Escambia Sheriff David Morgan

The Florida Commission on Ethics dismissed an ethics complaint filed by former Escambia County Commissioner Gene Valentino against Escambia Sheriff David Morgan.

Morgan said via news release that he will ask the Florida Sheriff's Risk Management Fund to recoup monies spent in defense of the claim.

At the Ethics Commission's July 24 meeting, the group voted there was no probable cause to Valentino's claim that Morgan used Sheriff's Office video equipment or employee time to produce a video for Doug Underhill.

David Craig, who is the Sheriff's Office coordinator of community relations, also owns Reality New Network, a private advertising agency. Underhill paid Reality News Network $14,000 for video services.

Craig asked Morgan to make a statement of support in a commercial, which Morgan did. The commercial was made before Craigs workday at the Sheriff's Office began.

Valentino and Morgan clashed often and Valentino was among commissioners who supported taking control of the Escambia County Jail away from the Sheriff's Office following a budget dispute. The county now operates the jail.

Underhill defeated Valentino in the Republican primary for the District 2 seat and Morgan endorsed Underhill in that race.

Investigators found that Valentino had no direct personal knowledge or documentation to support the claim that Morgan was involved in the video. Valentino gave the investigator the names of six witnesses he claimed had knowledge of the incident, but "none of them admitted seeing the filming of the commercial in question and they were otherwise unable to provide information," according to the report.

The investigator dismissed the allegation as hearsay. Read the report here.