LEE COUNTY, Fla. —
The whistleblower who alerted the FBI that he was part of an alleged kickback scheme with Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno is now the focus of a state investigation.
Ken Romano, a longtime friend and consultant of the sheriff, blew the whistle on Marceno, and now Romano is accused of stalking.
The matter now has the attention of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who got involved after state Attorney Amira Fox asked him to. According to an executive order from the governor, Fox said she did not want to be part of the investigation against Romano since he made allegations about the sheriff.
Romano said in a recorded interview that every month, he would give Marceno’s father cash at the request of the sheriff.
Romano had a contract with the sheriff who was paying him $5,700 a month in taxpayer money, and Romano said he was providing next to nothing in return but said he was instructed to return $1,700 of the money to Marceno’s father to pay for a car the sheriff bought him.
“I gave him tons and tons of jewelry. His grandmother, you know, a $40,000 ring. I did a lot of good things for him,” Romano said in the recording that was turned over to the FBI for investigation.
NBC2 first reported back in September that Marceno was the focus of an FBI investigation. At that time, the sheriff called the claims political, as he was in the middle of an election, which he won handily against write-in candidate Mike Hollow.
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