BSO “Accountability” Employee Arrested For Fraud

Mickalon Bullard Arrested, Charged With Grand Theft, Fraud

Mickalon Bullard Arrested, Charged With Grand Theft, Fraud

BROWARD COUNTY, FL (Boca Post) — The Broward Sheriff’s Office has arrested one of their own employees, Mickalon Bullard, for fraud and grand theft after it was found that she stole tax refund income from individuals she was performing tax services for.

According to BSO, the Public Corruption Unit on Tuesday arrested a veteran BSO civilian employee for defrauding multiple individuals out of nearly $19,000 related to the filing of their tax returns.

According to investigators, BSO detectives began investigating Mickalon Bullard, a research specialist in BSO’s Policy and Accountability Division, in March 2022, after receiving information from an individual who hired Bullard to do her taxes. The individual noticed a discrepancy on her taxes that showed one refunded amount to be deposited into her account and a second sum to be deposited into an unknown account. Detectives determined that Bullard, without the individual’s permission, had split the refund and routed a large portion of funds to be deposited into her personal account.

BSO’s Public Corruption Unit continued investigating and identified similar incidents involving at least two other people who paid Bullard to do their taxes between 2018 and 2022. The investigation revealed that Bullard used her access to the victims’ personal identifying information in order to surreptitiously reroute funds to herself. At no time did the victims give Bullard consent to use their personal information for this purpose.

In total, investigators determined that Bullard rerouted $18,993 in her clients’ tax refund money to her personal accounts.

“BSO’s Public Corruption Unit fully investigated these allegations against a civilian employee, found probable cause and worked to hold this individual accountable for her actions,” Sheriff Gregory Tony said. “The work of these investigators proves once again that when employees break the law, they will face appropriate consequences.”

With Bullard’s arrest, her employment status changed from suspended with pay to suspended without pay.

It is unclear at this time if the victims were also employees; however, BSO is asking if anyone in the community thinks they may have been victimized by Bullard to please come forward.