By Jane Musgrave
The Palm Beach Post
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A once-respected battalion chief for West Palm Beach Fire Rescue faces a maximum 45-year prison sentence after a Palm Beach County jury Thursday agreed he misused his position by making businesses write him checks for fire safety services he provided at special events.
Derrick Daniels, 47, was handcuffed and taken to the Palm Beach County jail to await sentencing on Dec. 14. He faces a minimum sentence of roughly two years in prison, said Assistant State Attorney Marci Rex.
The jury deliberated for roughly five hours before finding Daniels guilty of unlawful compensation or reward by a public official and six counts of grand theft.
During closing arguments, his attorney insisted Daniels did nothing wrong. Instead of spending time with his family or going to church at night and on weekends, he went to the community events, such as fireworks displays and festivals, to make sure the sponsors had the fire protection the city demanded.
“This is not about greed,” said attorney Evelyn Pennington. “Time is precious. He didn’t spend his precious time with his family or at his church ... He was compensated for the services that these companies needed.”
But, Rex argued, Daniels was already well compensated. When he accepted a $140,000-a-year battalion chief’s job and joined the department’s top management, he was no longer eligible for overtime pay. He knew that when he accepted the post and got a hefty raise.
Instead, he figured out a way to continue to getting paid for the overtime assignments by having business people and community groups ink checks directly to him, she said.
Daniels, who began working for the city in 1988, resigned in May 2013. He was arrested seven months later.
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