Officials: Judge Not Accessory in His Son's Burglary Case

By Michael A. Scarcella
N.Y. Times Regional Newspaper Group
August 5, 2006

Bradenton - Manatee County Judge George K. Brown Jr. admits he waited in his Lexus while his son, who has a prison rap sheet and, his father said, a drug problem, hopped out, slipped into an apartment and walked out with an aquarium.

Brown drove off when the person living in the apartment confronted him and his son, saying he was calling the authorities.

Paul R. Brown, 33, was arrested a few days later on several burglary charges, including the one involving the aquarium. But Judge Brown insists he didn't know what his son was up to, and authorities say they believe him.

Manatee County sheriff's spokesman Dave Bristow said Thursday there's no evidence that Brown knew his son planned to break into the apartment or that he knew a crime had occurred. Brown is not under investigation, Bristow said.

Brown, 60, a Bradenton resident and longtime county judge, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Brown told authorities he was not paying attention as he sat in his car, waiting for his son, in the 500 block of 63rd Avenue West the afternoon of July 27.

Cases that involve an accomplice or an accessory are often difficult to prove and require judgment calls on the part of authorities, legal experts said Thursday.

Sheriff's investigators "might have exercised their discretion" and not pursued charges against Brown, said Clearwater-based attorney Denis DeVlaming, former president of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

According to sheriff's reports, Chris Campbell said last Thursday at about 1:15 p.m. he pulled up to his apartment in the 500 block of 63rd Avenue West and saw Paul Brown - whom he'd met a couple of days earlier - carrying a fish tank out of his house.

When Campbell, 20, asked Brown what he was doing with his stuff, Brown returned the tank to the apartment.

Paul Brown got into the passenger seat of his father's car.

Campbell wasn't satisfied and confronted the driver of the gold-colored Lexus parked horizontally across two spaces.
The driver identified himself as Judge George Brown. Campbell demanded to check out Brown's car to see if other items were concealed.

George Brown opened his trunk and back seat. Both were empty. When Campbell said he was calling the police, Brown and his son drove off.

Sheriff's deputies arrived within minutes.

Detectives said Paul Brown pried open Campbell's back door. They found a knife lying on the ground behind the house.

Detective Sal Levita questioned George Brown just hours after the burglary. Judge Brown told Levita his son wanted to show him a trailer in the area he was looking to buy.

Levita asked to talk to Paul Brown, but the judge said he didn't know where he was.

Brown told the detective that his son has a drug problem and he was trying to get him into a rehab center. Paul Brown spent more than a year in prison on Manatee crimes that included theft and trafficking in stolen property.

That evening, Levita's cell phone rang. It was Paul Brown.

He said he had no idea what was going on. He said he wanted to show his father a snake that was in the fish tank. He said he was never in the house.

"I also told him to get his i's dotted and his t's crossed because I was not going to put up with his lies," Levita wrote.

Levita prepared an arrest warrant for Paul Brown on Monday. That afternoon, authorities found him during a burglary investigation in Bradenton.

Authorities say Brown broke into a house in the 2300 block of 88th Street Court Northwest to escape the deputies searching for him.

He changed clothes there and drank two sodas, authorities say. Deputies found Brown lying atop a counter on a lanai. He was arrested on six counts of burglary, among 11 charges.

Paul Brown was being held Thursday at the county jail.

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