she shall be guilty of perjury.”
Violating our Constitutional rights is especially egregious since my husband and I are both veterans and served our country to defend and protect the U. S. Constitution. My husband was an elderly veteran at the illegal closing. City Officials regularly refuse us our legitimate rights under the United States Constitution. In addition, City Officials appear to have committed perjury once again. Instead of due process, City Officials skipped to the punishment stage, illegally closing down our business.
Once again, I repeatedly reported the City Officials' illegal actions all the way to Governor Jeb Bush who was still in office, reporting also that we were an elderly veteran household and business and that our business was closed without due process which is illegal and appears to constitute elder abuse since my husband and equal partner in the property met the requirements for being elderly. This is covered in Florida Statutes 415.111 Criminal penalties. Governor Jeb Bush had one of his people, Ms. Gilley, stall me until he was out of office.
We repeatedly proved that we were authorized to hold functions. City Officials didn't apologize, rescind their illegal actions and stop the felonies against us. Instead, they changed the false charges against us to other false charges.
On April 25, 2008, Mr. Thaddeus L. Cohen AIA, Director of the Pensacola Department of Community Development sent me an email changing the reason for our closing three years earlier on March 19, 2005. “That same connection {art gallery} is not apparent for weddings and other similar social functions which tend to have a large attendance and a greater requirement for the availability of off-street parking; and, therefore is not permitted.”
His statement is wrong and I replied on April 28, 2008: “You seem to be confused as we comply with the law regarding parking.
Sec. 12-3-1. Off-street parking spaces requirements.…….
(7) The number of off-street parking spaces provided for buildings constructed prior to October 13, 1994, shall be deemed in compliance with the requirements of this code, for as long as the same land use is maintained within the same building footprint.
…..
Our building was constructed in 1883 and was used from @1980 on as an art gallery/antique shop holding functions (documented in your records) where the previous owner had many social functions there, as part of her business, as I have previously indicated. There are no changes in the building footprint (since initial construction in 1883) and the same land use has been maintained at least since 1980. . .In addition to being grandfathered, our parking lot (off-street parking) exceeds 20 spaces and we are required, by current ordinance, to have only 14 spaces so we are doubly covered for parking authorization. In addition, there is designated, demarked on-street parking on both sides of Spring Street to accommodate over 100 parking spaces, within 500 feet of our building.
Mr. Cohen’s reference to a large attendance is false since we had put a limit of 100 in our contract for weddings since we didn’t want a large crowd or alcohol in our beautiful building. Mr. Cohen did not answer. I sent a monthly email to Mr. Cohen requesting that he follow the United States Constitution and Pensacola Ordinances and lift the illegal prohibition on us operating our business as we were legally authorized. He did not answer any of these. I also sent a monthly email directly to his supervisor, Mr. Coby, requesting that he obey the law. Mr. Coby never responded – only a response to my delivery notification request, each month, that the email was deleted without being read.
Year after year, I continued to request from Officials at City Hall, Escambia County Sheriff (Mr. Morgan) and the Governor of Florida (Mr. Crist and then Mr. Scott) that the illegal prohibition on me operating my legally authorized business be lifted so I could operate my business as legally authorized and earn an income from my investment property. All refused.
On June 21, 2009, I became elderly as defined in Florida Statutes. City Officials mostly remained silent from this time on. It appeared that they had decided to stop communicating and would wait until we died since we were both elderly. My husband passed away from cancer on 5/5/2010.
On Sep 9, 2010, it appears that the new Florida State Attorney, Mr. Bill Eddins, the Pensacola City Attorney, Mr. Wells, and Pensacola Community Development Department employee, Ms. Morris, conferred and discussed the answer Mr. Wells was going to send to Mr. Ramage of the FDLE regarding my reporting to FDLE, again, the illegal closing of our small business, an art gallery/antique shop holding functions, on March 19, 2005.
It appears that they decided to send false statements and false charges about me to FDLE instead of the real facts. It appears the above individuals deliberately conspired to and, in fact, did lie to FDLE about me to guarantee that I remained closed down. Once again, City Officials changed the false charges against us to other false charges.
I have enclosed the letter Mr. Wells wrote to Mr. Ramage and the letter Mr. Ramage wrote to me showing the false statements Mr. Wells made about me and the false statements Mr. Ramage made to me since he quoted from Mr. Wells’ letter and did not investigate the situation.
On December 18, 2018, I reported the above illegal/criminal actions, mostly felonies, against me to our new Governor, Governor Ron DeSantis. The reply on March 4, 2019, stated that I should get a lawyer. In my answer I stated:
Florida Statutes covering the Executive Branch state in 14.01 Governor;…authority to protect life, liberty, and property…states ”The Governor may employ as many persons as he or she, in his or her discretion, may deem necessary to procure and secure protection to life, liberty, and property of the inhabitants of the state…”
Please show me where it states in the Florida Constitution that the Governor of Florida cannot stop criminal actions against me, a law-abiding widowed elderly woman veteran, who has repeatedly reported these criminal actions (mostly felonies) to public officials, including law enforcement, all the way up to each Florida Governor since 1998. Each Governor has refused to stop the Public Officials from breaking the law and harming me, harming my late husband and harming our historic property.
I have repeatedly reported the false charges against me and the illegal closing of our authorized business to our current Mayor, Mayor Grover C. Robinson IV. He refuses to lift the illegal prohibition of me operating my legally authorized business so I can earn an income from our investment property. I have been paying all of the expenses for our business from our retirement since March 19, 2005.
Mayor Robinson stated that since I said I was right, (I said that the closing was illegal), I should open anyway. This made no sense to me and appeared to be entrapment or something like that. I have received hundreds of letters from government officials from the Mayor to the Governor and all of them stand behind the illegal closing. None of them have agreed that I was right.
As I stated above, I reported the City Official’s illegal/criminal actions against me to Governor DeSantis on December 18, 2018. His answer on March 4, 2019 was to get a lawyer.
I again reported the City Official’s illegal/criminal actions against me to Governor DeSantis on August 5, 2019. His answer on August 7, 2019 was to get a lawyer.
I again reported the City Official’s illegal/criminal actions against me to Governor DeSantis on August 29, 2019. He and/or his office never answered this reporting of apparent crimes against me.
I reported three times that it is glaringly conspicuous that our current Public Officials are abusing their authority and refuse to obey the established laws. Refusing due process to elderly veterans, which both my late husband and I are, is especially egregious and should not be tolerated by Governor DeSantis or anyone.
My late husband and I loved our historic building and worked hard to maintain our beautiful building. Public Officials have used illegal/criminal actions, mostly felonies, to keep us from earning any income from our business for 16 years this time – since March 19, 2005. Our beautiful building is falling into disrepair. I need help.
Mr. Coody, I am asking you as Acting U.S. Attorney to stop the crimes, mostly felonies, against me and my historic property.
Sincerely,
Mary Mead
