ORLANDO, Fla. – Two Orange County deputies have been disciplined for spreading information following the death of comedian and actor Robert Saget earlier this year, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
News4JAX sister station WKMG in Orlando reported that deputies Emiliano Silva and Steven Reed shared the information with the public before an official release was provided by the sheriff’s office’s public information officer, thus violating the department’s dissemination of information directive, reports show.
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According to the department, Silva — one of the responding deputies at the scene — informed his brother, who then posted the information on Twitter.
An investigation report shows that Reed — who was off-duty at the time — also shared the information with two friends who had gone to one of Saget’s shows.
The report said both deputies released the information before Saget’s wife, Kelly Rizzo, was given the notification about his death, which “resulted in an influx of media inquiries at a time when Mr. Saget’s next-of-kin had not been notified and Homicide Unit detectives had not even arrived at the scene.”
Brian Bieber, the Saget family’s attorney, told WKMG that he was unaware of the deputies being disciplined.
The sheriff’s office has not disclosed the details of Silva’s and Reed’s disciplinary measures.