Key West’s chief building official, Raj Ramsingh, and his brother, Ron Ramsingh, the city attorney who is likely to resign or be fired at a city commission meeting tomorrow, Thursday, April 24, were re-indicted Wednesday evening, April 23, on additional felony charges of official misconduct.
The latest indictments follow last week’s charges of evidence tampering related to the deletion and alteration of text messages. Raj Ramsingh was placed on paid administrative leave last week and is due to be arraigned Thursday, April 24 for the initial charges.
The city commission met Monday, April 21 to consider whether to fire attorney Ron Ramsingh for cause or without cause. Those proceedings were continued and are scheduled to recommence at 5 p.m. Thursday, April 24 at city hall. The latest felony charge will likely impact the city commission’s termination discussions.
Raj Ramsingh faces seven counts of official misconduct for allegedly falsifying building permits, while his brother, attorney Ron Ramsingh, faces one count of official misconduct for allegedly “interfering with the reporting of a felony committed by his brother,” the new indictment states.
The Ramsinghs have until tomorrow morning, Thursday, April 24, to turn themselves in at the jail and post bond. Ron Ramsingh’s bond is set at $25,000, and Raj Ramsingh’s bond is set at $175,000 — $25,000 for each of the seven counts. If convicted on the new charges the brothers could face up to five years in prison, five years of probation and a fine of up to $5,000. The Monroe County State Attorney’s Office emphasized that an indictment is a formal accusation, and all individuals are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.
City Attorney Ron Ramsingh
The grand jury on Wednesday, April 23, found that “Ron Ramsingh is alleged to have knowingly and intentionally interfered with the reporting of a felony committed by his brother, Rajindhar ‘Raj’ Ramsingh.
“The conduct is alleged to have occurred between June 1 and June 26, 2024, while Ronald Ramsingh was actively serving in his public role as city attorney,” the indictment reads in part, according to the state attorney’s office. “Ronald Ramsingh, a public servant, did knowingly and intentionally obtain a benefit for another, Rajindhar Ramsingh, by obstructing, delaying or preventing the communication of information related to the commission of a felony…that directly involved or affected the government entity served by Ronald Ramsingh contrary to Florida law,” the grand jury found.
“This additional indictment reflects the deep seriousness of what we believe to be deliberate efforts to shield criminal conduct from scrutiny,” said State Attorney Dennis Ward. “Public trust is built on transparency and honesty, and when officials obstruct the justice system to protect personal relationships or interests, it erodes the very foundation of local government.”
Building Official Raj Ramsingh
Raj Ramsingh faces seven felony counts of official misconduct for allegedly falsifying or altering building permits while working as the city’s chief building official.
According to the indictment, “Ramsingh, identified as a public servant, knowingly and intentionally falsified, concealed, covered up, or altered multiple official building permit records across a range of properties in the City of Key West. The offenses, committed between 2021 and 2024, are alleged to have benefited Ramsingh personally; Strykker-Avery Homes LLC, a company registered to Raj Ramsingh, and several property owners, including himself. The allegations include conduct that caused unlawful harm to the City of Key West and/or resulted in personal or financial gain.”
The allegedly falsified or improperly issued building permits pertain to the following properties, one of which is owned by Raj Ramsingh: 98 Golf Club Drive; 1309 United St.; 1020 White St.; 3528 Eagle Ave.; 534 Duval St.; 1101 Simonton St.; 2827 Harris Ave., which is Raj Ramsingh’s own residence. The Keys Weekly is investigating the ownership and histories of the properties listed in the indictment.
“This case reflects the serious consequences of abusing a public position for personal or financial gain,” Ward said. “Our office will continue to hold government officials accountable when they violate the public’s trust and manipulate the systems they are sworn to uphold.
Building permits and other approvals issued by Raj Ramsingh were the subject of a review that was commissioned by former city manager Al Childress in October 2023. The resulting 55-page report from the Corradino Group consultants was critical of Raj Ramsingh’s actions within the building department, which often approved project applications without first sending them to the planning department for review.
The Corradino Group noted the startingly low number of development applications that were sent by the building department to the planning department for review and approval under Raj Ramsingh’s leadership of the building department.
The report found that the number of planning department reviews dropped by 70% between 2021 and 2022 and dropped by 83% between 2021 and 2023, meaning the building department was not including the planning department when evaluating and approval applications for new construction, renovations and variances. “This year, 2023-2024, the planning department is on pace to receive 141 permit reviews out of about 4,000 applications — an 86% drop from 2021.
“Key West’s process, in practice, places the chief building official in charge of the land development regulations. This is highly unusual,” the report states, adding that planning department staff had accused the building department of allowing things to be built that do not conform to the city’s development regulations.
Within days of former city manager Al Childress filing a formal reprimand against Raj Ramsingh in light of the Corradino report, a special city commission meeting was called to fire Childress. The initial indictments, filed Tuesday, April 15, against Ron and Raj Ramsingh for evidence tampering, pertained to Ron Ramsingh’s alleged behind-the-scenes effort to orchestrate, with former and current city commissioners, the firing of Childress, which occurred in June 2024.
