BSO lieutenant retires after investigation of ‘It's Florida, Man' episode on mermaid feud

Yahoo

21-05-2025

After nearly three decades of service to the Broward Sheriff's Office, a lieutenant who found himself the subject of multiple investigations stemming from a former feud with a pod of mermaids has retired after another controversy.
Lt. Jeff Mellies submitted an 'irrevocable letter of resignation' after the conclusion of the latest Internal Affairs investigation that centered on an episode of an HBO Max show called 'It's Florida, Man,' on which he appeared with his wife, Mia Mellies.
The investigation found that he violated multiple Sheriff's Office policies related to his appearance in the episode. Differing disciplines were recommended by two groups as a result — a 15-day unpaid suspension from one committee while executive command recommended he be terminated, according to records obtained by the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Tuesday through a public records request.
Instead, as part of a negotiated settlement agreement, Mellies submitted the resignation letter and waived arbitration. He retired in good standing on May 1, the records showed.
The Mellieses said in sworn statements that they were under the impression that the HBO Max show was going to be a documentary focused on witchcraft, according to the Internal Affairs records. Mia Mellies is a witch who practices rituals and casts spells, she says in the episode.
Instead, the episode that aired in November rehashed years-old drama between Mellies, his wife and several women who performed in an underwater mermaid show at The Wreck Bar at the B Ocean Resort on Fort Lauderdale beach. Much to the couple's surprise, according to the report, Mia Mellies's witchcraft was just one part of the dramatization, which the lieutenant told Internal Affairs made BSO look 'like s—.'
The episode starts with a voice-over: 'What you're about to see may be dangerous, illegal, unethical, petty, misguided, immoral and, most definitely, stupid. But it's also all true. Sort of.'
Actor Anna Faris starred as mermaid Whitney Fair, who had a falling out years ago with Mia Mellies when the two swam together in the popular mermaid show at the historic bar tucked inside the boat-shaped hotel. Mellies and his wife both appear personally in the episode, speaking about her pagan beliefs, and were portrayed by actors Steven Ogg and Mary Elizabeth Ellis. Mia Mellies said in her statement to Internal Affairs that she didn't agree to 'a scripted television show with talent' or a show about 'this alleged harassment.'
The actors portraying the Mellieses danced around a fire, covered in blood after sacrificing a chicken. In some parts of the episode, the actor portraying Mellies wore a leather thong with a law enforcement star badge over the crotch. A real photo of Mellies in his Sheriff's Office uniform is shown at one point in the episode.
The episode details the saga between the Mellieses and Fair, Marina Anderson and Janelle Smiley, who all performed as mermaids at The Wreck Bar. They filed a federal civil lawsuit against Mellies in 2022, alleging he used his access to official law enforcement databases to search for sensitive personal information about them. The mermaids alleged Mellies searched for their information in retaliation because of poolside drama they had with his wife who was fired in 2018 after she and Fair had an argument.
Mellies and the mermaids agreed to settle the federal civil lawsuit last year. The Sheriff's Office paid a total settlement of $25,000, according to public records of the agreement previously obtained by the Sun Sentinel.
Mellies indicated that he searched for information on the three women for a 'criminal investigation,' but none were under any criminal investigation, Internal Affairs records previously obtained by the Sun Sentinel said. The State Attorney's Office in August 2023 declined to file criminal charges related to the use of the database.
Two attorneys who worked with Mellies and the union's president did not respond to emails seeking comment on the outcome of the most recent Internal Affairs investigation.
BSO lieutenant under investigation after 'It's Florida, Man' episode on Wreck Bar mermaid drama
The internal investigation into the HBO Max episode began on Nov. 4 after someone sent an anonymous complaint to the Division of Internal Affairs, according to the report obtained by the Sun Sentinel.
'BSO should be ashamed of themselves for allowing him to go on this show and talk about his job,' the complaint said, in part.
Internal Affairs began investigating Mellies for four policy violation allegations: social media, discretion, off-duty employment and public information all related to the episode. It was alleged that Mellies changed his Facebook profile picture to 'someone wearing boxer briefs' with a BSO lieutenant badge 'in the crotch area' the day after the episode aired.
A check for $500 was made out to Mellies for the use of their house on the show, the report said. He did not get permission from his chain of command and the Public Information Office to appear on the show, as is standard procedure.
Mellies's wife, whose name is redacted in the report but who the Sun Sentinel has previously identified, told Internal Affairs in a sworn statement that a man from Range Media contacted her in August 2023 'saying that he was interested in doing a documentary on what it's like to be a modern-day spiritualist and what it's like to be a modern-day witch,' according to the report. She gave the investigator the email she received.
She told the investigator she thought the episode would be a good way to promote her and her social media ahead of a novel she wrote being published this coming September, according to the report.
'I sat down with the interviewer. We talked for about three to four hours. In that time, we solely stayed on the topic of spirituality, what it's like to be a social media creator on TikTok and Instagram, what that looks like, my beliefs, my beliefs, and my life. At one point towards the end, because they wanted to know what it was like for me to be married to someone who does not share my beliefs, they wanted to sort of get his opinion,' she told Internal Affairs, according to the report.
Mellies spoke with the interviewer for about five minutes, and when they thought the cameras had stopped rolling, they got up from the couch and Mellies was asked about his tattoos, the investigation report said.
Late into the episode, Fair makes the first mention of Mellies's employment at the Sheriff's Office. It then cuts to a clip of Mellies explaining his sleeves of tattoos. He said he had been in law enforcement for over three decades. His wife talked about casting protection spells on him, his vest and his bullets.
Mia Mellies met alone with camera crews at Markham Park in Sunrise a few weeks after her initial interview to film B-roll, 'walking around and just taking shots just to fill in for a documentary,' she said, according to the report. She said that's when the crew brought up the federal lawsuit involving the mermaids.
'I said: 'Yes, I did perform with these women, and unfortunately, I did badly. I don't wish them any harm. I just want to move on from all this,'' she told investigators. 'That was it. I left and didn't hear anything else.'
Months later, she said she 'got wind from other social media creators that this documentary would be yet another hit piece' about them, according to the report.
'I would have never agreed to that,' she said, according to the investigation report. 'I would have never wanted to be a part of it. This was done completely behind my back.'
Mellies in his sworn statement said the production company came to their home in October 2023 'and his only involvement was to make sure she was safe and nothing nefarious was going on,' according to the report. He sat in his office and listened to the three-hour-long interview with his wife, and nothing related to BSO or what ended up being in the episode was asked.
After the interview of his wife, Mellies agreed to talk for about five minutes. He said he never saw the video before it aired, he did not sign any contract and that 'the production company scammed him and believes it was all staged by Fair and her attorney,' according to the report.
Attorney Gary Kollin, who represented Fair, Smiley and Anderson in the federal action and appeared in the episode himself, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Tuesday that he 'never got to see the video' before it aired and 'never was told any details about it.'
'It was portrayed to me that HBO were doing this video about the Mellieses and Whitney and they wanted me to explain the law regarding the whole matter, which I did,' he said. 'So my knowledge of the whole matter was very limited. I didn't know the background, I didn't know what they promised them … I had absolutely no idea.'
Mellies told Internal Affairs he 'felt disgusted and embarrassed' after seeing the episode and called it 'inaccurate,' according to the report.
He didn't ask for permission to appear in the episode 'because he didn't believe he had to because he didn't think it had anything to do with BSO,' the report said.
Asked how he thought 'his actions reflected on BSO,' Mellies said, 'It looked like s—,' according to the report, and that he was 'just as infuriated as whoever up top is that started the investigation.'
He denied that the Facebook account with his name and the profile picture from the show was his, the report showed.
The Professional Standards Committee reviewed the internal investigation in April and determined that Mellies violated two of the four the Sheriff's Office's policies alleged — discretion and off-duty employment, related to the $500 check. That committee recommended he be suspended without pay for 15 days.
However, 'upon further review by executive command,' all four allegations were sustained and the recommended discipline was termination, the report on the investigation's final disposition showed.
Ultimately, the negotiated agreement involved Mellies submitting his resignation letter and waiving arbitration.
His attorney Stephen Melnick told the Sun Sentinel in November that Mellies had no recent complaints against him at the time the internal investigation began last year and called the episode 'totally slanderous.'
'All he discussed was his wife's religious beliefs and that's it,' Melnick previously told the Sun Sentinel.
Mellies was hired in 2000 and at the time of his retirement was a lieutenant over Support Services and the Burglary Apprehension Team, a position he held since 2019, according to the IA report. He coordinated the county's Crime Suppression Teams trainings, ensured their policies were current and was in command if any 'regional issue' arose.