In federal court Monday, former Lynn Haven City Manager Michael White testified that he gave Police Chief Ricky Ramie a sack of cash to hold onto so it wouldn’t get stolen.
Chief Ramie claimed Michael White dropped the sack of cash off at his feet in his office after Hurricane Michael while Michael White attended a meeting.
Michael White said he got the cash for selling a Jeep. Chief Ramie said that Michael was going to give the sack of cash to Jim Slonina (owner of Panhandle Engineering) to buy some land. Slonina is partners with Chris Forehand, the City’s contracted engineer.
Slonina gets big contracts from the Bay County Commission. Especially when Griff Griffitts was the Chairman after Hurricane Michael.
Michael White says there was $10K in the sack. Chief Ramie testified that he didn’t count it but just sat and looked at it while he was alone in his office. Chief Ramie said Michael returned and said it was $35K.
But ECS owner Mickey White claimed previously that there was up to $172K in the sack.
Chief Ramie’s testimony to federal Judge Mark Walker during the evidentiary hearing didn’t match FBI’s official notes from June 2019, when Ramie said that Michael White threw a bag of cash to him during a car ride ($40K).
This means Sheriff Tommy Ford and his “Public Trust Unit” have known about this. The Sheriff appointed Major Jimmy Stanford to lead the unit in 2019.
It’s unclear to the public if Michael White ever retrieved the sack of cash, and if so, where the loot ended up.
WMBB-TV didn’t think this was worth reporting. I wonder why?
Reporter Brady Calhoun was in the courtroom watching this testimony under oath but decided to hide it from you.
