BY IRIS B. HOLTON
Sentinel City Editor

An employee of the security company that works at the Hillsborough County Courthouse has alleged that a former Hillsborough County judge made a racial statement after he was asked to remove his wallet while going through security. The former judge denies that he made the statement.

In a report released by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, the incident took place on July 1st. Two of the three people interviewed were G4S Security employees identified as Ms. Marie Leggon and Ms. Lurene Easterly. The third person was Ms. Maria Ramos, an employee of the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office.

All three women identified former Judge and now practicing Attorney Robert H. Bonanno as the person who was allegedly abusive.[private]

Ms. Leggon stated in the report that Ms. Easterly began to wand Attorney Bonanno and asked him to place his wallet in the x-ray machine. She stated he became verbally abusive and made comments like, “stupid low-life … dumb Black lady.”

Ms. Leggon stated that as Attorney Bonanno attempted to leave the building he was asked to wait for law enforcement and refused.

Ms. Easterly stated, “He started calling me names like, ‘stupid dumb Black lady’ and ‘low life.’ I asked him not to call me names. He kept calling me names. I told him I would call a deputy. He said, call them, he didn’t care.”

Ms. Ramos stated, “The man screamed very loudly to Officer Lurene Easterly nasty words, ‘stupid dumb Black lady’ and ‘low life.’”

When contacted by the Sentinel, Attorney Bonanno acknowledged that there was a verbal exchange, but denied making any racial remarks.

“This is a big to do about nothing. When she asked about my wallet I did ask why I had to put it in the tray because I don’t have to do that at the other Courthouse. She said, ‘because I told you to,’ and I admit it rubbed me wrong. But I never called her names, I never said that.

“I said, ‘your attitude is a pain in the a** and I probably shouldn’t have said that. I could have worded it better. I went upstairs dropped off my paperwork and left. I wasn’t in the building no more than 3 or 4 minutes,” Attorney Bonanno said.

He further stated that he never told anyone his name and that he wasn’t aware that a report had been made until he was contacted by the St. Pete Times.

He also said he thought about reporting the woman because of her attitude, but didn’t because he doesn’t like to cause people trouble.[/private]