Editor’s note: This story has been updated since its original publication to include a comment from a Miami-Dade spokeswoman received after deadline.
Thinkstream trustee David Rubin is going after two high-profile law-enforcement entities that allegedly have not paid for services provided by the bankrupt Baton Rouge software firm, seeking $527,000 from the Louisiana Sheriff’s Association and $610,900 from Miami-Dade County.
In one complaint filed in Baton Rouge federal bankruptcy court, Rubin alleges the LSA, a powerful lobbying organization for all 64 sheriffs offices in Louisiana, has neglected to pay in full for a customized “Criminal History Inquiry Automated Solution” project, or for its $256,000 annual maintenance and support contract dating back to January 2013.
Rubin notes that he demanded LSA pay for just the first year of support and maintenance, but “LSA has failed and refused to release payment to the trustee. The trustee now makes demand on LSA for the two years of support and maintenance payments.”
Through a spokesperson, LSA Executive Director Mike Ranatza tells Daily Report the organization has a “strict policy” against commenting on any pending litigation.
In a separate complaint, Rubin alleges Miami-Dade County hasn’t yet paid in full for automated prisoner processing software Thinkstream provided in 2013. Total cost of the project was more than $1.3 million, but to date, Rubin says, the Florida county still owes $610,900 for the software and has lied about its reason for not paying the bill.
According to Rubin, the county had federal grant funds for the project in hand, but instead of paying Thinkstream, returned them to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which administered the award.
“On one or more occasions, the county represented to Thinkstream that the contract balance could not be paid due to the absence of grant funds,” Rubin writes. “Based on information provided to the trustee, such representations were untruthful.”
Rubin also notes that in August, the county issued a purchase order to Thinkstream for $456,000, but the company has yet to receive any payments.
In addition to asking the federal bankruptcy judge to order the county to pay up, Rubin also asks that Miami-Dade’s use of Thinkstream software be terminated.
In an email, county spokeswoman Inson Kim tells Daily Report she is “not familiar with this issue and [I] need to look into this.”
Thinkstream is widely known for building a network that allowed criminal justice agencies to instantly access information from one another’s databases—arrest warrants, criminal histories, mugshots, fingerprints, aliases and more—from laptops and mobile devices. The Baton Rouge tech firm’s apps are used by nearly every law enforcement agency in Louisiana, as well as those in six other states and a handful of the nation’s top federal agencies. The company—forced into bankruptcy in August—is strapped with $21 million in debt, with 200 creditors and more than 500 equity interest holders, including retired NBA star Shaquille O’Neal and D.C. lobbying firm The Livingston Group.
—Penny Font
