By NAN Staff Writer
News Americas, FORT LAUDERDALE, FL, April 21, 2021: Caribbean born Broward County, Fl, Schools Superintendent, Dr. Robert Runcie, was today arrested and charged.
The Jamaican immigrant was charged with perjury in an official proceeding, a third-degree felony. Agents of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement arrested Runcie, 59, for his testimony before the grand jury, which was impaneled to investigate possible failures in following school-related safety laws and mismanaging funds solicited for school safety initiatives.
He was arrested at 600 S. Andrews Ave. and released later in the morning on his own recognizance. Runcie’s indictment says he gave untruthful testimony before the grand jury, and it lists four areas the panel was focusing on whether:
Refusal or failure to follow the mandates of school-related safety laws, such as the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Act, results in unnecessary and avoidable risk to students across the state.
Public entities committed — and continue to commit — fraud and deceit by accepting state funds conditioned on implementation of certain safety measures while knowingly failing to act.
School officials committed — and continue to commit — fraud and deceit by mismanaging, failing to use, and diverting funds from multimillion-dollar bonds specifically solicited for school safety initiatives.
School officials violated and continue to violate state law by systematically underreporting incidents of criminal activity to the Department of Education.
Runcie has been superintendent since 2011.
The County’s General Counsel Barbara Myrick was also arrested and charged also with unlawful disclosure to the statewide grand jury proceedings, also a third-degree felony.
Myrick has been general counsel since 2016 and a district employee since 2002.
