75Shares

BSO Parkland District Chief Relieved of Duties After School Weapons Incident

By Kevin Deutsch

Captain Craig Calavetta, the Broward Sheriff’s Office official chosen by the City of Parkland as its District Chief last August, has been “removed from his assignment,” a BSO spokeswoman confirmed Saturday.

Calavetta, a Parkland resident, remains employed by BSO. The agency did not disclose his current duty status or assignment if any.

He began his law enforcement career in the city in 1991 and, in 2021, rose to the rank of BSO Parkland Division Captain.

It was not immediately clear why Calavetta was relieved of his duties, but in a written statement addressing the personnel move, Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony said he “will not allow anyone in leadership to compromise the integrity of this office by deliberately providing false information to administration.”

“Since 2019, my administration has worked diligently and relentlessly to earn the trust of our Parkland residents,” Tony said. “The journey toward that trust required advanced training, enhanced investigative practices, policy reforms, as well as the procurement of essential tools and equipment. More importantly, it required accountability and transparency.”

Calavetta’s removal as Parkland’s top law enforcement official comes a little more than a week after a high-profile weapons incident involving the principal at Somerset Parkland Academy.

According to the school’s governing board, two guns belonging to Principal Geyler Castro were brought into the school inside a box on June 2.

The box had been removed from the trunk of Castro’s car at the school, located at 8401 N. University Dr., and was not intended to be brought inside the K-8 charter facility, according to a statement issued by the board.

After the incident, a BSO spokeswoman shared a written statement with Parkland Talk stating that a BSO school resource deputy at Somerset Parkland Academy had been “notified of two firearms found on campus.”

“The firearms were secured and turned over to BSO detectives for safe keeping,” the spokeswoman said. “The preliminary investigation revealed the firearms belong to the principal. The incident remains under investigation.”

According to the statement from the school’s governing board, “the box was among many items brought into [a] locked room from the principal’s vehicle,” and “no one intended to bring a weapon into the building.”

The board also said BSO “determined there was no threat” and that “our students were never in any danger.”

BSO has not publicly stated that they made such a determination.

According to state law, it is a felony to bring a firearm into a school in Florida.

Somerset Parkland Academy’s governing board has not responded to a request seeking additional information.

In a summary of the weapons incident, included in BSO’s weekly Parkland crime blotter, the event was categorized as a case of “found property.”

All details of the narrative summary were redacted, with BSO citing the involvement of an “abuse victim” as the legal reason for the redaction. Further explanation was not provided in the document.

In an email to Parkland Talk Saturday, Parkland Mayor Rich Walker said Tony “called me late yesterday afternoon to let me know he relieved Craig Calavetta from his position.”

“He indicated he could not go into detail as there still is an active investigation,” Walker wrote. “He would give us additional information as it became available. In the interim, Major [Aimee] Russo will be filling the post. We will begin the process of selecting a new Captain in the near future.”

Calavetta began his law enforcement career as a Parkland public safety officer before the BSO takeover. He had the dual responsibility of providing law enforcement and firefighting services.

In 1999, Calavetta joined BSO as a road patrol deputy in Dania Beach, according to his official BSO biography. In 2001, he served as a detective in the Dania Beach Detective Bureau and later the Tamarac District Criminal Investigations Unit.

In 2007, he was promoted to sergeant and chosen to supervise the district criminal investigations units and crime suppression teams in the Parkland and Cooper City Districts. He also supervised uniformed road patrol in the Parkland and Pompano Beach Districts.

In 2014, Calavetta was assigned to conduct internal investigations within the BSO Child Protection Investigations Section. In 2015, he was selected to lead BSO’s Economic Crimes Unit in the Criminal Investigations Division.

In 2017, he was promoted to lieutenant and served the Pompano Beach District as the night shift patrol commander. He later served as the executive officer of the County Court Services District.

Send your news to Parkland’s #1 News Source, Parkland Talk.

Author Profile

Kevin Deutsch

Kevin Deutsch is an award-winning journalist and author of two nonfiction books. He covers general assignment news and Jewish community issues for Talk Media. He has also worked as a staff writer at The Miami Times, the Rio Grande SUN, the New York Daily News, Newsday, The Miami Herald, The Palm Beach Post, The Riverdale Press, and Bronx Justice News.