Florida Police Chief Resigns Over Use-of-Force Probe

KISSIMMEE, Florida -- Kissimmee Police Chief Betty Holland resigned from her post Monday, days after a letter from the Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office named her among 11 members of her department whose credibility is being questioned following the indictment of a police officer for unlawfully beating a man during an arrest.

Maj. Robert Anzueto, of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, was appointed as interim police chief beginning Wednesday, and is expected to helm a Sheriff’s Office investigation into the officers named by the State Attorney’s Office.

The letter, dated Oct. 21 and first reported by WFTV, said prosecutors found “systemic issues” during a review of KPD’s handling of Officer Andrew Baseggio.

That review continued after an initial state attorney’s investigation of Baseggio and his subsequent indictment in August by a grand jury for felony battery and witness tampering, among other charges in the April 2023 beating.

Holland, whose departure was announced by the City of Kissimmee, is leaving the department after being appointed in May 2023. Before that, she had been deputy chief since 2018.

“We fully support the dedicated officers who serve our community with integrity,” Kissimmee City Manager Mike Steigerwald said in a statement. “However, for those who do not meet our high standards, we will ensure a thorough, independent review of all allegations is performed and will make the necessary changes within the department to maintain trust.”

The letter from Chief Assistant State Attorney Ryan Williams faulted KPD officers and supervisors for questionable statements about their internal probe of Baseggio. Regarding Holland, it said: “Statements she made in her interview are inconsistent with other sworn testimony received from witnesses … These inconsistencies call the accuracy or veracity of her statements in the interview into question.”

Along with Holland and Baseggio, the letter names nine others: former Deputy Chief Camille Alicea, Lt. Omar Berrio, Cpl. Takeya Close, Sgt. Moises Diaz, Detective Jonathan Fernandez, Sgt. Raquel Fernandez, Cpl. Justin Lunsford, and officers Milagros Sanchez and Michael Strickland.

Of those names, Holland and Alicea have resigned while Lunsford, who was assigned to the Professional Standards Division, was transferred out. The Orlando Sentinel previously reported the departure of Alicea, who had stepped down in September before she could be fired following an investigation into a homophobic remark about a corporal seeking a promotion.

While most of the officers were accused of providing conflicting testimony to prosecutors, others could be further investigated for crimes. Sanchez, who was placed on administrative leave, is said to have texted Raquel Fernandez instructing her not to cooperate with the state attorney’s investigation, according to Williams.

Diaz, he added, “deliberately locked his agency phone to deny access to it” by the State Attorney’s Office, defying an order by Holland to hand it over.

Additionally, Sanchez was accused, along with Strickland, of having text messages in their phones that “contain language and references to citizens that demonstrate a bias that calls into question [their] fitness to conduct criminal investigations.”

Because the letter is scant on specifics, the Orlando Sentinel submitted a public records request for additional relevant records referenced.

The Oct. 21 letter was sent a week after a grand jury completed its as-yet unreleased report of the state investigation into Baseggio. Before his indictment, Kissimmee’s internal probe saw Baseggio suspended just eight hours for kneeing a man twice in the face and using a Taser on him — all without the suspect resisting arrest.

Prosecutors allege Baseggio falsified his initial report documenting the arrest, and went even further by trying to get two officers to lie. That includes Jonathan Fernandez, who was cited in the state attorney’s letter for admitting to lying to prosecutors after he “denied knowledge of several conversations and interactions with other members of the Department” about the incident with Baseggio. He was currently on administrative leave.

The grand jury indicted Baseggio on Aug. 1.

“We apply the law equally to everyone,” State Attorney Andrew Bain said at the time of the indictment. “Most law enforcement officers work tirelessly to protect and serve our community, but when one breaks the law, they will be held to the same standard as everyone else.”

Anzueto, the Sheriff’s Office major taking over the department, joined OCSO in February 2019 after 25 years at the Orlando Police Department, an agency spokesperson said. There, he retired as deputy chief.

As one of two majors in the Sheriff’s Office patrol division, he commanded over 500 deputies.