Photo for Headline Surfer / Above, Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood is a frequent guest of the Marc Bernier Show on WNDB AM where he is given a promotional spot called "Ask the Sherif," which replaced "Asked the Chief," when Chitwood won the 2016 promary for the elected office of Sheriff of Volusia County. DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- WNDB's Marc Bernier was initially dumbfounded when he took the brief call Thursday just before 6 p.m.
And when the call ended -- the announcement delivered -- Bernier got defensive in the waning minutes of his radio show after the Headline Surfer head's up that it was working on a big story over the weekend with law enforcement sources cited that "Sheriff Mike Chitwood was actually doing 85 in a 55," when he was pulled over Jan. 20 by one of his own deputies, but not issued a ticket until later that day.
The internet news outlet's call was made during Bernier's closing minutes of his "radio roulette" feature where Snap's 1990 song "I've Got the Power" blares in the background while he fields calls from his listeners with their witticisms and his retorts to close the talk show. The Headline Surfer stories on Chitwood's ticket will begin on Monday.
Before moving on to one final caller who joked cars were speeding on the track at Daytona, Bernier was taken aback by the Headline Surfer call, saying in part, "85 in a 55, wonder what that's all about?"
Then it dawned on the talk radio host that he was unable to protect Chitwood, at least for one brief call. Then without giving his listeners the benefit of context of any kind, Bernier cried foul, saying Headlie Surfer used his forum to promote a story against Chitwood, and defiantly claimed, "Henry Frederick has it in for Sheriff Mike Chitwood."
Marc Bernier has coddled and protected Chitwood for years as chief of the Daytona Beach police force, creating a bias that promotes Chitwood regardless who of he has verbally attacked. Bernier is part of an inner circle that promotes and protects the newly-elected sheriff. Like much of the media in Volusia County, Bernier promotes Chitwood's point of view, regardless of where he stands on an issue or a situation, even when he's in the wrong.
Then it dawned on the talk radio host that he was unable to protect Chitwood, at least for one brief call. Then without giving his listeners the benefit of context of any kind, Bernier cried foul, saying Headlie Surfer used his forum to promote a story against Chitwood, and defiantly claimed, "Henry Frederick has it in for Sheriff Mike Chitwood."
Marc Bernier has coddled and protected Chitwood for years as chief of the Daytona Beach police force, creating a bias that promotes Chitwood regardless who of he has verbally attacked. Bernier is part of an inner circle that promotes and protects the newly-elected sheriff. Like much of the media in Volusia County, Bernier promotes Chitwood's point of view, regardless of where he stands on an issue or a situation, even when he's in the wrong.
Daytona's then-top cop goes on Bernier and calls ex-sergeant with alleged nude photos a 'piece of work'
Headline Surfer video / The video contains a recording of then-Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood, accompanied by City Manager Jim Chisholm, appearing in August 2013, on 'The Marc Bernier Show' on WNDB AM radio during which the Chitwood continues piling on former Sgt. Penny Dane about alleged nude photos that led to her forced resignation. Even in trying to show compassion for Dane, a mother of two children now unemployed, the police chief can't help himself in denigrating her even further as the recording demonstrates.
Not content with using the Central Florida media outlets to humiliate a 17-year Daytona Beach cop who left the police force after nude photos of her surfaced, then-Police Chief Michael Chitwood went on WNDB's "The Marc Bernier Show" in August 2013, and added more insult to injury, describing former Sgt. Penny Dane as "a piece of work." He then caught himself, adding in mid-sentence, that she was "a work in progress as a sergeant, that was a freudian slip -- probably."
Chitwood took to the mid-afternoon radio show hoping for damage control, knowing all too well Headline Surfer had an exclusive interview with Dane after several Orlando TV stations and the Daytona Beach News-Journal all took the acerbic police chief at his word without any independent reporting of their own.
Not content with using the Central Florida media outlets to humiliate a 17-year Daytona Beach cop who left the police force after nude photos of her surfaced, then-Police Chief Michael Chitwood went on WNDB's "The Marc Bernier Show" in August 2013, and added more insult to injury, describing former Sgt. Penny Dane as "a piece of work." He then caught himself, adding in mid-sentence, that she was "a work in progress as a sergeant, that was a freudian slip -- probably."
Chitwood took to the mid-afternoon radio show hoping for damage control, knowing all too well Headline Surfer had an exclusive interview with Dane after several Orlando TV stations and the Daytona Beach News-Journal all took the acerbic police chief at his word without any independent reporting of their own.Chitwood, after the Freudian slip, told Bernier, "The sad thing is she has two young kids, she's not an evil person."
That was far from the tenor Chitwood had when he was holding court with TV camera crews -- one after another for two straight days, claiming Dane had uploaded hundreds of nude photos, including some with her posing semi-nude while playing an online adult game on city computers while she was on duty at her assigned office desk and in her patrol car.
Dane's departure was first reported July 25 by WFTV channel 9 reporter Blaine Tollison. But with each media interview, Chitwood's story changed. First, he told reporters Dane not only sent emails of herself nude, but also semi-nude photos of herself in Daytona Beach PD attire.
None of the reports called into question Chitwood's assertion that the nude photos were discovered after an unfounded complaint that a supervisor was harassing her. As it turns out, that supervisor was her former fiancé, Lt. Tom Pera, who, according to Dane, texted her 500 times and dozens of other times called her and her mother during off-work hours while drunk. And the nearly 300 photos of Dane that Chitrwood said she uploaded of herself ended up being a mere half dozen. The others were stock photos from porn websites she had in her e-mail. Pera, who is married to a female Daytona cop, but going through a divorce, has not returned calls for comment.
In the second day of Chitwood feeding the TV cameras cameras, he Chitwood changed his story to say photos later appeared of her semi-nude and in uniform after her departure from the police force in June.
Bernier had no comment when contacted by Headline Surfer the following morning regarding Chitwood's appearance