Talk is cheap, but text messages could prove costly for at least three Key West city officials, who on Tuesday, April 15, were indicted and arrested for tampering with evidence — text messages they exchanged on city-issued cell phones — that authorities had subpoenaed as part of an ongoing investigation into official misconduct.
Key West City Attorney Ron Ramsingh; his brother Raj Ramsingh, who is the city’s chief building official; and Jim Young, the city’s code compliance director all face third-degree felony charges for tampering with evidence. Attorney Ron Ramsingh faces two additional charges for allegedly illegally intercepting electronic communication and allegedly disclosing that illegally obtained information. Raj Ramsingh and Young are on paid administrative leave pending their April 24 arraignment. Ron Ramsingh’s employment contract will be discussed at a special city commission meeting at 5 p.m. Monday, April 21.
Additional charges and suspects may be forthcoming in the continuing investigation of official misconduct.
What prompted all this?
The ongoing investigation stems from the contentious firing of former city manager Al Childress in June 2024, within days of Childress taking disciplinary action against building official Raj Ramsingh, brother of city attorney Ron Ramsingh.
A review of the city’s planning and building departments by outside consultants , known as the Corradino Report, revealed that Raj Ramsingh had made a practice of improperly issuing permits, variances and approvals for projects that were never seen or reviewed by the city’s planning department, which is responsible for such approvals.
The unquestioned issuance of approvals and permits would have earned Raj Ramsingh the support of several powerful developers and attorneys in the city who had received such approvals and would defend Raj Ramsingh, according to recovered text messages.
“Halpern is ready to rumble,” one text message states, referring to the late, influential Key West attorney Michael Halpern, who died Dec. 30, 2024.
In another text exchange, Raj and Ron Ramsingh discuss asking Halpern to meet with Commissioner Mary Lou Hoover and seek her support in voting to fire Childress. The text message also references Dee Dee Henriquez, who is now mayor of Key West, and Donie Lee, who is now a city commissioner. Neither was in office at the time of the Childress events, but both were running unopposed, meaning they would be taking office in the coming months.
Hoover ultimately voted in support of Childress at a June 24 meeting, but four other commissioners — Jimmy Weekley, Lissette Cuervo, Clayton Lopez and Billy Wardlow — voted to fire him.
Following that vote, the Monroe County State Attorney’s Office received a complaint alleging that “certain members of the Key West City Commission, contrary to and in violation of Florida’s Sunshine Law, privately conspired to oust the current Key West City Manager Albert Childress,” court records state.
The state attorney’s initial review of text messages obtained through public record requests “appeared to indicate city attorney Ronald Ramsingh was orchestrating an effort among commissioners Jimmy Weekley, Lissette Cuervo, Clayton Lopez and Billy Wardlow to either force Albert Childress to voluntarily resign from his position or call a special meeting of the Key West City Commission and vote to terminate his employment contract without cause by a majority vote,” state attorney investigator Tom Walker wrote in his application for a search warrant for cell phone records.
“This effort to oust Albert Childress was attributed to an outside, independent report he had commissioned which focused on issues within the Building Department of which Rajindar (Raj) Ramsingh is the Chief Building Official and the brother of Ronald Ramsingh,” Walker writes. “In totality, there is probable cause to believe the foundation of this effort was an attempt by Ronald Ramsingh to shield his brother Rajindhar Ramsingh, who is the City of Key West Chief Building Official, from being disciplined by Albert Childress and allow for him to continue in a long practice of improper acts as they pertain to the permitting process,” investigator Walker writes in his application for a search warrant for the Ramsinghs’ cell phone records.
What did the text messages say?
On Thursday, April 17, the Monroe County State Attorney’s Office released a trail of text messages that the Ramsinghs and Young had exchanged, but failed to provide to investigators when subpoenaed. Those missing texts were discovered by FBI forensic investigators after search warrants were issued for their phones and iCloud accounts.
The court records also include several text threads between Ron Ramsingh and individual commissioners, and between the Ramsingh brothers.
The following is a selection of text messages obtained by state attorney investigators, who state that the Ramsinghs’ initial responses to subpoenas for their cell phone records were incomplete. When investigators obtained a search warrant for those records and obtained the full record from the cell phone companies and Apple, Inc., a comparison showed that Ron Ramsingh failed to turn over 293 text messages that he had received or sent between June 1 and June 28, 2024, which were the dates specified in the subpoenas and search warrants.
The first three exchanges below from 6/5/24 pertain to the removal of the critical Corradino Report from the agenda prior to a city commission meeting, where the findings against Raj Ramsingh would have been made public. Prior text messages indicate that Childress was pressured by commissioners and staff members to pull the report from the agenda.
6/5/24 from Jim Young to Raj, Ron & an undisclosed recipient: “…he’s slowly going down. We have the snake in our hands time to dispatch his head.” “The Raj magic works again.”
6/5/24 from Raj to Ron and Jim: “Not yet…because the direction is still for Todd to put a plan in place per the corradino report. All this does is keep it from the public eye. That’s why the stakeholders still need to voice their opinions.”
6/5/24 from Ron to Raj and Jim: “What I can tell you is that most likely more input will be sought, a plan put in place, signed by both and any deviation will result in immediate termination.” “All i can say is the margin for error will be razor thin- so ‘govern yourselves accordingly,’ but as sure as shit there will be zero tolerance.”
6/14/24 from Raj to Ron: “Mike (Halpern) is going to speak with Clayton (Lopez) to make sure he sticks to his guns.”
6/15/24: between Raj and Ron: “I know you know what you’re doing, but be extra careful with this Teflon MF. Maybe you should talk to Halpern to work on Mary Lou. That extra vote would be very good. She should be aware that Dee Dee and Donie both want him out and it will be good for her to be on the side of the new mayor and another commissioner. Just a thought.”
6/25/24 from Jim Young to Raj: “Well people think you’re still running the show, we have to show them there’s a new sheriff in town who doesn’t hand out permits like candy on Halloween.”
