Daytona Beach Shores places lieutenant who jailed 3-year-old son on administrative leave

Daytona Beach Shores Police Lt. Michael Schoenbrod has been placed on administrative leave pending the results of a professional standards investigation, said Michael Fowler, director of public safety.

It's the third such investigation Schoenbrod has faced in the last 10 months.

The newest allegations against Schoenbrod relate to taking or tampering with public safety records and altering or distributing digital recordings without authorization. They are cited in a memo Fowler had Schoenbrod sign at 6:01 a.m. Monday.

The administrative leave is paid, the memo states.

"During the period of administrative leave, you are instructed not to drive a department vehicle or act in any capacity as a police officer," Fowler wrote in the memo.

The memo cites three code of conduct policy violations "that may have occurred on or after April 7, 2023."

The first reads: "Employees shall not commit any act or crime defined by state or federal law as a felony, whether chargeable or not."

Another: "Employees shall not steal, alter or forge or tamper with any kind of public safety record, report or citation." It goes on to state that the unlawful or unauthorized removal of any such document is prohibited.

The last states employees "will not edit, alter, erase, duplicate, copy, share or otherwise distribute in any manner digital recordings without prior written authorization."

Child-jailing investigation conclusions remain cloaked

Schoenbrod and Sgt. Jessica Long faced internal and external investigations after he told a Florida Department of Children and Families caseworker last October that they had, on consecutive days, taken their 3½-year-old son to one of the city's holding cells for a potty-training lesson. The conclusion of that investigation, as well as records from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Volusia County and Daytona Beach Shores have been under seal after Schoenbrod and Long petitioned the court.

Schoenbrod told a DCF worker that Long took the child to the holding cell for around 3 minutes on Oct. 5 after many attempts at potty-training him. Schoenbrod followed up the next day, Oct. 6, by taking the boy to the cell, handcuffing him, and leaving him there for "13 minutes or something like that," he said in the interview, which was captured in Volusia County Sheriff's Office body-cam footage.

"He was crying. I was getting the response I expected from him," Schoenbrod said. He said the boy promised to do better.

A second professional standards case

Then, after an April 7 briefing, Schoenbrod faced allegations of violating six department policies, including treating others with respect, avoiding conflicts of interest and favoritism and avoiding rumors and other conduct that diminishes morale.

Schoenbrod typically does not attend those briefings, according to two former Daytona Beach Shores public safety workers who spoke to The News-Journal on the condition that their names not be used. At the briefing, Schoenbrod spoke critically of other officers who he believed were involved in reporting him to the Florida Department of Children and Families and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the former employees said.

Schoenbrod has been with the department for approximately 23 years. His position as lieutenant places him directly beneath Fowler in the department's chain of command. Based on his earnings in the first six months of 2023, he was on pace to bring home more than $97,000.

In a memo to the department, also sent Monday, Fowler wrote that Sgt. William Frank will assume Schoenbrod's duties in the interim.

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This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona Beach Shores lieutenant on leave, facing 3rd investigation