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The recent arrest of two Broward County Sheriff’s deputies has shaken the Florida underworld where now imprisoned Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein and his henchmen once ruled.  

Former Lt. David Benjamin, 48, Boca Raton, and former Detective Jeff Poole, 47, Weston, were charged in April for using their position as law enforcement officers to do the bidding of the notorious con-man attorney Scott Rothstein.

Benjamin was charged with conspiring to commit extortion and violate civil rights. Poole was charged with conspiring to violate civil rights.

Poole pled guilty is May.

Former Broward County Detective Jeff Poole

Poole admitted to U.S. District Judge William Dimitrouleas that he falsely arrested the ex-wife of a local attorney on orders from Benjamin - likewise - Benjamin was ordering the arrest as a (paid) favor for Rothstein – likewise – Rothstein was doing it as a favor for a lawyer friend having problems with his ex.

Poole and Benjamin are currently cooperating with federal prosecutors in the ongoing investigation into the fallout surrounding Rothstein's $1.4 billion Ponzi scheme.

The fallout of the federal investigation could be explosive.

Timothy Holmseth (this writer), an author/journalist from East Grand Forks, Minnesota first became aware of Poole during interviews and conversations with William Staubs, bail bondsman/private investigator – a.k.a. ‘Cobra’, Weston, Florida.

Staubs told Holmseth about a “Broward County boy” named “Jeff Poole”.

Staubs also told Holmseth about “Scott Rothstein”.

During interviews in 2009 regarding the kidnapping of HaLeigh Cummings, Staubs told Holmseth the child’s mysterious disappearance would eventually link back to an attorney named “Rothstein” and a biofuel company called Alternative Biofuel Technologies, Inc.  (ABT). 

Staubs said there was a biofuel deal being brokered through (then) Governor Charlie Crist and Scott Rothstein for a $231 Million government contract.  

Evidence linking the ill-fated biofuel company to the HaLeigh Cummings kidnapping is plentiful.

An audio recording of a telephonic meeting between HaLeigh Bug Foundation personnel captures members of the non-profit (HaLeigh Bug) arguing about ABT. Jeremiah Regan, administrator, HaLeigh Bug Center, is angry upon learning the actual ownership of the Company was misrepresented to him and he is not set to hold an executive position.

Staubs told Holmseth that Regan was promised an oil executive position and $2 Million in exchange for his silence about HaLeigh’s staged kidnapping.  

Holmseth learned during interviews with an individual actually named on the original Articles of Incorporation that Regan was offered a job at the Company – a company that appears to have been nothing more than a phantom in a Ponzi scheme.

When Scott Rothstein was arrested by federal authorities during the RICO investigation, ABT was listed on the inventory of assets seized by the feds. 

The Articles of Incorporation for ABT show John Burgun, Plantation, Florida became President of the company shortly after it was created in October of 2008.  

Edward Boyle, Davie, Florida, is the brother-in-law of John Burgun.  

Enter – Jeff Poole.

Boyle said he was falsely arrested by Poole on a trumped up gun charge, some ten years ago, amidst a contentious business feud between competing parties in a biofuels scheme that included him, his sister Maria Burgun, brother-in-law John Burgun, William Staubs, and several other Rothstein associates.

Boyle referred to them as “the Cobra gang” and said that after the first incident – he crossed the gang’s path again in 2009 – again in a deal involving biofuels – and there was a plan to plant a kilo of cocaine in Boyle’s vehicle – whereupon he would be arrested by Poole.

Poole also arrested Boyle’s daughter, Ashley Boyle, after Edward Boyle received ominous threats in advance that something bad was going to happen.

Maria Burgun once told Staubs that she feared somebody was going to murder her brother, and it would look like she paid for a ‘hit’, because she had just borrowed one of Edward Boyle’s enemies nearly twenty thousand dollars.

Donald Knop, Florida, was a staff member on the legal team working for HaLeigh Cummings’ mother Crystal Sheffield in 2009. Knop said Staubs was known to boast about being a member of an underground criminal police group called the Navarro 5. The Navarro 5 was a group that robbed drug dealers with impunity because it was secretly sanctioned by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office.

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