The Florida Times-Union

December 22, 2006

Suit wrong to target Crosby's ex-wife, lawyer says

By MATT GALNOR
The Times-Union

A state lawsuit against the ex-wife of former Department of Corrections Secretary James Crosby should be dismissed because she never spent or received any of his retirement money, her lawyer said Thursday.

Leslie Crosby bought a Starke home with money the couple received from selling a Tallahassee house - not from her husband's deferred retirement, attorney Terence Brown said.

Records show the Crosbys sold the Tallahassee home in May for $209,000 and Leslie Crosby bought a Starke home in June, a day after James Crosby signed a deal to plead guilty to taking kickbacks from a contractor.

The state Department of Management Services sued the Crosbys this month for more than $191,000, alleging the two divorced just to shield his retirement benefits and intentionally tried to defraud the government. A department spokesman said he couldn't comment on specifics but added that the court records speak for themselves.

Brown filed a motion Thursday to dismiss the case and said it is "shameful" for the state to go after Crosby's ex-wife.

"Their beef and their problem is with Mr. Crosby. It's not with his wife," Brown said.

The couple's divorce was finalized four days before Crosby pleaded guilty and gave $200,000 of deferred retirement to Leslie Crosby, court records show.

Because he pleaded guilty to a crime committed in the course of his state employment, state law allows his retirement to be seized.

Court records show the Crosbys are living together in the Starke home, though Brown says he doesn't know if that's true. Brown represented James Crosby in the couple's divorce, but is now Leslie Crosby's attorney.

Brown said he would call James Crosby on a cell phone and sent all correspondence to Crosby's parents home - where Crosby was living when he pleaded guilty in July.

Crosby received more than $172,000 from his deferred retirement in March - a month after he was forced out by Gov. Jeb Bush. Crosby had more than $215,000 in his account, but about $43,000 went to taxes, a state spokesman said.

Also in March, federal prosecutors warned Crosby not to transfer his retirement benefits.

Brown said most of the retirement money went to pay Crosby's criminal attorney, Tallahassee-based Steve Andrews. The state should go after Andrews, not Leslie Crosby, Brown said.

Andrews didn't return messages left at his office and on his cell phone Thursday.

Crosby and protege Allen Clark both face up to 10 years in prison for taking a combined $130,000 in kickbacks. Both are to be sentenced next month.