Pasco Child Protective Investigator Accused Of Falsifying Reports

NEW PORT RICHEY, FL — A Pasco County child protective investigator has been arrested after being accused of falsifying at least two reports to the Florida Department of Children and Families.

During a news conference Monday morning, Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said the investigator was turned in by her trainee who noticed that the investigator's notes didn't match her actions in the cases.

"In today's world, it's good to have people who are morally and ethically strong. They're not going to blow away in the wind. They're going to stand firm and say, 'This is wrong.' And that's exactly what happened," Nocco said.

Jennifer Lewis, 29, of Land O' Lakes worked as a child protective investigator with the sheriff's office from January 2016 to March 2021.

"It was her role was to protect children," Nocco said. "That's probably one of the toughest roles in our organization. And Jennifer Lewis failed in those responsibilities."

After the trainee reported the discrepancies to her supervisors in the child protective unit, the supervisors referred the case to the sheriff's major crimes unit.

After learning she was being investigated, Nocco said Lewis resigned. However, the major crimes unit continued to review all of her cases, starting with the most recent 27 cases and then reviewing another 62 of her cases dating back to 2016.

"We wanted to make sure that none of these children were in harm's way," Nocco said. "God forbid that something happens to those kids because we didn't do something right. There are kids who are born into horrific situations, and we want to make sure those kids are being protected."

They found two cases in which Lewis claimed to have interviewed people regarding the children in the cases when she had not. She was charged with two counts of falsifying DCF documents.

Nocco said he doesn't accept the excuse that Lewis may have had more cases than she could handle, leading her to take shortcuts.

"You handle one case at a time," he said. "If you can't handle other cases, if your workload is too high, you go to your supervisor. If you can't get to a case, we'll find somebody else, but make sure the cases you're handling are handled correctly."

Nocco said the sheriff's office does have a quality assurance team that reviews cases once a quarter and most likely would have noticed the discrepancies in Lewis' cases. But before that could happen, the trainee reported her.

"To have that courage, I applaud that trainee for doing what she did," he said. "None of us walk on water. We make mistakes. But we can't be at fault when it comes to our children and put them in harm's way."

Lewis turned herself into the sheriff's office on Friday after warrants were issued for her arrest.

The sheriff's office is continuing to review Lewis' cases.

In the meantime, Nocco said the sheriff's office protective child investigators will begin wearing body-worn cameras like regular patrol deputies. He believes Pasco County will be the first in the country to have child protective investigators equipped with body cameras.