Central Florida Police Detective Arrested for Public Corruption

A Central Florida police detective was arrested on felony public corruption charges.




In July, a press conference was held to discuss “Operation Snow Cap,” a drug trafficking organization in Pinellas County. At some point during the yearlong investigation, Clearwater Police detective Fredrick Lise was made aware of the investigation so that detectives could obtain additional information about the drug organization.

Lise was assigned to the Clearwater Police Department Narcotics Unit and had access to confidential law enforcement databases. At the end of the “Operation Snow Cap” investigation, Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office detectives learned that over the course of several months, Lise had sent several text messages to two of the main suspects in the case, Matthew Turner and Henry Smith, alerting them that they were being watched.

Earlier this month, Lise was arrested and transported to the Pinellas County Jail. Detectives from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office arrested the Clearwater Police detective on eight felony public corruption charges.

“Lise is supposed to be looking out for cops, not putting them in harm’s way,” Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said during the press conference. “Lise was supposed to be getting drugs off the street, not protecting drug traffickers so they could sell more drugs, and Lise has betrayed everything that law enforcement officers stand for. At the end of the day, he’s a corrupt cop that needs to go to prison”.

“This leaves me really angry beyond belief – he’s the president of the officers’ union and he represents hundreds of Clearwater officers and their interests,” Chief Eric Gandy said. “It appears that he put the interest of drug traffickers over those interests of his own officers.”




He has been placed on Administrative Leave pending the outcome of Clearwater Police Department’s internal investigation.