77-Year-Old Florida Veteran Investigated For Sending an Official a Postcard Saying 'You Lack Values'
High-level state officials launched a threat investigation over a harmless postcard to Florida's chief financial officer.
Public records show that high-ranking Florida officials were behind a recent threat investigation into a 77-year-old Army veteran. The reason for the investigation: a postcard to the state's chief financial officer that simply read, "You lack values."
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.
Records released by the DFS to Reason shed light on the internal decision to investigate O'Gara, his interview with detectives, and the ensuing public backlash. 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. After local and state media covered the incident, Ingoglia's office received dozens of postcards from all over the country with the same message: "You lack values."
The investigation started on September 15, 2025, when Simon Blank, the former director of the Criminal Investigations Division, emailed the division's assistant director and lieutenant colonel. "The attached was mailed to the CFO," Blank wrote. "Can you have someone look into the name and do a threat assessment?"
The order filtered down the chain of command. Lt. Col. James Evangelina wrote to Darrell Wilson, the former chief of the division's Bureau of Fire, Arson and Explosives Investigations, on September 29, 2025. "I'd like a member of our team to arrange a meeting with the individual mentioned to discuss potential avenues for assistance," Evangelina wrote. "Additionally, if possible, please verify the sender's identity and evaluate any potential threat level associated with the information provided."
Two detectives from the Criminal Investigations Division arrived at O'Gara's house on October 1, 2025. After briefly speaking to O'Gara's wife, the detectives introduced themselves to O'Gara and began by telling him he wasn't in any trouble.
"I guess you sent a letter to the chief financial officer for the Florida Department of Finance and Services a little while back," one of the detectives said.
"A postcard," O'Gara interjected.
"Yeah, look, you didn't do anything wrong," the detective said. "I understand that right now our country's in a very interesting position politically. Everything's polarized and whatnot."
O'Gara acknowledged that he wrote the postcard, and asked: If he did nothing wrong, why were they talking to him?
"I have a right to voice my opinion, and I will do so all the more reciprocally because they sent you guys out," O'Gara said.
"I completely support the First Amendment, 100%," the detective said. "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."
The detectives asked if there was any other message O'Gara was trying to convey with his postcard or would like to convey.
"No," O'Gara said. "His values suck. That's all I said."
The detectives and O'Gara briefly talked about their frustrations with Ingoglia's "DOGE" initiative targeting alleged wasteful spending by county and local governments in the state.
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," one of the detectives said. "I looked at your postcard and was like, you didn't do anything wrong."
"I'm pissed that they sent you here," O'Gara said. "I know it's not your fault. This is totally inappropriate, totally inappropriate."
The detectives thanked O'Gara for his service and left. The records show they also interviewed two of his neighbors to ask about his behavior.
In their follow-up reports to superiors, the detectives, both of whose names were redacted from the records, found no credible threat toward Ingoglia.
"He expressed his displeasure regarding the CFO sending law enforcement to his home since the nobody else has come to see him," One of the detectives wrote. "He did not blame us (Law Enforcement) and knows we are just doing our job. 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."
After state and local media picked up the story, Ingoglia denied seeing the postcard or ordering the investigation.
"I had no idea," Ingoglia said in an interview with News 6. "I did not see the postcard. I had no idea that they were looking at the postcard and looking into the background. I had no idea that they were visiting."
"I don't know what prompted the investigation, but what I can tell you is that I did not order the investigation," Ingoglia continued. "I do understand that law enforcement—their job is to make sure that we are protecting elected officials."
When News 6 asked Ingoglia if he believed the note constituted a threat, Ingoglia initially denied knowing what the postcard said. When the reporter told Ingoglia, he responded, "Yeah, but I'm sure that's not the only thing,"
The records released by DFS do not show any involvement from Ingoglia. Blanks' initial email triggering the investigation included a forwarded a message from an automated "no-reply" email account managed by DFS. The attached message was not included in the released records.
Following the media coverage, the records show, Ingoglia's office was flooded with dozens of postcards, all of which contained variations of "you lack values." Reason did not count the exact number of postcards, but DFS released approximately 700 pages of documents. While many were sent from Florida cities, such as Orlando, Tampa, and Jacksonville, some were postmarked from as far away as California, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania.
"Mr. Ingoglia, I agree with James O'Gara of Largo who wisely & eloquently noted 'you lack values!'" one Orlando resident wrote on a postcard. "You're a bully and a hypocrite."
The documents also show that on October 1, 2025, O'Gara wrote another missive to Ingoglia's office: "Your intimidation failed! You've proved your lack of principles + incompetence."
A DFS spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Reason that O'Hara's postcard "was received within days of the brutal and tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk, during a period of heightened vigilance for law enforcement agencies responsible for assessing potential threats to public officials."
"The Department of Financial Services and the CFO have always respected Floridians' First Amendment rights, and the Department has continued to receive postcards from the O'Garas and other constituents on a regular basis," the statement continued. "The Department has also updated its threat assessment processes within the Criminal Investigations Division."
Blank and Wilson have both retired from the agency.
