City of Boynton Beach begins search for interim mayor after suspension of Jose Rodriguez

The City of Boynton Beach begins its search for the new interim mayor Tuesday night.  This comes after the current mayor turned himself in on charges of corruption.
 
The City of Boynton Beach is set for its first commission meeting without Mayor Jose Rodriguez and those who want his job are making their applications.
 
NewsChannel 5 was the first to show viewers video of Rodriguez turning himself in at the Palm Beach County Jail in late January after Governor Rick Scott suspended him.
 
The probable cause affidavit says Rodriguez used his position as mayor to obstruct an investigation by the Department of Children and Families and Boynton Beach Police.  The departments were looking into allegations of abuse by Rodriguez.  
 
In August of 2011, and January of 2012, the City of Boynton Beach Police Department has reports that state Rodriguez's wife, Sara Marquez, told them Rodriguez had been violent and that she heard him make an inappropriate sexual comment to a juvenile.
 
Tuesday afternoon in a phone conversation with Contact 5 investigator Katie LaGrone, Marquez says she believes her husband is not a criminal and says he never abused his step-daughter. Marquez went on to say that she believes his recent arrest was an act of retaliation by the Boynton Beach Police Department.
 
In an e-mail she wrote to Boynton Beach Police Chief Matt Immler last November, she said personal conversations she had with two detectives in November were recorded without her knowledge. In the e-mail she calls the department’s actions “disgusting (sic).”
 
The email was sent days after the Boynton Beach Police Department opened a criminal investigation into whether the mayor used his position to stop a separate investigation, which alleged he abused his step-daughter.
 
Rodriguez is charged with unlawful compensation or reward for official behavior, solicitation to commit unlawful disclosure of confidential criminal information and resisting, and obstruction or opposing a law enforcement officer.
 
Chief Immler has not commented because the case is still under investigation.
 
The three men who were top runners against Rodriguez in the 2010 election have all stepped forward to say they are interested in the job.  Carly McKoy, Cliff Montross and Brian Edwards each wrote the City Commission about why they deserve the position.
 
The meeting is Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.