Article Courtesy of WFTV
Channel 9 Orlando
By Karla Ray
Published September 27, 2019
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KISSIMMEE - 9 Investigates looked into how an ex-North Carolina company police
officer, who is a now a convicted felon, was hired by an HOA management company
that oversees security for a Kissimmee neighborhood.
Management 35 Firm,
the owner of that property management company, has deep
connections to ex-police officer Joseph Conover.
9 Investigates' Karla Ray confronted Conover last week after
neighbors told her they were afraid of him because of his
prior conviction for assaults and obstruction of justice.
After exposing concerns about Conover’s role in the
community, Osceola County pulled the permit that allowed
Management 35 Firm to block off certain streets in the
neighborhood around school release time.
Management 35 Firm’s automated phone system refers to
Conover as "the chief" and Sherry Raposo as the manager of
the company. Raposo was once the president of the Turnberry
Reserve HOA. |
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A
current search of the property appraiser’s website turns up nothing for either
of them, indicating the two obtained some kind of exemption to remove their
property ownership information from public view, but a screengrab saved by a
concerned neighbor shows the two share a home in the community.
A Google search of the address ties it to Management 35 Firm.
Ray traveled to the home Monday to try to ask Raposo and Conover questions.
Raposo could be seen through a window at the front door, but she did not answer
any questions.
A deeper dive into Raposo and Conover’s history shows they both served as
registered agents of Nova Security, a formerly-licensed security agency under
which Conover patrolled apartment complexes in Orange and Seminole Counties.
Sheriff’s Office reports obtained by 9 Investigates show multiple incidents of
Conover using mace and his Taser on people in Florida in the late 2000s.
He never got in trouble for use of force in Florida, but in North Carolina he
was convicted in 2017 of obstruction and assault after being accused of
improperly tasing and arresting people as a law enforcement officer under the
state’s company police program.
That conviction is part of the reason that Conover cannot be a security officer
in Florida today.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services' criminal division
is now looking into the situation at Turnberry.
State Representative Mike La Rosa said he has also asked investigators to keep
him in the loop as to what they find out.
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