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By ANTHONY MCCARTNEY
BARTOW – A 15-month veteran of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office was arrested Friday after he admitted to stealing a man’s wallet while responding to a call.
Deputy Jonathan Berkofsky, 32, admitted to taking the man’s wallet, stealing $300 to $400, and tossing it in a field, agency spokesman Scott Wilder said Friday night.
Berkofsky went to the man’s apartment on Pink Apartment Road in Davenport on Dec. 9 to check into a report of an unconfirmed emergency. No one was arrested that night, but one of the apartment’s resident, Manuel Torres, 49, later reported his wallet was stolen.
Detectives suspected Berkofsky and interviewed him Friday, Wilder said. He admitted to stealing the money, then dumping the wallet in a field. Berkofsky took the detectives to the field, where the wallet was recovered, Wilder said.
Berkofsky was arrested and charged with one count of felony grand theft; his status at the jail was unknown late Friday. A patrol deputy in the agency’s northeast district, Berkofsky was suspended without pay and will be fired, Wilder said.
He said the Polk County Sheriff’s Office will repay Torres his missing money.
I’m glad this happened. It shows that you cant always depend on law enforcement regardless of the county they’re in, how many years on the force, or their salary. His bond needs to be revoked, if he gets one.
what a damn idiot. corrupted cop, hang him.
Seems like a case of a “thief in sheep’s clothing”. It is sad indeed to see an individual throw away a good career for a few dollars.
What an idiot!
FRY HIM.
Well, they serve and protect and steal from you. Or they serve and protect you by locking you up for a crime you did’t do like they do in pasco county. i know plenty that do drugs and everything else themselves. cops are crooked people in a uniform too.
The problems continue with the Polk County Sheriff’s Dept. Grady Judd has a public relations nightmare.Wonder why the general public has lost respect for law enforcement? From a hero to a bunch of zero’s.The news continues to erode the good reputation of Polk County Sheriff’s Dept.
Considering the fact that getting into law enforcement is not an easy task taking many hours of schooling, passing the state test which takes 3 or 4 hours I do not understand why someone would throw away a career that is so promising. This deputy had many years ahead of him with opportunity for advancement, great job security and other perks. I guess it just goes to show that the hiring process is not perfect.
But why would anyone throw that away for a few hundred dollars?
WOW,Like I say anyone that is intusted and draws a salary to serve and protect and steals from you should serve double time allowed by law. They should also be put in genaral population with the thugs that this Deputy help put there for doing the same thing.
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Posted by joe stanely, polk county on 04/09 at 07:20 PM
This is a sad story. I read all of the posts. The people here seem very angry about an instance that tarnished a life as well as an image. There are many fine men and women whom work at the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. I would say most of the hatered toward law enforcement probably comes from a negative encounter in which you or a close friend or family member has been arrested. Step back and take a look at that instance and reasses the situation. Thank God every day we have law enforcement here to protect us from the thugs that would surely pray on our weaker and older citizens (family members we all have). This is only one bad apple of thousands of fine individuals working in law enforcement.