Local

New details revealed in Lake County deputy investigation

LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — Eyewitness News obtained the internal investigation documents that took down the former third-in-command at the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

The Lake County Sheriff's Office has not replaced former third-in-command, Gerry Montalvo, a man with decades on the job who quit as soon as his own agency started investigating him.

Eyewitness News requested that investigation for four months after complaints surfaced about his ties to a wine bar and his questionable relationship with a confidential informant.

The documents reveal never-before-heard allegations – that Montalvo was renting his own home to a confidential informant, that he loaned the informant a Porsche, and when he gave that back, Montalvo gave him his own personal truck to drive around.

A source said he was renting the house for $1,100 a month.

The sheriff's office said it could never confirm any of that because authorities couldn't identify the informant and because when Montalvo retired he no longer had to cooperate with their investigation.

He wouldn't talk to internal affairs, but Tuesday, he sent a letter, with his side of the story, to Channel 9.

He said the allegations only surfaced because an upset ex-girlfriend complained, that he never rented his home to the informant while living with his girlfriend, and that he's standing by his 25 years on the job.