Not long after leaving federal court Tuesday afternoon, former Miami Police Chief Art Acevedo — a star witness in a multimillion-dollar civil suit against Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo — got the sense he was being followed.
Turns out he apparently was — by two private detectives, according to a report filed by Coral Gables police.
Exactly why remained murky Wednesday, as did who might have hired them to tail Acevedo. But the incident was the latest bizarre episode in the on-going Miami political dramas surrounding Carollo, Miami’s most controversial and longest-tenured commissioner.
The commissioner, who led the charge to fire Acevedo last year, has been sued by two of Little Havana’s largest commercial property owners, who claim he abused his authority by using city resources to go after their businesses in a political retaliation for supporting another candidate in a 2017 election. They’re seeking damages of $2.4 million and punitive costs.
On Tuesday, Acevedo was one of three former Miami police chiefs who testified about the Miami commissioner pressuring them to crack down on properties run by William Fuller and Martin Pinilla, who own a string of Calle Ocho businesses, including the Ball & Chain club.
According to the Coral Gables police report, Acevedo and his attorney Marcos Jimenez had gone from court to La Casita Restaurant at 3805 SW Eighth Street just before 6 p.m., when Miami’s former chief noticed a white GMC Arcadia and a black Jeep Cherokee enter the parking lot.
Acevedo called Gables police and told them he noticed the vehicles following him throughout the day and “was in fear not knowing who these individuals were or what their intent was towards them.”
According to the incident report, Donald Blair and Bryan Austin Blair, both licensed investigators, were interviewed by police. When police initially questioned them, according to the report, they said they were investigators with the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office. They later retraced, saying they do work for 22 South Florida cities.
They did not, according to the report, admit they were following Acevedo or say who had employed them. They did consent to pat downs, then went to their vehicles and came back with Florida Private Investigator licenses, before one of them drove off and the other went inside to eat.
Calls and texts to both men and their company were not returned Wednesday. One number listed said it had been disconnected. The company’s website and Bryan Blair’s LinkedIn page says he works at the Claims Investigative Agency, which has more than 40 years of experience, specializes in surveillance and represents both sides in insurance disputes.
Carollo was in court Wednesday along with his attorneys and they could not immediately be reached for comment.
Carollo and Acevedo, who is now chief in Aurora, Colorado, had been at loggerheads almost since the day of his ballyhooed hiring in March 2021 from Houston. The two got into several heated public spats during Acevedo’s short six-month stay. He was forced out after several days of public hearings in which commissioners, led by Carollo, belittled the chief before firing him.
During Acevedo’s testimony on Tuesday, Carollo’s attorney Mason Pertnoy argued that the fired chief had “an ax to grind” and also pointed out that he had sent a letter to federal authorities about “corruption” in Miami.
With the trial in its second week before U.S. District Court Judge Rodney Smith on Wednesday, it wasn’t clear how, or even if the incident in Coral Gables would effect the trial — or even if it had anything to do with it.