It turns out publicly lambasting a detective from your own department about criminal accusations may not be the best idea before that detective is found guilty.
Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti might have to learn that the hard way, since Albury Burrows -- a 40-year-old detective of the Broward Sheriff's Office who's been suspended without pay since October -- was acquitted Friday of stealing around $1,200 from a weed grow-house bust.
Whoops.
Sheriff Al Lamberti said investigators took extra time on the case, working with the State Attorney's Office, to make sure it was solid and provable in court. He said colleagues of Burrows at the scene of the drug bust prompted the investigation when they saw that the money turned in was short.
"You have to have integrity to do this job,'' Lamberti said. "It's perplexing that you would throw away your career, your life, your family, for $1,200. It makes absolutely no sense. I can't explain that to you. I wish I could.''
When they later asked Lamberti if they were looking into other cases Burrows had handled, he said, "Safe to say we are looking at those.''
That "solid and provable" case took about five minutes of jury deliberations for a not-guilty verdict.The case started in December 2010 when sheriff's deputies raided a marijuana grow-house, discovering $2,452 in cash.
While everyone went out to lunch and Burrows was allegedly the only person at the house, around half of that money went missing.
After 10 months of an internal-affairs investigation, they apparently couldn't cook up another theory aside from pinning it on Burrows.
Burrows was facing up to five years in prison if convicted of the grand-theft charge.
Follow The Pulp on Facebook and on Twitter: @ThePulpBPB.
