Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno on Tuesday asked county commissioners for hundreds of thousands of more dollars.
The request comes as Marceno is under investigation by the FBI on money laundering allegations.
Marceno requested $850,000 from the Law Enforcement Trust Fund for his office in addition to his $315 million budget.
The sheriff's office has a trust fund. It receives money from various sources, including the state's contraband forfeiture act.
Commissioner Brian Hamman described it as taking confiscated bad money and turning it into good causes.
The money is used to support law enforcement and community programs.
“He proposed from us how much money he wanted from the trust fund. This is money by law that was set aside for this purpose. He told us what categories he wanted to put them in,” Hamman said.
The money is in addition to the sheriff's annual budget which has been questioned after rising from $196 million in 2020 to $315 million this year.
Gulf Coast News wanted to know how the sheriff planned to spend the extra funds. His office responded by saying it is obligated by Florida state statute on how the funds can be spent.
When asked for a breakdown, the sheriff's office said it was considering categories like crime prevention, safe neighborhoods and drug abuse education, to name a few.
It appears $191,000 will go to nonprofits.
“I have no objection to the categories he put before us today,” Hamman said.
The sheriff's office said it is still evaluating how all of the requested money will be spent specifically.