The email was sent at 10:20 p.m. to George Andreozzi’s Gmail account on a Saturday in early April.
The sender, identified only as “An Onoma,” requested Andreozzi’s last payroll transaction from his job as principal of the Marco Island Charter Academy high school.
Andreozzi, who has since retired, never responded or even acknowledged the email. A little over a month later, the Deerfield Beach nonprofit Citizens Awareness Foundation sued in Lee County Court alleging the school had violated Florida’s Sunshine law by not turning over the records.
The foundation, with a mission to “empower citizens to exercise their right to know,” has drawn scrutiny for filing more than 140 similar lawsuits in at least 27 Florida counties since January. In every case reviewed by the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting, the suits were filed by an attorney with the O’Boyle Law Firm — a firm that not only shares a building with the foundation, but personnel and money as well.
The firm then attempts to collect cash settlements.