TALLAHASSEE, Fla., July 12 (UPI) -- A former Florida official charged with illegally disclosing an audio tape said she was fired after finding her boss in a "compromising position."
The accusation by Carletha Cole -- a former aide to Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll -- is contained in a court filing in response to efforts by Florida officials to keep some records in Cole's criminal trial under seal, The Miami Herald reported Wednesday.
Cole is accused of sharing the audio recording of her and a top Carroll aide with a reporter for the [Jacksonville] Florida Times-Union after she was fired.
In a motion filed last week, Cole claims Carroll aides often recorded office conversations surreptitiously and says a former chief of staff for Gov. Rick Scott regarded Carroll as a "loose cannon." The motion describes an incident in which Cole entered an office and found Carroll and "her Travel Aide, Beatriz Ramos, in what can only be described as a compromising position."
Carroll has denied the claim.
The filing implies Carroll may have headed off an investigation that might have implicated Ramos in a fire at the Capitol, the Herald said. An attorney for Cole argued in the motion that a juror in Cole's trial "could reasonably conclude that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's investigation into the Defendant was tainted by the Lieutenant Governor's Office in an effort to ensure the Defendant's arrest, prosecution, and ultimate assassination of her character in order to shield the Lieutenant Governor and her staff from legitimate inquiry into their own misdeeds."
