The head of a state licensing agency that inspects barbershops told a state panel he had no idea the Orange County Sheriff's Office teamed with his employees for a series of sweeps until he read about it in an Orlando Sentinel report.
Secretary Charlie Liem, head of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, told the state's Small Business Research Advisory Council last month he was upset that his agency appeared to have no operational plan of its own for the inspections, an aspect he called a "big failing."
Liem was called before the council to address members' concerns about the Aug. 21 and Sept. 17 sweeps of Orange County barbershops, which have been described by numerous barbers and customers as overly theatrical raids. During the operations, dozens of shop workers were arrested on the misdemeanor charge of "barbering without an active license" and booked into the county jail.
During that meeting, Liem faced pointed questions from council members, including Orange County political consultant Doug Guetzloe, who asked if anything like the Orange County joint operations had been conducted in the state before.
"I don't believe we've done many, if any, barbershop sweeps with law enforcement," Liem said. "That is pretty unusual."
A DBPR internal review released Friday revealed details of the operations — including property damage, the use of canine units during inspections and, in some cases, the failure of inspectors to document entire operations. The review also determined that a DBPR investigator forced his way into locked areas of barbershops during the operations, despite having no authority to do so, using tools provided by deputies.
On Wednesday, owners of two barbershops said they intend to sue the Sheriff's Office and the state licensing agency.
Liem declined to be interviewed for this article, citing the pending litigation. His comments to the small-business council were taken from a recording of the Nov. 19 meeting.
Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said last month that he "would prefer that we not make custodial arrests for these minor violations." Sheriff's Capt. Angelo Nieves said Friday that the agency would look into the findings of the DBPR report.
Liem disputed the notion that deputies or inspectors overstepped legal boundaries during the inspections and said his department would be "making some changes."
In fact, just days after the Sentinel published its initial story about the barbershop sweeps, Liem suspended all joint operations with law enforcement statewide pending the internal review.
The review noted legal precedent for many aspects of the operations, including the authority of inspectors to enter shops and for deputies to arrest on the licensing charge. But the agency's inspector general determined that during the Aug. 21 sweep, the DBPR had no operations plan, no supervisor in the field and that inspectors "did not understand the rules of contact."
The report noted that DBPR Investigator Derick Fontanez "does not possess authority to open a locked drawer, locker, container or door," yet determined that he did so at least twice — once with a pry bar and a second time with a battering ram, equipment he was provided by Orange County deputies.
The DBPR report said that deputies prepared an operational plan for the August sweep, but that no such plan was made by either agency for the Sept. 17 sweep or some subsequent operations. Both Liem and sheriff's officials have objected to the description of the operations as "raids." But records show as many as 14 deputies, including narcotics agents and canine units, participated in some of the sweeps.
The DBPR review said that 14 deputies were directly involved in an operation in August at Barber Kings in Pine Hills, where local television news cameras captured deputies wearing ski masks and loading barbers in plastic handcuffs into a police van. Other than licensing violations, no illegal activity was reported at Barber Kings.
State records show that the arrests made on "barbering without an active license" charges during the operations this summer and fall accounted for 35 of 38 total bookings on that charge statewide in the past 10 years.
"In general," Liem said, "we don't tend to like custodial arrests of people, particularly for things that don't represent, frankly, much public danger."
Jeff Weiner can be reached at 407-420-5171, jeweiner@orlandosentinel.com or @OSNightCops on Twitter.