Filing # 87865693 E-Filed 04/11/2019 05:35:45 PM

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE SIXTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT

IN AND FOR PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA
CIVIL DIVISION

Case No. 16-006722-CI

JAMES MCLYNAS,
Plaintiff,

vs.

BOB GUALTIERI
IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS
SHERIFF OF PINELLAS COUNTY,
FLORIDA.
Defendant.
__________________________________/

PLAINTIFF’S SECOND REQUEST FOR ADMISSIONS

PURSUANT TO Rule 1.370, Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, the Plaintiff,

JAMES MCLYNAS, request that Defendant, BOB GUALTIERI, IN HIS OFFICIAL

CAPACITY AS SHERIFF OF PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA, (hereinafter

“SHERIFF”), admit or deny the following by such time as provided by the Florida Rules

of Civil Procedure:

1. Admit that the Sheriff or any of his employees, failed to respond in any way to

one or more records requests submitted by Plaintiff, James McLynas.

2. Admit that from 2012 through December of 2016, the Sheriff never had a policy

in place for tracking the number of minutes that are actually expended on

producing public records requests.

3. Admit that the Sheriff or any of his employees, made estimates for public records

requests measured in hours or minutes, concerning public records requests made

from 2012 through December 2016.

4. Admit that the Sheriff and/or any of his employees had and utilized mathematical

formulas that were used to estimate the number of hours and minutes required for

the time it would take to produce public records requested from 2012 through the

present date.

5. Admit that there was no way of accurately estimating the number of minutes or

hours that would be required to fulfill each public records requests that were

made to the Sheriff.

6. Admit that the Sheriff had no policy, directive, or procedure in place for having

his employees document the estimated or the actual number of minutes or hours

to complete a public records request when calculating the costs for the requests.

7. Admit that the method used by the Sheriff or any of his employees, to estimate

the number of hours or minutes that would be required to produce public records,

often over estimated the number of minutes to produce records.

8. Admit that the method used by Sheriff or any of his employees to estimate the

number of hours or minutes that would be required to produce public records

would often over estimate the number of minutes to produce those records.

9. Admit that Sheriff and/or any of his employees in the public records department

were aware of the fact that the Sheriff’s system used to estimate the time required

to fulfill records requests was not accurate.

10. Admit that the Sheriff and the Pinellas County Sheriff’s records department were

aware of the fact that the system used to estimate the time required to fulfill

public records requests would routinely over estimate the time required.

11. Admit that the Sheriff and/or any of his employees informed public records

requesters in writing that if the estimates given to produce public records were
 more than the time required to produce the records, or if it took less time to

produce, that the Sheriff would provide a refund of the overcharges.

12. Admit that the Sheriff has never had an official policy in place from 2012

thorough December 2016 to track or monitor the actual number of hours or

minutes that it took to produce the public records requests.

13. Admit that the Sheriff has never had an official policy in place from December

2016 to the present, to track or monitor the actual number of hours or minutes that

it took to produce the public records requests.

14. Admit that Sheriff had no standard policy or practice in place to track or monitor

the actual number of hours or minutes that it took to produce the records from

2012 through December 2016.

15. Admit that Sheriff had no standard policy or practice in place to track or monitor

the actual number of hours or minutes that it took to produce the records from

public records request made from December 2016 to the present.

16. Admit that Sheriff and/or the Pinellas County Sheriff’s records department would

not track or monitor the actual time it took to produce public records that were

made from 2012 through December 2016.

17. Admit that the Sheriff and/or the Pinellas County Sheriff’s records department

failed to maintain or preserve time keeping records, notes, documentation

regarding the actual time expended or actual costs to produce public records for

requests made from 2012 through December 2016.

18. Admit that the Sheriff and/or the Pinellas County Sheriff’s records department

failed to maintain or preserve time keeping records, notes, or documentation,

regarding the actual time expended or actual costs to produce public records for

requests made from December 2016 to the present.

19. Admit that Sheriff and/or the Pinellas County records department failed to track

or monitor the actual time used to verify if the estimates that they provided were

accurate for public records requests made from 2012 through December 2016.

20. Admit that Sheriff and/or the Pinellas County records department failed to track

or monitor the actual time used to verify if the estimates that they provided were

accurate for public records requests made from December 2016 through the

present.

21. Admit that Sheriff and/or the Pinellas County Sheriff’s records department

destroyed public records that would verify the number of hours or minutes

actually expended to produce records in response to public records from 2012

through December 2016.

22. Admit that Sheriff and/or the Pinellas County Sheriff’s records department

destroyed public records that would verify the number of hours or minutes

actually expended to produce records in response to public records through

December 2016 through the present.

23. Admit that the Sheriff and/or the Pinellas County Sheriff’s records department

failed or refused to provide verification or documentation of the actual time

and/or actual costs expended to individuals requesting public records from 2012

through December 2016.

24. Admit that the Sheriff and/or the Pinellas County Sheriff’s records department

failed or refused to provide verification or documentation of the actual time

and/or actual costs expended to individuals requesting public records from

December 2016 through the present date.

25. Admit that Plaintiff, James McLynas, requested on multiple occasions that the

Sheriff and/or the Pinellas County Sheriff’s records department provide and all
 documentation supporting the methods used to verify the actual time or actual

costs spent on producing records requested by James McLynas from 2012 to the

present date.

26. Admit that even after Plaintiff, James McLynas, requested that the Sheriff and/or

the Pinellas County Sheriff’s public records department produce documentation

or verification of how actual time was tracked or monitored by the Sheriff or his

department in producing public records requests, the Sheriff and/or the

department failed to provide such documentation or verification.

27. Admit that it is a violation of Title X, Chapter 119 for the Sheriff and his office to

either profit from public records requests or bill the public for public records

requests when Sheriff and his office could not verify the actual costs to produce

those records.

28. Admit that routinely over estimating the time and costs associated with public

records requests, followed by false promises to track or monitor the “actual

costs” and then failing to provide refunds for any over charges in public records

requests is a fraudulent practice.

29. Admit that from 2012 through December 2016, the Sheriff and/or his department

defrauded citizens requesting public records by routinely over estimating records

requests costs, by failing to verify those actual costs as promised in the Sheriff’s

responses to the requests, and by failing to provide refunds for over charges for

the public records requests, consisted of wire and/or mail fraud as the Sheriff and

or his department responded to these public records requests via email or U.S.

Mail.

30. Admit that the Sheriff and/or his department failed to have a policy or practice in

place from 2012 through December 2016 that would ensure that employees of the
 department would not complete or conduct any other tasks during the period of

time that the records requester was being billed to produce those records.

31. Admit that from 2012 through December 2016, the Sheriff and the Sheriff’s

records department would routinely fail and refuse to provide public records

requestors with records produced during the allotted free time without being

charged, unless public records requestor paid for fees that concerned time periods

beyond the allotted free time the Sheriff permitted.

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing has been has been furnished by
electronic email to defense attorney for the Sheriff, Nicole E. Durkin, Esq.,
ndurkin@pcsonet.com, and to amarcott1@pcsonet.com on this April 11, 2019.

/s/ Gerasimos ‘Jerry’”Theophilopoulos

Gerasimos “Jerry” Theophilopoulos
THEOPHILOPOULOS LAW, P.A.
attorneyjerryt@gmail.com
rhondag.theolaw@gmail.com
Attorney for Plaintiff, McLynas
649 E. Tarpon Avenue
Tarpon Springs, FL 34689
Phone: (727) 945-1112
Florida Bar number 0068380