Army vet investigated for sending postcard to Florida officials

A new report has revealed that top Florida officials had a 77-year-old Army veteran investigated for mailing a postcard to the state's chief financial officer that said nothing but "You lack values."

According to Reason, “James O'Gara, a resident of Largo, Florida, was interviewed by detectives from the criminal division of the Florida Department of Financial Services (DFS) last September after he mailed the postcard to Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia's office. The police encounter led to accusations of First Amendment retaliation and government bullying by Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration… An audio recording of detectives' interview with O'Gara shows that they didn't think there was anything wrong with his statement and quickly closed their investigation.”

But when word of the incident began to spread, so did O’Gara’s message. Soon, Ingoglia's office received dozens of postcards from across the country bearing the message: "You lack values."

The investigation was launched on September 15, 2025, when the then-director of the Criminal Investigations Division, Simon Blank, emailed the division's assistant director and lieutenant colonel, saying, “The attached was mailed to the CFO. Can you have someone look into the name and do a threat assessment?" Two weeks later, Lt. Col. James Evangelina wrote to Darrell Wilson, the former chief of the division's Bureau of Fire, Arson and Explosives Investigations, “I'd like a member of our team to arrange a meeting with the individual mentioned to discuss potential avenues for assistance. Additionally, if possible, please verify the sender's identity and evaluate any potential threat level associated with the information provided."

Two detectives visited O’Gara a few days later, telling him, “Look, you didn't do anything wrong. I understand that right now our country's in a very interesting position politically. Everything's polarized and whatnot."

"I have a right to voice my opinion, and I will do so all the more reciprocally because they sent you guys out," said O'Gara.

"I completely support the First Amendment, 100 percent,” the detective replied. “Just being how things are polarized right now politically, anything that's going on with anybody disagreeing with whatever, they're having us check things, stuff like that."

According to Reason, “O'Gara said he'd sent 200 similar postcards to other politicians but had never had any problems before. The detectives remained courteous throughout the interview, comparing Army service records with O'Gara and repeating several times during the conversation that they hadn't seen a threat in his postcard.”

"Yeah, like I said, they're making us check up on things," said one detective. "I looked at your postcard and was like, you didn't do anything wrong."

"I'm pissed that they sent you here," noted O'Gara. "I know it's not your fault. This is totally inappropriate, totally inappropriate."

The detectives left then interviewed two of his neighbors, asking about his behavior. In their report, they said they found “no credible threat,” noting O’Gara’s “displeasure” at being investigated, and concluding, “As a result, he will be sending further correspondence to express his 1st amendment right. He has no intention on escalating to actual threats and will continue to let the CFO know this is wrong."

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