What began as an ill-timed, minor infraction by a beachside Vero Beach Police Department patrol officer escalated to an alleged mole hunt in 2024 as two prominent island businessmen were gunning for Chief David Currey’s job, and now a civil lawsuit has exposed the embarrassing details to public scrutiny.
More than 1,700 pages of deposition transcripts and city documents released so far this month in a hostile workplace suit filed by 37-year officer Lt. Dan Cook give city residents a look at the inner workings and power struggles with the department, and at how City Hall handles personnel matters. Since the city is seeking a summary judgment instead of a trial after Cook turned down a settlement offer, the depositions and exhibits can be disclosed without having to be formally admitted into evidence by Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Cox.
Cook claims he was targeted for allegedly leaking internal goings-on to former criminal prosecutor and Gorilla Ammo CEO Lanse Padgett and Padgett’s silent business partner, George E. Warren Corporation CEO and prominent John’s Island philanthropist Thomas Corr. Both men wanted police Chief David Currey replaced, they said, for what they believed to be incompetent leadership, botched investigations, questionable ethics and a lack of transparency…