NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. — The Pasco County Sheriff's Office says a former child protective investigator has been arrested for falsifying reports.
Sheriff Chris Nocco held a news conference Monday in New Port Richey, where he announced the recent arrest of 29-year-old Jennifer Lewis of Seminole.
Lewis worked for the sheriff's office from January 2016 until March 2021. A major aspect of her job was to go out and interview families to ensure children were safe. But, last year, authorities say a trainee raised concerns to a supervisor that what Lewis was putting in written reports was not always representative of what actually happened.
The trainee flagged discrepancies in two reports, specifically. In both cases, Nocco says Lewis lied and said she had spoken to people when she hadn't.
"The trainee came forward and said to her supervisors, 'there's a problem here,'" Nocco told reporters.
Following protocol when issues like this are raised, child protective leadership forwarded the concern to the Major Crimes Division to investigate. Shortly after the division began questioning Lewis, Nocco said she resigned "very quickly."
In the year since, a criminal investigation has continued into her actions. The sheriff's office worked with State Attorney Bruce Bartlett's Office to determine charges.
Ultimately, two felony warrants were issued for falsifying or altering DCF reports. Lewis turned herself in on Friday afternoon.
"I encourage anybody in this organization and anywhere: if there's any concerns, you come forward," Nocco said, praising the trainee who spoke up and the leaders who took action.
"If you do something that harms this community, we're not going to stand up for that," Nocco said.
In the aftermath of Lewis' resignation, other child protective investigators went back and reviewed all 27 cases she had been working at the time she left.
"There were some discrepancies that they're still reviewing; but as to people being harmed or anybody in danger, there was nobody being harmed or in danger in those 27 cases," Nocco said.
Investigators then went and reviewed 62 previous cases Lewis had worked to make sure nobody was in harm's way in those situations.
"Everybody was safe," Nocco said of the review of the 62 cases.
The sheriff's office was already doing a pilot program with body-worn cameras for all its 49 child protective investigators the same way its deputies wear them. If that goes well, the goal is to get those cameras on the streets.
In 2019, a different child protective investigator (CPI) was arrested in Pasco County for falsifying records. At the time, 10 Tampa Bay reported each CPI had roughly 14-20 cases at one time. Three years later in 2022, each CPI has an average of 27 cases.
Pasco is one of seven contracted Florida sheriff's offices that investigates child abuse reports that are made to the Florida Abuse Hotline.