Osceola County Interim Sheriff Chris Blackmon announced plans to order a “forensic audit” of the Sheriff's Office to expose any other possible ties to former Sheriff Marcos Lopez’s alleged misconduct.
Blackmon brought the request up with Osceola County Manager Don Fisher during a budget meeting.
Fisher agreed and said the county would pay for the audit. The cost of the audit is unclear as it waits for an auditor. The choice of who audits the office lies with Blackmon.
OCSO was not available for comment.
On Monday, Robin Lynn Severance Lopez – the estranged wife of Marcos Lopez – was released from Lake County Jail after her arrest two weeks earlier. She was the sixth person to be arrested for possible involvement in the operations of a multi-million-dollar illegal casino in Kissimmee.
She is charged with a 2nd-degree felony of conspiracy to use and invest proceeds from a racketeer, according to court records. Her defense pleaded not guilty and criticized the prosecution for alleging her involvement in a single email from 2019 with an alleged co-conspirator –the defense argued there was no evidence of a pattern of repeated offenses.
Severance- Lopez has been separated from her husband since 2019, which is also about the time when investigators believe Lopez started the casino enterprise. A divorce between the two was filed in 2023, but is still pending. Severance-Lopez offered a property to her husband to help post his bond.
Marcos Lopez paid a bond of $1 million. He was in Lake County Jail for three weeks until he could verify the money used for the bond was procured through legitimate means.
Lopez is charged with two 2nd-degree felonies for racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketeering during his tenure as sheriff. Investigators said that Lopez operated an illegal casino in Kissimmee known as The Eclipse.
Lopez pleaded not guilty in June following his arrest.
The same day Lopez was arrested, two members of OCSO were fired: executive director Nirva Rodriguez and civilian employee Ruben De Jesus. Rodriguez started her position shortly after Lopez began his role as sheriff. Both were at-will employees. OCSO was not able to confirm if their firings were related to the Lopez investigation.
Lopez is scheduled for a private plea negotiation in August.
