0:04

And

0:04

over here, I see a bunch more people on golf carts.

0:07

Is this the

0:09

what kind of what area of the villages are we

0:11

in now? Is this the This

0:13

is the wealthy. This looks like a wealthier area.

0:16

The villages And

0:18

you've got --

0:18

Yeah. -- these out of the closet. Yeah.

0:20

You've got the big screened in porches

0:23

looking out at golf courses Obviously,

0:27

the palm trees. Hey,

0:30

it's Ryan Grim here. And on this episode of

0:32

Construct I'm taking you to the villages, a

0:34

gigantic retirement community in central

0:37

Florida owned by the Morse family.

0:39

Though the descendants of the patriarch Howard

0:41

Schwartz who founded the community in the nineteen seventies

0:44

as trailer park, and they draw a lot

0:46

of water in central Florida today.

0:52

So you can't tell if the golf cards

0:54

are golfers or current

0:56

golfers are on their way to golfing or just the

0:58

way that they get around

0:59

here. What's over there? Is that a giant

1:01

pickleball assemblage? I'm

1:03

driving around with my brother. Our dad

1:05

is a snowbird in the villages. We just

1:08

passed a huge sign describing the villages

1:10

as, quote, Florida's friendliest hometown

1:13

with a nice little exclamation mark. There

1:15

are now hundred and thirty thousand retirees

1:17

and counting here in this planned community, and

1:19

there are a lot of them out today on their golf

1:21

carts headed to endless pickleball courts

1:23

free putting greens, tennis courts,

1:26

golf courses, and later today, it'll be happy

1:28

hour and the town squares will be popping

1:30

with two for one specials. It's

1:32

also a Republican Bastian.

1:35

Mike Pence was here recently, so was Kelly

1:37

Ann Conway. Every GOP

1:39

nominee comes through here and the family are

1:41

close political allies with Florida Governor

1:43

Ron DeSantis. I'm here because

1:46

in twenty nineteen, residents of the villages

1:48

were suddenly hit with a twenty five percent

1:50

hike in their property taxes. For

1:52

many of the people here on fixed incomes, that

1:54

was a brutal hit. If the

1:56

new taxes were intended to cover new amenities

1:58

for the villagers or to deal with the traffic here,

2:01

Maybe you could justify the sacrifice, but

2:03

the new money was destined to subsidize further

2:06

sprawl south of the villages for the benefit

2:08

of the developer, the Morse family. Thousands

2:11

of village's residents expressed outrage

2:13

in local meetings and on social

2:15

media. How is it my responsibility?

2:18

Partial. All day in person to

2:21

pay for the development of bonuses

2:23

in another part of the county. I

2:25

am totally get us paying for any

2:27

roads. It's something else. And

2:29

again, an administrator in hospital finance

2:33

person for major hospital corporations around

2:35

the United States. Had I

2:37

ever presented it to the Board? A

2:41

bunch that went up by twenty four percent

2:43

one

2:43

year. I wouldn't be living

2:45

in the villages. You

2:48

are sticking into us, and hopefully,

2:50

we will return the favor. Any

2:52

lessons left?

2:54

I pray to God. That

2:57

every one of you on this board

3:00

are replaced.

3:03

The tax hike went ahead anyway. So

3:05

a group of fed up villagers decided to run

3:07

for county commission to roll it back. They

3:09

won those seats, but then they ended up getting

3:12

smashed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

3:14

and the local political machine run by the villages

3:16

with one of their lead champions being thrown

3:18

in jail. The

3:21

Morse family maintains a lot of power

3:23

in the area. The family owns the robust

3:25

local newspaper, the village's daily sun,

3:27

owns the radio station, which pipes Fox

3:30

News and right leaning updates through speakers in

3:32

common areas and at pools, owns the glossy

3:34

magazine and also owns local politics.

3:37

But elections still need to happen. So

3:40

three villagers decided to step up and run,

3:42

Craig Sstep, Orin Miller,

3:45

and Gary Search. They ran as

3:47

a ticket under the clever moniker EMS

3:50

promising to rescue the villages. They

3:53

ran an opposition to the tax increase,

3:55

arguing that businesses that profit from the

3:57

development should instead shoulder the

3:59

burden with an impact fee. They also

4:01

vowed to reverse an initiative that had made it

4:03

easier for the family to keep control of local politics

4:05

and thereby return some power to rural areas

4:08

outside the community. Warren

4:10

Miller, one of the candidates whose wife was a committed

4:12

opponent of the local high kill animal shelter,

4:15

added a promise to bring a no kill shelter

4:17

to the villages. This one, the EMS

4:19

laid the support of the area's animal rights

4:21

backers. Contractors for

4:23

the developer led by the firm T and

4:26

D, which almost exclusively works for

4:28

the villages, swooped in to fund

4:30

the incumbents who had enacted the tax increase.

4:33

The contractors and other donors lavished

4:35

close to two hundred thousand dollars on the incumbents,

4:37

but it wasn't enough. In November

4:40

twenty twenty, the EMS slate won in

4:42

a landslide, giving them A32

4:44

majority on the commission. EMS

4:47

immediately faced an onslaught from the

4:49

Daily Sun which portrayed the new commissioners

4:51

as borderline communists set out to destroy

4:54

the village's way of life. The

4:56

paper accused him of, quote, championing

4:58

a reversal of the county's long standing

5:00

pro business strategy. A

5:02

top official with the village has immediately made

5:05

clear to the new commissioners how rough a road they

5:07

were about to go down. Here's Gary

5:09

Search, one of the candidates speaking at a meeting

5:11

of the property owners association, which

5:13

had backed the EMS

5:14

slate. And I was here to represent

5:17

the people, but from the day I was

5:19

elected, I had a

5:21

hierarchy of the village to put his finger

5:23

at my face and say search,

5:25

just remember one thing. I'm

5:27

a big person. You're a little person.

5:30

I didn't squash you anytime I'd

5:31

want. I said,

5:33

is that a threat? He said, no, it's a promise.

5:36

The

5:37

amount of money at stake was eye watering

5:39

well into the hundreds of millions of dollars

5:41

for the developer. But the three candidates

5:44

quickly moved to make their campaign promises

5:46

reality. By three to two vote

5:48

in March twenty twenty one, they hit businesses

5:50

with a seventy five percent increase in

5:52

impact fees. Less than Miller

5:54

and Search wanted, but a substantial amount

5:56

nonetheless, to cover the cost of

5:58

future development. There was no good

6:00

reason they argued for residents to subsidize

6:03

the cost of further development for the Morse

6:05

family. If the family wanted to expand

6:07

the villages, they could fund it themselves.

6:10

It seemed like an open and shut case of democracy

6:12

in action. Residents had banded together

6:14

to make their voices heard and change

6:16

the direction of their community rejecting

6:19

a cozy arrangement between the area's political

6:21

and business elites. Next

6:23

up was the property tax rollback.

6:26

None of that of course could be allowed.

6:33

The first counter punch came in January twenty

6:36

twenty one in Tallahassee with a push

6:38

for statewide legislation that

6:40

would block low officials from significantly

6:42

increasing impact fees. The

6:45

villages had an ally in the

6:47

right place. In twenty eighteen,

6:49

Brett Hagey then the president of

6:51

T and D, the main contractor, had been

6:53

elected to the state house. After

6:56

his election, the villages would hire Hagey

6:58

directly paying him hundred and forty

7:00

one thousand dollars the first year and

7:02

more than double that the next. On

7:05

January ninth twenty twenty one, Hagey

7:07

is still on the village's payroll. Introduced

7:09

legislation to block the proposed impact

7:12

fee. In June, Governor Ron

7:14

DeSantis signed the bill into law, Crucially

7:17

for the villages, the law was retroactive.

7:20

Hagey had gotten a hefty raise.

7:23

His twenty twenty one disclosure shows his

7:25

pay had jumped to nine hundred and

7:27

twenty five thousand ninety six

7:29

dollars. His net worth declined

7:31

by nearly a million and half dollars since getting

7:33

elected office. His state house

7:36

pay is listed as twenty nine

7:38

thousand six hundred and ninety seven dollars

7:40

a year.

7:42

If the pushback from the villages in DeSantis

7:44

had ended there, it would still represent a

7:46

brazen flow of cash from a developer directly

7:49

to the personal bank account of a state lawmaker

7:51

who then passed legislation saving the

7:53

developer hundreds of millions of dollars

7:56

and instead spreading the cost to tens

7:58

of thousands of Floridians. But

8:00

the pushback didn't stop there. In

8:03

December twenty twenty one, Republican state

8:05

attorney Bill Glesson charged both commissioners,

8:08

Warren Miller, and Gary Search with

8:10

felony perjury, punishable by

8:13

up to five years in prison. DeSantis

8:15

also stepped in and issued executive orders

8:18

removing them from the commission. Two

8:22

things are happening here, intimidation

8:24

or humiliation.

8:26

That search speaking a month later addressing

8:28

the village's property owners association.

8:31

The second thing is it's also

8:33

to take other candidates And

8:36

I love that Andy's still gonna rub because

8:38

it's to intimidate any other candidate

8:40

from running against the local government

8:43

that they control for so long.

8:45

And here's the head of the Property Owners Association.

8:48

I wanted to say he mentioned something. I

8:50

had lots of people who lined up to run

8:53

in twenty twenty two for the two seats that

8:55

were open. Andrew is the only one that's

8:57

still standing at this time and

9:00

some people that were gonna run in

9:02

twenty twenty four for other

9:04

offices that we're gonna be coming up.

9:07

Slowly but surely, they're all dropping. They

9:10

don't want to go through

9:11

what Gary and Warren are going through right

9:14

now.

9:14

I was in the village as the day of Warren Mueller sentencing.

9:17

He had been locked up for more than two months.

9:21

I thought there was I didn't know if we were married

9:23

at one. I brought two waters.

9:25

put in the back seat.

9:26

I don't know if you need a water, but appreciate

9:29

it. I

9:33

was on my way to meet his wife, Angie Fox,

9:35

who was hoping the judge would give Miller time served

9:38

and allow him to come

9:38

home. How often have

9:40

you

9:40

have you been able to talk to him? I

9:42

talked to him every single day, every morning

9:44

he called. We haven't seen

9:47

each other. We did that one

9:49

by design too. We know

9:51

that we're gonna have to have money for an appeal and

9:53

everybody thinks that we're

9:55

rich. We're not. And so I'm

9:57

trying to save as much money as I can.

9:59

How's Oren doing in jail? Like, what are

10:01

his phone calls? Like? He

10:03

got very sick at one point. He had ten

10:06

days, and they weren't giving him a bed of

10:08

the entire heart and thyroid and

10:10

hit the first ten days. He wasn't even getting

10:12

that medicine tape with a bad shape. He's

10:15

handling it with all the grace that he

10:17

normally handles things, but

10:19

he is is not. This

10:21

is not a piece of cake.

10:23

I mean, he's doing it. He

10:27

knows. He may not get out today. I

10:29

mean, that's I know. Every I mean,

10:32

the the the judge sent

10:34

We didn't think that he would remand

10:37

him to jail, so that was a shock. Angie

10:40

Fox founded the group lost pets of the villages

10:43

which people call when they've lost a pet.

10:45

She quickly marshals a team of volunteers to

10:47

go find the pet before it winds up at the local

10:49

Hyatt kill

10:50

shelter. Which kills pets at a disturbingly

10:52

high pace. I realize we

10:54

didn't have a system here to

10:58

get dog back home when they got lost.

11:00

So I started

11:02

lost pets in the village that I started out

11:04

with I mean, I I had a lot

11:06

of friends here, and I put them all in this

11:08

in the group. And it grew. think it's over

11:11

six thousand now. Yeah. I think

11:13

it's over six thousand now. I don't remember.

11:15

I had to get when Warren, we were boots

11:17

on the ground. When I did it, we were boots on the ground.

11:20

Somebody found a dog. We think we would have we were doing

11:22

we get the dog. Yet they couldn't foster

11:25

in place. We get the dog and drive around the

11:27

neighbor but find the owner or, you know,

11:29

if we had to bring the dog home for a period

11:31

of

11:31

time, our mind to foster whatever we had to do

11:33

to keep the dog out of our shelters. When

11:36

Warren Miller ran for commission, one of his

11:38

major promises was to fund the creation of

11:40

a no kill shelter. He managed to get it

11:42

passed, but after Rhonda Santos threw him

11:44

and his colleague Gary searched off the commission and appointed

11:46

replacements, the funding was repealed.

11:51

To understand how Miller went from a newly elected

11:53

commissioner to being under investigation by a

11:55

Florida state attorney, a little background

11:57

about Florida's government in the sunshine

11:59

law is required. The state prides

12:01

itself in its government transparency laws.

12:04

Among them are two relevant provisions for

12:06

Miller Saga. First, County commissioners

12:08

are not permitted to discuss county business

12:11

privately with other commissioners, but

12:13

can only do so publicly at official

12:15

meetings. And two, the

12:17

commissioners may not use a third party conduit

12:19

for those communications either. The

12:21

commissioners were sworn in November twenty

12:24

twenty and received a series of trainings on

12:26

the Sunshine Laws over the next several months.

12:29

Then on February sixteenth twenty twenty

12:31

one, The county board met at the village's

12:33

Sumter County Service Center. We're

12:37

cultivating the order. This is

12:39

special meeting at the Board of County Commissioners

12:42

of Sumpta County. The main order of

12:44

business was a recommendation by the county administrator

12:46

Bradley Arnold that the commission not

12:48

raise impact fees on businesses, but instead

12:51

negotiate a voluntary impact fee

12:53

from developer. The idea was voted

12:55

down four to one. As a

12:57

final order of business, Miller turned to

12:59

a simmering war between local animal

13:01

rights

13:02

advocates, of which he and his wife were two,

13:04

and supporters of the local kill shelter.

13:07

I'd like to see an animal advocacy group

13:09

put together. We've

13:11

got way too much animosity between

13:14

animal services and the

13:17

animal advocates in Sumter County. Too

13:19

many things have been done in the past that

13:22

do not help both groups have a

13:24

reason to be in existence.

13:27

He proposed that some type of reconciliation

13:30

group be formed and suggested Gary

13:32

Search be the

13:33

mediator. Based on searches background

13:35

in psychology. Here's Miller during

13:37

that meeting.

13:38

I would like to ask for commissioner

13:40

search to mediate

13:43

that group if he's willing and he has this

13:45

is this is news to him. I'm blind siding

13:47

him with this. Yes,

13:49

you are. But with with your

13:51

background

13:51

well, and if you don't wanna do it, I

13:53

don't No. No. No. No. I'm okay.

13:56

I'm saying he's got a background in mediation

13:58

and negotiating and there's some strong

14:01

personalities in that group so

14:03

that he can keep peace in the meeting, I

14:05

would like him to mediate that that

14:08

group.

14:08

Miller was referring to a group that included his

14:11

wife, Angie Fox. After some

14:13

discussion among the board

14:14

members, the county administrator grabbed the

14:16

Arnold and rejected. The Embassy

14:19

Group component and the

14:21

names that Commissioner Miller has raised,

14:24

that is a there's a conflict that's associated

14:26

with that. There's conflict

14:28

that's associated with Sunshine

14:32

Law issues that we've already run into.

14:35

The problem that we had was I

14:38

had a meeting with commissioner search and

14:40

he relayed his conversation with

14:42

Angie Fox

14:43

that was advocating for this very

14:45

solution to be presented to the board.

14:48

Arnold, in other words, was accusing Miller of having

14:51

communicated with search about the proposal

14:53

through his wife in alleged violation of

14:55

Florida sunshine laws, despite

14:57

the fact that search appeared not to have known he

14:59

would be nominated to mediate. Here's Arnold

15:01

again speaking at the

15:02

meeting. I then had a directive

15:04

e email from Commissioner Miller

15:07

that said go and do this

15:09

and use Commissioner search for that

15:11

specific purpose. That indicates

15:14

clearly that Angie Fox is a conduit of

15:16

communication between two

15:17

commissioners, which is violation of open

15:20

meetings. Arnold said the committee

15:22

idea should be put on hold awaiting a potential

15:24

investigation. And he all but encouraged

15:26

somebody in the audience to file a complaint,

15:29

and two of them did. So my

15:31

concern is that

15:33

where you have something

15:36

that unfortunately I became a witness to

15:38

a violation. That

15:40

becomes an ethics related issue.

15:44

If that is filed by someone,

15:47

and the investigation

15:50

occurs, my concern

15:52

is, is that you may wanna wait until

15:54

that activity has

15:56

happened and the investigation has been concluded

16:00

before you're involved anything to

16:02

do with Angie Fox who's currently acting

16:04

as a

16:04

conduit. That at least

16:07

was Arnold's version of events.

16:10

Now Gary told us that

16:13

Gary had taken it to Bradley, and don't

16:15

know if if you talked to Gary or what Gary said,

16:17

but Gary had taken it to Bradley. And where

16:19

he Bradley told him that

16:21

he had not to bring it

16:22

up, and he had told him, he told Warren not

16:24

to bring it up. But that's not what the email

16:27

says. That's Angie Fox again.

16:30

Behind the scenes, Not only was Arnold

16:32

already aware that Miller would bring the idea

16:34

to the board, Arnold himself. According

16:36

to an email he sent to the county attorney that

16:38

was obtained by the intercept, had directly

16:41

encouraged Miller to do so.

16:43

On February eleventh twenty twenty one, Miller

16:45

had indeed written to Arnold about his idea

16:47

according to emails up came through an open records

16:49

request by Fox. Miller wrote,

16:52

quote, I was out golfing today, and

16:54

Angie talked to Commissioner Search he

16:56

went on to say quote, I don't know what the

16:58

conversation was and I don't want to know.

17:00

I just know his background would come in handy

17:02

to act as a mediator. I don't know

17:04

if he would be willing to do this or not,

17:06

but think he would. Arnold

17:08

replied that it was a good thought, but that

17:10

he needed board direction. Arnold

17:13

then forwarded the email to the county attorney,

17:15

telling her that he had asked Miller to

17:17

bring the issue to the board. When

17:19

I interviewed

17:19

Arnold, He said his intervention in the meeting

17:22

kicked off the resulting investigation.

17:24

That's what ultimately led to the complaint

17:26

with the state attorney's office from individual

17:29

least one is as well. I think they had more complaints.

17:32

Arnold had a backup plan if Miller didn't

17:34

bring it up. Is that had not

17:36

been ranged by him on at the meeting. It

17:39

was a plan of the county attorney to

17:42

share how dangerously close

17:44

the commissioner's are coming to a

17:46

potential a median violation. Mhmm.

17:50

But before he could provide

17:52

that support, he had already

17:55

proceeded and then that basically met

17:57

all of the conditions

18:00

from my concerned head

18:02

race with the county attorney. In

18:04

other words, Arnold was planning to bring up an

18:06

allegation of an open meetings violation whether

18:08

Miller brought up his proposal or

18:10

not. On that particular meeting,

18:13

did you suggest that he bring that issue to

18:15

the board?

18:16

Actually, you wanna stay it was, no,

18:18

absolutely not on that degree.

18:21

When I showed him the emails later, he

18:23

said in an email quote, That communication

18:26

preceded my discovery of the open meetings issue,

18:28

which is covered in the meeting minutes unquote.

18:30

Although, of course, Miller's own email

18:32

included the fact that his wife had already voking

18:35

with search. Three

18:46

official complaints were indeed filed,

18:49

but instead of going to the ethics

18:51

commission in Tallahassee as you might expect,

18:53

they were sent as criminal complaints directly

18:56

to the local state attorney, and

18:58

an official criminal investigation was

19:00

launched. Miller and search were

19:02

eventually arrested and charged with absurd

19:05

felony perjury charges for allegedly

19:07

lying about the nature of their phone calls with each

19:09

other. Miller said he didn't remember

19:12

what most of the calls were about, that prosecutors

19:14

didn't show him a calendar or give him any heads

19:16

up that might have let him cross check his schedule.

19:19

But some of the calls Miller recalled were

19:21

about a gall founting. Some were to arrange

19:23

who was going to bring Apple fritters from DOJ's

19:26

for the staff. The Apple Fritters took

19:28

up an extraordinary amount of time in Miller's

19:30

interrogation. Doge's was way

19:32

out of the way so the pickups had to be coordinated.

19:35

Some of the calls he said were about church

19:37

functions or COVID relief, but none after

19:39

their training were about active commission business

19:41

he said. Throughout the whole episode,

19:44

the Daily Sun routinely published searches

19:46

in Miller's mugshots, and the opposition

19:48

to the village's political machine was quickly

19:50

eroding. Soon, Search and

19:53

Miller were drowning in legal bills. Search

19:55

also had surgery scheduled, plus his medication

19:57

schedule made a prison term less than ideal.

20:00

He cut a deal with prosecutors to testify

20:02

at Mueller's trial in exchange for avoiding prison

20:04

and ending the legal battle. The deal

20:06

barred him from running for office for six months.

20:09

Blocking him from the next election. But

20:11

search's testimony was not in the end damning

20:13

to Miller. Search confirmed that the two

20:15

of them had spoken by phone after January

20:17

or February. But they weren't discussing

20:19

commission business. They would, for instance,

20:22

coordinate on who would bring DOJ's to

20:24

a meeting. That entire process was

20:26

roller coaster, and for more of those details, Check

20:29

out my article in the INTERCEPT. Now,

20:31

not a single prosecution witness presented

20:33

evidence that Search and Miller had talked about

20:35

commission business on the phone after

20:37

the time they said the calls stopped. But

20:40

the existence of the calls themselves, perhaps,

20:42

coupled with relentless daily sun coverage,

20:45

was apparently sufficient circumstantial evidence

20:47

to convict, the jury of six found

20:49

Miller guilty. He was given no

20:51

bond until sentencing and marched off

20:53

to jail. Two and a half months later,

20:55

we're back at the courthouse waiting for Miller

20:58

sentencing. Let

21:02

me see your flashlight. On

21:10

January thirtieth twenty twenty three, a gaunt

21:12

seventy two year old miller Now a former

21:14

commissioner ousted from his seat by a

21:16

DeSantis decree was brought handcuffed

21:18

into the Marion County courthouse. He

21:21

had lost twenty plus pounds in the seventy

21:23

four days behind bars. He was wearing

21:25

an orange and white jumpsuit and had a

21:27

full beard. And

21:31

you know what? He said he wouldn't recognize

21:34

him. I did. I did. And I I just

21:37

I think he still looks

21:43

Dozens of Miller's supporters packed the courtroom,

21:46

and three of them testified as character witnesses.

21:48

My name is Brian Folger. How

21:51

are you doing? Since I was fourteen

21:53

years old. I

21:55

know and Miller to be the most truthful

21:57

person I've ever had. And

21:59

I want to share this with the court with his

22:02

honor at Warren Miller and Angie

22:04

Fox on September seven this twenty twenty

22:06

property and my mother, now

22:08

to see my dying grandfather at the VA

22:11

hospital in Tampa, a man who

22:13

was just chief promotional fire department

22:15

and worked with the State of Florida for the prison

22:17

system for thirty years. He

22:19

was dying and oriented and

22:21

Angie were back in my house and pushing on

22:23

in the villages in a matter of

22:26

moments. They brought us down

22:28

there. They fed us. They sat down

22:30

there the entire time my grandfather

22:32

was on life support. Warren

22:35

Miller was the greatest man I've ever

22:37

met. I think what's happening

22:39

is travesty.

22:42

Gene McResson? Yeah.

22:45

I'm not on for helping us.

22:47

But I wanna reflect back on things

22:50

that Warren has done, what comes

22:53

to mind, mostly is

22:55

the Irma back

22:57

several years ago. And I think at that

22:59

time, Lauren was number one, number two,

23:01

in charge of certain community

23:04

emergency response team. He

23:07

set up a center where

23:10

people were bringing food

23:11

and water drinks. And

23:15

then I remember even before the storm

23:17

stopped a lot. Or it

23:19

asked me to go with them, and we went through

23:21

the whole whole section of the Orange

23:23

Pass and Section of the Villages, which

23:26

has lot of old people, elderly

23:28

people. And we knocked on

23:31

door after door after door

23:33

looking for people that needed help. And

23:37

it was sound. You know, there are lot of

23:39

widowers, widowers. We

23:41

met one lady who was without

23:43

power for about two days the appearance. I'm

23:45

a needed to be replaced. And

23:50

we we helped so many people and

23:52

it was born. We we did that. And

23:54

there's who worked twenty four

23:56

hours a day for about two days,

23:59

trying to make sure that everybody was taken

24:01

care of. He didn't have to do that.

24:04

But he didn't. Miss Warren,

24:06

he does not do anything, but he does it anyways

24:08

because it's the right thing to

24:09

do. There was no victim, no violence,

24:12

and Miller had no record. The judge

24:14

still went over the sentencing recommendation

24:16

and gave him time served plus thirty six

24:18

months of supervised probation and also

24:21

two hundred hours of community service to

24:23

be performed at the local

24:24

landfill. Outside the courtroom,

24:26

I asked the prosecutor couple questions.

24:29

What's your sense of whether justice was served

24:31

in this this case? I think the

24:33

jury listened to the evidence that was presented and returned

24:36

to verdict based on

24:36

that. And it was up to them and they made

24:39

their decision. After the sentencing,

24:41

Angie and her friends went to a local McDonald's

24:43

for lunch and to wait for a call from Miller from

24:45

the

24:46

jail.

24:46

Thank you for using secure it.

24:48

You may stop the conversation

24:50

now. Hi, honey. Are you ready to come home?

24:53

I'm ready.

24:54

I'm on my way. I'll

24:56

be I'll

24:56

be home. I'll be there in a minute. I love

24:58

your bike.

25:00

I spoke with Warren Miller shortly after his release.

25:03

How are you feeling?

25:04

Basically, I'm probably back to about ninety

25:06

percent. I'm

25:09

not sure they were giving me the right doses

25:11

of medicine and they were to give them

25:13

to me the wrong timing. And

25:16

it was a couple days I slept through first

25:18

medication call, so they refused

25:20

gave me my medication you have to

25:22

do, so I didn't give my medication about some days.

25:25

And Angie said you went ten days in the

25:27

beginning without any of it. Is that right?

25:29

Eight eight days without my heart medicine

25:31

had thirteen days without my thyroid

25:33

medicine. What did that do to you physically?

25:37

Visiness my head does that?

25:40

How

25:40

how many people were in there with you?

25:43

Eighty. And

25:44

what were what was the population like?

25:47

The the total population was eighteen hundred

25:49

people. Oh. In

25:51

my in my particular

25:53

pod, it was eighty people.

25:55

And were you all together in a

25:57

day room? Yes. Day

25:59

room, day room, the whole the whole thing.

26:02

The day room had seating for fifty

26:04

six people. But, yeah, we had eighty

26:06

people in the pod. So when a breakfast lunch and dinner

26:08

was served, only fifty six people could

26:10

actually down at a picnic table type -- Mhmm.

26:12

-- thing was metal. And he the

26:14

rest of them had to stand up at their beds and or

26:17

sit on the floor and eat on their beds.

26:19

Now because of your seniority,

26:21

did you get a seat or

26:23

because if you were brand

26:25

new, you had to sit in your bed, what was your situation?

26:27

Well, let me a guy adapted me when

26:29

I came through the door, and he got me a seat

26:32

in the in the seating

26:33

area. So was able to sit.

26:35

What what was his what was his story? How'd that work

26:37

out?

26:40

He's a lifetime

26:43

member of the gels and crisps of Florida.

26:46

He goes out. He goes back. He goes out. He

26:48

comes back. He just he can't stay off the

26:50

drugs.

26:51

Miller said violence broke out regularly. Every

26:54

two or three days was a major fight.

26:57

In my time there, I saw two people I thought

26:59

almost killed. One

27:01

of them was choked in to complete unconsciousness.

27:04

Finally, the guards did come in on that one because

27:06

it was in the frontal cell where they could see it.

27:09

And they casually walked over the guy and

27:11

taped it and put their taser legs on him. And

27:13

he saw the taser legs and he stopped choking the

27:15

guy. The other one, five guys

27:18

beat the crap out of a guy, and

27:21

he was in bad shape. But he

27:23

he came to him and they drove

27:25

him into the shower fifteen minutes later twenty mislayers

27:28

so he could himself cleaned

27:28

up. He he literally got the shit beat out of him.

27:30

Did you ever get roughed up? How do

27:32

you or how did you avoid the scuffles?

27:36

I was called aside by one

27:38

of the leaders of one of the gangs by

27:42

day two. He says, Orin

27:44

Miller, you are protected here because

27:46

you're a senior citizen. He said, but

27:48

understand, don't cross any lines.

27:50

Don't speak out of turn. Don't do

27:53

anything to ruffle anybody's

27:55

feathers. And

27:58

he says, we'll protect you if we can.

28:01

He's and so I I might by

28:03

piece of q,

28:04

So when when you went into court for

28:06

sentencing, how did you

28:08

mentally and emotionally prepare yourself for

28:10

the uncertainty of what the sentence

28:13

would be?

28:14

I I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that

28:16

this judge had informed me. He

28:18

told us that the first motion to suppress

28:22

that we were guilty. He knows that guilty right then

28:24

and there. So my fear was

28:26

it was a class three felony. I could have gone

28:28

to prison for five years, could have faced five

28:31

not refined. Now my lawyer

28:33

kept saying another some of the jail house

28:35

lawyers, the guys in jail saying,

28:37

well, the guidelines say that you can only get up

28:39

to one year or so you won't go to prison But

28:42

that's a guideline that doesn't that didn't

28:44

wouldn't have stopped him for giving a maximum sense

28:47

of five years. So I was scared

28:49

to death if until they told me I was gonna

28:51

be released on what my outcome was gonna

28:53

be.

28:55

Were were you able to even

28:58

concentrate on what you're hearing

29:00

from the character witnesses and from from

29:02

the judge or were you so zeroed in on

29:04

just hearing what that sentence was gonna

29:06

be. What was the

29:07

I was so earlier on the sudden scene, I I was

29:09

not hearing much of anything. Right.

29:15

I broke down. When

29:17

I saw my wife's because I hadn't seen her.

29:20

She's in seventy four days. I

29:23

was trying not to break down, but I couldn't help

29:25

myself.

29:29

We've been married for thirty five years. I

29:31

you know, my right arms.

29:36

And I saw you tell

29:39

her I love you as you walked out the

29:42

door. Going

29:44

back to be processed, what was what was

29:47

that feeling like knowing that at some point

29:49

soon you were gonna be reunited?

29:54

Probably the best day of my life since

29:56

we did since the day we got married. Because

29:59

I was gonna get to be with her again.

30:01

On Monday, February twentieth, Orin Miller

30:03

will report to the landfill for his first day

30:06

of community service.

30:07

Meanwhile, a go fund me his wife

30:09

created has raised enough money that he'll be

30:11

appealing his conviction. And

30:18

that's it for this episode of deconstructed. Thanks

30:20

to my brother, Greg, for the ride to Angie's house

30:23

and to my dad George, a village's resident

30:25

for his hospitality while I was there.

30:27

And to Angie for a lift to the sentencing and

30:29

to Oren for the recommendation on doj's,

30:32

the apple fritters are indeed completely

30:35

out of this world. You ever find yourself

30:37

in Webster, Florida, definitely stop

30:39

in and tell them you know, Orin. Alright.

30:43

We're in Webster, Florida.

30:48

Deep down south in Sumter County.

30:50

And there is doji's huge

30:55

yellow. What

30:58

is that? Barnhouse looking. Looks

31:02

like they make good doughnuts. OJ is chicken

31:04

and donuts. A

31:10

whole lot of soul with hole spelled

31:12

H0LE.

31:19

Good morning.

31:20

Good morning.

31:21

How are you?

31:22

Wonderful. How are you? I am

31:35

Just done with the chicken. Okay.

31:37

So you want either the jade's

31:39

glaze. Don't see it. The choice

31:42

is the bacon cheese. Your

31:44

choice of meat, whether it's bacon,

31:46

sausage, or or

31:49

you can use the glacier that

31:51

has the glacier ice ice ice ice ice ice ice ice ice

31:54

ice ice ice ice ice ice mealsauce.

31:58

I think you want that one. Right?

32:08

You'll get that second one. You

32:10

want the glazer? And

32:15

then I could get the kids something too.

32:18

Am I grabbing a box for six or more six

32:20

or less? gonna get some apple fritters too. Okay.

32:22

So a big box. Yeah. So

32:26

apple fredder. Yeah.

32:30

It's pretty good. Mhmm.

32:34

Yep. More

32:37

apple flavor. And you're

32:39

getting a tip Apple

32:42

breader.

32:55

The is a production of the inner set.

32:57

Our producer is Jose Olivirus. Laura

33:00

Flynn is our supervising producer. The show

33:02

was mixed by William Stanton. Our theme

33:04

music was composed by Bart Warshaw. Roger

33:06

Hodge is InterCEPT editor in chief. And

33:08

I'm Ryan Graham, DC Bureau Chief of the Intercept.

33:11

To support this podcast and the rest of the

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