Nationwide — The Washington household, a outstanding African American household with deep ties to the College of South Florida (USF), is sounding the alarm on what they name a blatant cover-up. On the heart of the scandal are Victor Crist, the Hillsborough County Clerk of Court docket, and his spouse, Angela, a longtime worker of USF.
Collectively, the couple is accused of conspiring to protect USF and its medical doctors from accountability within the wrongful loss of life of Patricia Washington by erasing vital courtroom data. The Florida Supreme Court docket appointed Kemba Lewis, an African American circuit choose, to supervise the case; nevertheless, her first try was to dismiss the case with no listening to.
The Wrongful Loss of life of Patricia Washington
Patricia Washington underwent surgical procedure at Tampa Basic Hospital (TGH), carried out by a surgeon employed by USF Well being. That process left her with an open wound close to her coronary heart, which ultimately turned septic. Regardless of clear medical dangers, the physician refused to shut or deal with the wound. Patricia later died from sepsis, and troublingly, the doctor allowed his medical license to lapse, allegedly after his privileges at TGH have been revoked.
The Washington household filed a verified wrongful loss of life grievance in Hillsborough County, figuring out USF Well being medical doctors and TGH as defendants. The case was initially docketed as 25-CA-2858, with summonses issued to the events. One other associated case, 24-CA-1919, documented presuit compliance notifications, making certain the household had met procedural necessities. However because the two-year statute of limitations deadline loomed, each circumstances instantly vanished from the courtroom’s official document.
Allegations In opposition to Clerk of Court docket Victor Crist
The household’s investigation uncovered that the disappearance of Patricia’s circumstances wasn’t a clerical error—it was deliberate. They accuse Clerk of Court docket Victor Crist of ordering his workplace to delete the filings, successfully erasing Patricia’s wrongful loss of life motion and presuit compliance proof. For a sitting Clerk of Court docket, such an act represents an unprecedented breach of neutrality, changing the courtroom itself into an energetic participant in shielding USF from lawsuits and dangerous publicity.
The Nepotism Connection: Angela Crist at USF
The motive, the Washingtons allege, lies within the Crist household’s ties to USF. Victor’s spouse, Angela, is a longtime worker of the college. USF not solely employs her but in addition employs the very medical doctors at USF Well being and Morsani Faculty of Medication who handled Patricia at TGH earlier than her loss of life. The Washingtons imagine this hyperlink represents a direct battle of curiosity and factors to nepotism as a driving pressure behind the destruction of their authorized filings.
A Sample of Judicial Safety for USF
The household’s ordeal doesn’t cease with the Crists. They cite a broader sample of judges and courtroom officers stepping in to insulate USF from accountability. Retired Choose Gregory P. Holder allegedly manipulated courtroom programs to problem dangerous rulings towards USF critics, whereas Circuit Choose Melissa Polo issued a rare injunction in 2022 that barred the Washingtons from pursuing public data entry towards the college. Federal Choose Steven D. Merryday later bolstered Polo’s order, locking the household out of each state and federal courts.
Requires Federal Investigation
The Washingtons are urging the U.S. Division of Justice and the FBI to widen their lens past Title VI enforcement at USF and straight probe the college’s affect over the Florida judiciary. They argue that the Crist conspiracy—deleting wrongful loss of life filings from official data—must be the place to begin of such an inquiry. The household factors to surveillance footage of Crist and a number of other judges assembly privately with Choose Merryday on June 10, 2025, as additional proof of collusion.
“Court docket officers aren’t purported to conspire with universities to make circumstances disappear,” the household mentioned in a press release. “The deletion of Patricia’s information exhibits simply how far the corruption has unfold, and it can’t stand.”
