During the recent hurricanes that ripped across Florida, Hurricane Irma specifically, an 85-year-old man fell in his home. How or why he fell is a matter of guesswork. Perhaps the fear, the winds and rain, the power outage, the confusion over what to do or his medications caused the fall. He tripped, struck his head on a piece of furniture and he died of his injuries. Who will remember Moe Rosoff? Ethics will!
Moe was an independent man who had a loving family. His family had installed surveillance cameras for his protection, and provided the garage keypad code to the Sherriff’s department “just in case.” Of course, they checked on him and made sure he was not lonely.
On September 12, 2017, the day Moe died, not more than 90 minutes after the paramedics had rushed him to the hospital, Deputy Jason Cooke of the Boynton Beach Sherriff’s Department entered the home. He was able to get the keypad entry numbers. The visit was hardly official to document the accident scene. The motive was robbery.
Adding Insult
In Officer Cooke’s desire to take advantage of a sad situation, he did not notice the security cameras. All he saw was an opportunity to commit fraud.
The officer entered the home in the gated retirement community and started to take advantage of the fact that as a police officer, as someone in trust, he was “the man.” He went directly up to the bedroom and stole money and jewelry then he went down to the kitchen where Mr. Rosoff kept his medications. He stole several medications.
One of the conclusions from his crime spree at Rosoff’s home was that Deputy Jason Cooke was an addict. As he left the residence, the surveillance picked up on the fact that he popped a pill into his mouth. 
After his arrest by the Palm Beach Police Department (following the Rosoff family turning over the tapes to their detectives), a search of Officer Cooke’s squad car revealed Vyvanse, a stimulant, pain killer Tramadol Hydrochloride, Proclorperazine Maleate an anti-psychotic drug and another drug which was a muscle relaxant. Mr. Rosoff was not taking all of those drugs; he was in fairly good health. Jason Cooke had been routinely robbing the homes of the dead.
Following his arrest, Cooke was sent to rehab to get the drugs out of his system. Following his arrest, the bail was set at $28,000 and he went on house arrest pending trial.
The Need and The Rationalization
We know the need. The fact that Cooke was addicted to pain-killers and tranquilizers makes him no different than any other addict with one obvious exception: he was a law enforcement officer who carries a gun. A mistake in judgment while he was high would have been catastrophic.
The far more interesting dynamic here is how Officer Cooke was able to rationalize his lack of ethics. In his mind he could have figured that an elderly person such as Rosoff simply had no importance to anyone. Rosoff had passed and in Cooke’s mind Rosoff was “rich” in his house and gated community and that he had money to spare. Somehow, Cooke might have rationalized in some twisted sense that he deserved it. The money and the jewelry were there for his taking.
I am fairly certain that he did not consider that Rosoff had a loving family. In fact, he probably didn’t consider much of anything. He thought “drugs” and “money to buy drugs,” and nothing ethical mattered.
Ethics and ethical behavior are concepts easily spouted in police academy coursework. We are told that in law enforcement there are many gray areas. This seems to be as much urban legend and made for television fantasy as reality. I cannot imagine if 100 police officers saw Cooke rummaging for money through the home of a man who only a couple hours before had passed away, that more than a tiny percentage would have even approached “justification.”
As Cooke is sentenced for his theft and addiction, Moe Rosoff’s name will probably not be uttered very much, but make no mistake that he will be present in an ethical sense. We all have choices to make. He will now learn the consequences of his actions. Who will remember Moe Rosoff? Ethics will!
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