When a penny stock company in Arizona called Bourque Industries was looking to sell a new form of protective body armor to law enforcement agencies around the country back in 2011, nobody was buying it.
Then the Collier County Sheriff’s Office stepped up.
The agency made a $6,000 purchase that year of Bourque’s metal alloy vests for use by SWAT team members. While the deal was modest in price, it was monumental for the company, which touted the moment as “ten years of hard work, dedication and innovation [came] to fruition.”
Sheriff’s office records obtained by the Florida Trident show the purchase was formally approved by Collier sheriff’s Maj. Jim Bloom, who supervised the SWAT team, on Oct. 31, 2011. Corporate records show that a little over six months later, Bourque provided Bloom with 500,000 shares of its company stock that charts indicate had a value of about $150,000 at the time.
Later that year Bloom, now CCSO’s second-in-command as undersheriff, deepened his relationship with the company: He formed an outside company with several partners to help market Bourque’s protective vests to other law enforcement agencies around the country, all while serving as chief of operations at one of the largest sheriff’s offices in the country.
Bloom’s extra-curricular involvement with Bourque somehow flew under the radar for a decade – until former Collier County Sheriff Don Hunter heard about it.
Hunter, who personally developed CCSO’s policy on outside employment, was appalled that Bloom appeared to profit from his public position. He took it to his decades-long friend, Collier Sheriff Kevin Rambosk, who succeeded him in the position in 2009 and once served as his own undersheriff.
Hunter told the Trident he expected Rambosk to do what he said he would have done were he still sheriff – conduct a proper internal affairs investigation into possible policy violations and refer any potential criminal violations to an outside law enforcement agency for review.
That’s not what happened. Instead, the investigation was overseen by attorney Michael Hedberg, the sheriff’s hand-picked outside counsel. Hedberg ultimately concluded the complaint against Bloom – which included multiple allegations of undue profiteering against Bloom and other deputies – was not sustained, meaning there was insufficient evidence to prove or disprove any wrongdoing had occurred.
The former sheriff said Hedberg told him prior to the start of the investigation that the lawyer’s “only job was to protect the sheriff.”
“At no time in my 35-year career have I seen an internal affairs investigation handled by hired attorneys – that’s crossing the line,” Hunter said. “I felt the investigation was flawed and superficial. It wasn’t designed to detect the truth. It was a mess.”
That initial probe into Bloom’s conduct was just the beginning of a quixotic pursuit of justice for Hunter that continues to this day and has completely destroyed his relationship with Rambosk.
“I would not want a relationship with someone with no integrity,” Hunter said bluntly. “All the policies I put in place to protect the public were just run over.”
Rambosk and Bloom refused interview requests from the Trident. The sheriff’s office instead issued a statement asserting the investigation was “independent” and Hunter had made “‘theoretical leaps’ to suggest improper conduct or unlawful misuse of position by Undersheriff Bloom.”
The story of CCSO’s entanglement with Bourque Industries has never been publicly told – and it’s one that very fittingly begins at a sales booth.
‘Have you seen this new armor?’
The relationship between the sheriff’s office and Bourque Industries began not with Bloom, but with then-SWAT Team Commander Bob Lewis, who gave a sworn statement during the 2021 investigation by Hedberg and CCSO-hired outside attorney Luke Savage. Lewis testified he bumped into the company’s founder and CEO, John Bourque, at a police chief’s convention in Orlando.
“I happened to be walking by a booth and [Bourque] said, ‘Hey, have you seen this new armor,’” Lewis recounted. “Well, being in special operations, I’m always interested in anything that would help out the guys.”
The pair exchanged information and the Phoenix-based Bourque later sent Lewis samples of the armor – made with a metal alloy called Kryron – to the sheriff’s office. Lewis conducted tests.
“I shot ‘em, I actually blew ‘em up with IEDs,” said Lewis in his sworn statement. “… I let the guys shoot it. We actually brought the stuff to training one day and they blasted the hell out of it and they said, ‘Well, that was pretty impressive.’”
Soon Lewis’ glowing review of the armor was posted on the Bourque Industries website – where it remains to this day.
“We tested Bourque armor versus a detonated IED, with an explosive velocity of five miles per second. Zero penetration,” Lewis said in the testimonial on the company’s website. “This is the darndest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Lewis then asked his boss, Bloom, to okay a purchase by the sheriff’s office of Bourque’s armor. He testified Bloom gave his approval with little discussion, despite the fact that no other law enforcement agency had ever purchased it. “I just told him the stuff worked,” Lewis said.
The sale was ballyhooed by Bourque Industries in a Sept. 20, 2011 company press release that included a photo of the CEO and Bob Lewis arm-in-arm, with the SWAT commander quoted as saying the Kryron armor was the “best on the planet.”
“Ten years of hard work, dedication and innovation come to fruition today for John M. Bourque,” the press release began.
“We are honored to be the first law enforcement agency to wear Kryron Terminator armor,” added Lewis.
The relationship soon deepened. On Oct. 18, 2011, Lewis sent a memo to Rambosk notifying the sheriff he’d “recently” been voted to become a member of Bourque’s board of directors.
“This position will in no way create a conflict of my regular duties within CCSO nor is there any monetary gain at this time,” Lewis wrote. “… I will in no way compromise the integrity of this agency or jeopardize my position as a Deputy Sheriff while associated in this capacity.”
Lewis informed Rambosk that he’d already received compensation from the company for travel reimbursements he said were “similar” to consulting work Lewis had done for other outside firms in the past.
The memo was reviewed by attorney Hedberg, who would later conduct the investigation (representing another conflict of interest, according to Hunter). Hedberg approved the outside position for Lewis – with a handwritten caveat regarding “potential conflicts of interest.”
“Florida law prohibits doing business with one’s own agency except in very limited circumstances,” Hedberg wrote. “Any future purchases should be evaluated carefully to ensure they would not be in conflict with Florida laws.”
The Florida Code of Ethics forbids public officials from using their positions to secure a special privilege or benefit and also prohibits officials from having employment or contractual relationships with companies doing business with their agency. No complaint has been filed with the Florida Ethics Commission to date, said Hunter, adding he would welcome an investigation.
Thirteen days after Lewis sent the memo to the sheriff, his boss, Bloom, gave the final okay for the $6,000 agency payment to Bourque Industries.
“Ok, approved,” Bloom wrote in an email to accounts payable supervisor Crystal Byers after her urging.
Rambosk stands behind his undersheriff
Bloom told the sheriff’s lawyers he initially denied approval of the payment to Bourque because he thought the invoice had already been paid and he wanted to make sure it wasn’t a new invoice considering Lewis’s employment with the company.
Corporate records show that a little more than six months after Bloom approved the purchase, Bourque Industries issued stock for both Bloom and Lewis – 500,000 shares for Bloom and one million shares for Lewis. The reason for the compensation was listed as “services” rendered by the pair with no further explanation.
At the time, in mid-May 2012, the stock was worth roughly 30 cents per share, meaning it had a value of about $150,000 and $300,000, respectively, for Bloom and Lewis. They were, however, restricted from selling it for at least a year.
Bloom testified he and Lewis also decided to create a private company with a few other associates to market Bourque’s products, which he said were “stalled” in the market. He told the sheriff’s lawyers that his underling Lewis told him Bourque might compensate him with stock in return. John Bourque himself said he would give him stock during a conference call in April or May 2012, said Bloom, adding that was the only time he had direct contact with the CEO.
Bloom, Lewis and some associates formed a company called NAP7 later in August ostensibly to promote Bourque. At least two other principals in the company received stock in addition to Bloom and Lewis, the investigation found. Bloom, however, testified that NAP7 was just an “afterthought” that fizzled and never did any marketing work for Bourque at all.
Lewis, for his part, told the sheriff’s lawyers Bourque paid him the million shares for various reasons, not the least of which was sharing his “contacts” with the private firm.
“Everybody wants my address book,” Lewis testified.
Because he retired in 2016, Lewis was off the hook for any potential violations because the statute of limitations for any applicable laws had expired. But because Bloom remains in office, the statute of limitations hasn’t run out for him. Florida law extends the statute of limitations for public officials like Bloom for at least two years after they leave office.
Such distinctions were rendered meaningless when attorney Hedberg ruled the allegations against Bloom were unfounded.
In his investigative report, Hedberg pinned his finding in part on the notion that Bloom in fact had never received anything of value from Bourque because the stock was restricted at the time it was offered and couldn’t be sold for at least a year after issuance. At the time the shares were given to Bloom, they were valued at about thirty cents per share, worth roughly $150,000. Within a few months, however, the stock price dropped to near zero.
In his investigative summary, Hedberg appears to have determined the stock was worthless based on the fact that it was near zero when it was eligible to be sold a year after the company provided Bloom with the 500,000 shares, but the lawyer’s explanation isn’t entirely clear.
“The evidence reflects that when the shares were issued, they were restricted stock not available for conversion for between 12 and 24 months,” Hedberg wrote, “and at the time of issuance were valued at a fraction of a penny or 0.0001 cents per share.”
Yet even as Hedberg conducted his investigation in 2021, the stock price momentarily rose to a cent and a half, meaning Bloom’s shares – which he said he still had – were worth $7,500 at that time. Later that year, on October 25, 2021, the price went to two and half cents, meaning Bloom’s shares were valued at $12,500.
When reached on the phone by a Trident reporter, Hedberg stuck by his finding before abruptly terminating the call. “The file speaks for itself,” he said. “The stock has no value until it matures, the restricted stock has no value unless Borque Industries said it does.”
Hunter said the stock clearly had value.
“The stock was a reward for something and we’re still not sure exactly what that reward was for,” said the former sheriff.
Florida’s felony unlawful compensation law forbids public officials from receiving an unauthorized benefit for a public act. In the statement to the Trident, Rambosk contended the stock wasn’t tied to the purchase of armor by the sheriff’s office.
“The equipment purchased from Bourque Industries was … paid for long before any restricted stock was issued to Undersheriff Bloom,” read the statement. “There was no relationship between the procurement decision and the unsolicited issuance of the restricted stock.”
“The evidence is clear and supported by the sworn testimony of multiple witnesses that those individuals that unexpectedly received restricted and virtually worthless stock from Bourque Industries did not ask for or anticipate receipt of any remuneration from the company, especially since no employment, service or consulting contract ever existed or was discussed.”
The sheriff’s office, the statement concluded, retained “confidence in the professional abilities of Undersheriff Bloom in his service to our community.”
“A cloud of suspicion”
Hunter maintained the investigation had such massive shortcomings that it proved nothing. He pointed out that John Bourque wasn’t questioned, phone records and emails weren’t subpoenaed, and he said the overall Hedberg-led investigation was superficial and accommodating to Bloom. (The Trident attempted to reach out to Bourque via the company website, but was unsuccessful).
Hedberg misinterpreted the law regarding the value of the stock, said Hunter, who also took issue with the decision to provide Bloom, Lewis and other witnesses a “Garrity warning” that precludes the testimony they gave from being used against them in any future investigations.
“If there was any hint of a criminal violation when I was sheriff, you sever the criminal implications from the policy implications,” Hunter explained. “You send the [potential] criminal aspects to either the State Attorney’s Office or the FDLE, and they conduct the criminal investigation parallel to, but separate from, the IA investigation. What Hedberg did was roll everything up in one bundle and issue a protective [Garrity] notice so nothing could be used in the future against them.”
Hunter said in his opinion Bloom at the very least had violated department policy, which dictates deputies must obtain permission from the sheriff before taking outside employment (as Lewis did in his request to Rambosk).
In 2024, Hunter filed a detailed complaint with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement about the matter. After meeting with state law enforcement officials about the case, Inspector David Snowden wrote Hunter an email of praise saying his 47-page complaint was “the most thorough assessment and analysis of an investigation I have reviewed in my 30 years as a law enforcement professional.”
“I can tell your moral compass remains focused on doing the right thing for the right reasons all of the time,” he wrote Hunter in the June 24, 2024 email.
But Snowden saved the bad news for last.
“I have previously met, and have since met with my various supervisors and our legal advisor regarding everything you have brought to FDLE,” he wrote. “A decision has been made that we will not be opening a case against the members of the CCSO.”
It was a tough result for Hunter, who said all he ever wanted was accountability from Rambosk, his former No. 2 and close friend.
“I have no dog in the fight, no horse in the race – I was upset that they appeared to have buried it instead of doing something with it,” he said. “As a taxpayer and as a former sheriff who created the policies they were violating, I was very disappointed that this would be allowed.”
And he said he was disappointed in Rambosk most of all. The two men have known each other for more than 30 years. Rambosk served as Hunter’s chief of narcotics as well as his undersheriff. When Rambosk ran to succeed him as sheriff in 2008, Hunter strongly supported his campaign and publicly spoke of Rambosk’s “strong ethical grounding and integrity.” Even when he made the original complaint regarding Bloom in 2021 he had lunch with Rambosk to discuss it and said in his own sworn statement he knew the current sheriff to be an “honorable man.”
He no longer holds that view after their close relationship imploded over the investigation. He said the last time he spoke with Rambosk, the sheriff told him that he’d been given legal advice not to speak with him anymore.
“I would not have an interest in having a relationship with someone if they intentionally fumbled a significant investigation, if they had not conducted a thorough review,” Hunter said. “I would not wish a relationship with that person because that’s a matter of integrity.”
Hunter said he still wants to see a full investigation happen but says he has “no illusion whatsoever” that there will be one.
“I welcome an investigation to remove the cloud from over the sheriff’s office,” he said. “That’s where we are today – a cloud of suspicion.”
About the Author: Bob Norman is a senior editor for the Florida Trident. His work as an investigative reporter has won dozens of awards and led to criminal charges and the removal of several corrupt public officials. He can be reached at norman@flcga.org. The Florida Trident is an investigative news outlet focusing on government accountability and transparency across Florida. The Trident was created and first published in 2022 by the Florida Center for Government Accountability, a non-profit organization that facilitates local investigative reporting across the state.
