Former Brevard Commissioner John Tobia Investigated By FDLE, Resigned from Valencia Community College Amid Conduct Violations

See the 247-page FDLE report below

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Former two-term Brevard County Commissioner John Tobia, who served from 2016 to 2024, resigned from his job teaching at Valencia Community College last October following a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation that alleged he used his county-paid staff to assist with his job responsibilities at the college.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VALENCIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE REPORT 

Details of Tobia’s conduct regarding his Brevard County Commission staff employees performing dual roles on his behalf came to light during the Florida Department of Law Enforcement criminal investigation and subsequent 247-page report in the summer of 2024.

This probe was launched after former Tobia staff member Christopher Davis alleged that Tobia had ordered him to impersonate Tobia’s opponent in the Republican primary election for Brevard Supervisor of Elections, Tim Bobanic.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FDLE REPORT

According to the FDLE report, in July 2023, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Office of Executive Investigations was asked to investigate allegations that Tobia used the personal identification of Bobanic without obtaining Bobanic’s consent.

The allegations by former aide Christopher Davis included misuse of county resources, personal errands assigned to staff, and attempts to obtain private information about a political opponent, which was detailed in the FDLE report:

■ Misuse of Staff for Personal Work: Davis alleged that Tobia tasked staff with grading papers for his classes at Valencia College during office hours.

■ Personal Errands: Davis provided text messages suggesting Tobia asked him to research airline flights.

■ Political Profiling of Constituents: Davis claimed that staff researched callers’ political affiliations and ignored calls from registered Democrats. Staff admitted to voter research but insisted all calls were returned regardless of party affiliation.

■ Hotel Records: Davis accused Tobia of instructing him to create a fake email in a clandestine operation to obtain hotel receipts for Brevard Supervisor of Elections Tim Bobanic, alleging improper use of taxpayer funds.

Davis provided an affidavit to the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office saying Tobia directed him to gather information on Bobanic because he was attempting to run for the Supervisor of Elections and against Bobanic, who had taken a recent work-related trip to Washington, D.C. Tobia wanted to obtain the receipts to determine if Bobanic was “lavishly spending taxpayer money.”

According to the affidavit, Davis was directed to call the hotel where Bobanic stayed and request a copy of the receipt. The hotel told Davis that a request had to be made by email from the customer. This information was relayed to Tobia, who then told Davis to create a fake email account. Davis told Tobia he would use “BrevardSOE” to create the email. Tobia said it was too obvious and would be traced to his office. Another worker in the office recommended using ilovebreakfast82, which was used.

The email required a phone number. Davis provided Tobia’s number to obtain the two-factor authentication, which he provided to Davis to finalize setting up the fake email account. Tobia told Davis what to write in the email and told him to use Timothy/Tim (Bobanic’s first name) in the body of the email.

The email was sent and Bobanic’s invoice was provided by the Fairmont Hotel in Washington, D.C.

The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office turned over several items obtained during their initial investigative steps and before turning the case over to FDLE.

These items included a copy of the email exchange with the Fairmont Hotel, a sworn affidavit from Tobia to BCSO, a texuemail exchange between Tobia and Sergeant Hearon, and a written report by Sergeant Hearon with the attached notarized affidavit.

Additional documents provided by BCSO included an affidavit from Davis, documents supplied by Davis detailing his resignation and evaluation, a text exchange between Tobia and Davis, and the information manual provided to Davis.

The FDLE investigation was conducted after State Attorney Phil Archer transferred the case to prevent any potential conflict of interest or appearance of impropriety. As a result, the case was taken up by the office of State Attorney R.J. Larizza from the Seventh Judicial Circuit, which serves four counties north of Brevard, including Volusia.

After reviewing the FDLE report, Larizza’s office chose not to file criminal charges against Tobia.

RESIGNED FROM VALENCIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE UNDER SCRUTINY

After coming under scrutiny following allegations of egregious policy violations detailed in an investigation by Valencia Community College, Tobia resigned in a curt 18-word letter on October 15, 2024, after being a faculty member at the college since 2001. Tobia earned $100,000 in 2023 as a teacher at Valencia Community College and was paid over $60,000 in 2024 as a Brevard County Commissioner for District 3.

The Valencia Community College investigation revealed significant breaches of college policy. The college’s investigation also uncovered evidence that non-college personnel played a substantial role in creating course materials for his classes.

Among the findings were instances of unauthorized access to confidential student information by Brevard County staff members and the report also highlighted improper practices, including non-college personnel grading assignments and recording exam scores. See the reports:

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE JOHN TOBIA LETTER OF RESIGNATION

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VALENCIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE PERSONNEL RECORDS OF JOHN TOBIA 

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE LETTER OF MISCONDUCT FROM VALENCIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE TO JOHN TOBIA 

CLICK HERE TO SEE STUDENT COMPLAINTS AGAINST JOHN TOBIA 

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REPORT OF VALENCIA COLLEGE’S INVESTIGATION INTO THE CONDUCT OF JOHN TOBIA

Space Coast Daily reached out to Tobia for comment, but he did not respond.

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