Orlando Health Melbourne Hospital security issued an order this month to trespass former Brevard County Commissioner John Tobia if he tried to enter the hospital facility, citing concerns that he’d allegedly misrepresented himself on two occasions to gain access since the beginning of the year.
Tobia denied that, saying he was enrolled as an EMT student with Orlando Medical Institute based in Orange County. He told FLORIDA TODAY he was recently assigned to go to Melbourne Hospital as part of his coursework, and provided an email that documented that assignment.
“I received an email from the school for an assignment at that location. The email was sent to me on Dec. 23, so there is context about me being at the location,” Tobia said.
The Orlando Health Melbourne Hospital security document is a single page BOLO (Be on the Lookout) warning. The document said Tobia presented himself to the hospital on New Year’s Day as an EMT student who was there to complete his clinical requirements. He was granted entry and spent more than 24 hours there, leaving with his paperwork signed, the document said. It said he returned on January 8, bypassing security by presenting himself as a physician’s intern.
“None of his representations were true and he fraudulently entered the facility on both occasions,” said the warning, which has been shared widely on social media. “This subject should be trespassed if he again enters Orlando Health property.”
Tobia said the hospital had not contacted him about the warning or the possibility of being trespassed. He said police had also not contacted him. A check with the Melbourne Police Department shows no record of any trespass orders.
Melbourne Hospital’s spokesperson, asked directly about the document, issued a statement in response that did not mention either the commissioner or the BOLO.
“The safety and security of our patients and team members are our top priority,” Kena Lewis, spokesperson for Orlando Health, said in an email sent to FLORIDA TODAY about the security alert involving Tobia.
“Unauthorized access to any Orlando Health facility is not tolerated. We take this situation very seriously and have launched a thorough investigation,” Lewis stated without elaborating.
Tobia told FLORIDA TODAY that he forwarded the security document to his lawyer Bryan Lober, also a former Brevard County Commissioner.
“I didn’t know anything about it,” Tobia told FLORIDA TODAY.
Tobia is a former two-term Republican county commissioner and Florida House representative for District 53.
When asked further about the descriptions in the document, Tobia said: “I’ve answered enough questions.”
Tobia had recommended FLORIDA TODAY talk to Dr. Kevin Frells of Melbourne Hospital’s emergency medicine department. Frells declined to comment on the case, referring requests for information to the hospital’s public relations department.
Lober initially questioned whether the document was real and stated that someone with a disagreement with Tobia may have published the information. The document, for example, says it was issued on January 8, 1925, instead of 2025. Multiple people reported seeing the document posted at the hospital.
“Upon information and belief, the so-called B.O.L.O. contains factually inaccurate information. Given that the drafter could not even list the date correctly, how much confidence should anyone have in the accuracy of the allegations? If what was alleged actually occurred, law enforcement would have been called. Where’s the police report?” Lober said in an email to FLORIDA TODAY.
Before his term expired on the county commission, Tobia was at the center of an ethics-related complaint. Last year, Tobia resigned from his tenured, $100,000 Valencia College teaching position after school investigators determined Tobia used Brevard County staff to help with his course work teaching history, including writing class materials, and complete grading.
The college determined that Tobia had used taxpayer-funded staffers to assist with his educational work for several years, including during the time he was serving in Tallahassee as a representative.
J.D. Gallop is a criminal justice/breaking news reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Gallop at 321-917-4641 or jgallop@floridatoday.com. Or X, formerly known as Twitter: @JDGallop.