From: Corrado, Brandon
Sent: Monday, April 7, 2025 2:35 PM
To: Jenkins, Erin
Cc: Gill Sanabria, Jose
Subject: 48024972 Pesticide Spray
Follow Up Flag: Follow up
Flag Status: Completed
Erin,
Dave Costa, 48024972, had called me to report that his neighbor had hired a pest control company
to spray a swarm that was on her property. Now, Dave is finding dead bees all around his nearby
hives, including bees behaving erratically inside the hives. He claims this was done intentionally
and believes that the spraying was done illegally. Please refer this case to AES. He would like his
property to be tested for pesticides, including a bottlebrush bush that the bees feed from, a koi
pond that is their water source, and the frames and honey within them. He claims that the pest
control company responsible is Florida Pest Control. Regardless, I will be visiting the property
located at 9695 SE 157th Ln, Summerfield, FL 34491 tomorrow at 1:00pm to see for myself and
check for any pathogens that could have caused the bee deaths instead. I have another inspection
before that at 10:00am at 12408 SE 100th Ct, Belleview, FL 34420.
Thank you,
Brandon Corrado
Apiary Inspector
Division of Plant Industry
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
From: Corrado, Brandon
Sent: Wednesday, April 9, 2025 8:28 AM
To: Jenkins, Erin
Subject: Dave Costa Conversation
Hey Erin,
You had asked me yesterday to send you the details of what was discussed with Dave Costa when
you weren’t around. I don’t remember the specifics, but in general they were asking me if it was
legal to film their neighbor’s property when they were looking over the fence after the officers went
next door. I had told them that it was not my call to make. They were also horrified after I opened
the hive closest to the fence and was looking at the pile of dead bees on the bottom board. I had
mentioned that I did not find the queen’s body, and I pointed out that I was also finding the bodies
of yellowjackets amongst the bees. Finally, they continued to vent their displeasure at the attitude
of the AES inspector. Let me know if you need any other details.
Thank you,
Brandon Corrado
Apiary Inspector
Division of Plant Industry
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
From: Newton, Michele
Sent: Tuesday, April 8, 2025 2:14 PM
To: Sumner, Daniel
Cc: Michelle Diaz-Laboy;Bee Kill EPA;Allee, Timothy;Bergquist, John;Bixler, Keith;Brown,
Amy;Bryant, Craig;Coffield, Todd;Cooper, James;Davis, Cyndi;Everton, Jerry;Frazier, Courtney;Friend,
Kelly;Guerra, Robert;Walters, Harris;Hayslip, George;Sudano, Hyatt;James, Tamara;Lucas, Patty;Mcghee,
Jim;Mompeller, Natalia;Newton, Michele;Poole, Rachel;Richmond, Neil;Rockhill, Paul;Rygiel, Paul;Rygiel,
Teresa;Thomas, Shaness;Silver, Claudette;Singh, Rashmi;Sudano, Hyatt;Tompkins, Trevor;Van Hook,
Blake;Walters, Michael;Watts, Jeffery;Wesley, James;White Jr, Thomas;Whitley, Deborah;Wilson, Delta
Subject: Alleged Bee Kill: 325-195-2074 Florida Pest Control REF
Attachments: 325-195-2074.docx
Subject:
Mr. Dave Costa contacted the Department regarding his bee’s dying. Mr. Costa’s neighbor, Ms.
Cynthia Burton, had contracted Florida Pest Control to spray the bee’s that had flown into her back
yard and were on her hammock on March 27th, 2025. Mr. Costa noticed shortly after that time that
his bee’s were not acting normal.
Conduct a use investigation and document any violations of the Florida Pesticide Law and
Rules. Obtain full documentation of any violations that you find, including affidavits, photographs,
samples, etc. as appropriate. Coordinate with the department’s local apiary inspector.
Collect dead bees, wax, vegetation and soil samples if appropriate, and swab samples
from the hives. Document any pesticides used in the area, including the beekeeper. Obtain
full documentation of any violations that you find, including affidavits, photographs,
samples, etc., as appropriate.
If physical samples are collected, please e-mail copies of the Sample Collection Reports to
George Hayslip.
File Name:
Florida Pest Control
File Number:
325-195-2074
Please note: If file name needs to be changed, contact the referral coordinators to make the
appropriate changes to the file to reflect the name of the parties involved.
Michele
Michele L. Newton
Environmental Specialist III
Bureau of Inspection and Incidence Response
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
From: Newton, Michele
Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2025 9:05 AM
To: Sumner, Daniel;Newton, Michele;Harris, Ed
Cc: Michelle Diaz-Laboy;Bee Kill EPA;Allee, Timothy;Bergquist, John;Bixler, Keith;Brown,
Amy;Bryant, Craig;Coffield, Todd;Cooper, James;Davis, Cyndi;Everton, Jerry;Frazier, Courtney;Friend,
Kelly;Guerra, Robert;Walters, Harris;Hayslip, George;Sudano, Hyatt;James, Tamara;Lucas, Patty;Mcghee,
Jim;Mompeller, Natalia;Poole, Rachel;Richmond, Neil;Rockhill, Paul;Rygiel, Paul;Rygiel, Teresa;Thomas,
Shaness;Silver, Claudette;Singh, Rashmi;Sudano, Hyatt;Tompkins, Trevor;Van Hook, Blake;Walters,
Michael;Watts, Jeffery;Wesley, James;White Jr, Thomas;Whitley, Deborah;Wilson, Delta
Subject: RE: Alleged Bee Kill: 325-195-2074 Florida Pest Control REF
PLEASE BE ADVISED, TH IS WORK REQUEST HAS BEEN VOIDED.
Michele
From: Newton, Michele
Sent: Tuesday, April 8, 2025 2:14 PM
To: Sumner, Daniel <Daniel.Sumner@fdacs.gov>
Cc: Michelle Diaz-Laboy <diazlaboy.michelle@epa.gov>; Bee Kill EPA <beekill@epa.gov>; Allee, Timothy
<Timothy.Allee@fdacs.gov>; Bergquist, John <John.Bergquist@fdacs.gov>; Bixler, Keith
<Keith.Bixler@fdacs.gov>; Brown, Amy <Amy.Brown@fdacs.gov>; Bryant, Craig
<Craig.Bryant@fdacs.gov>; Coffield, Todd <Todd.Coffield@fdacs.gov>; Cooper, James
<James.Cooper@fdacs.gov>; Davis, Cyndi <Cynthia.Davis@fdacs.gov>; Everton, Jerry
<Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov>; Frazier, Courtney <Courtney.Frazier@fdacs.gov>; Friend, Kelly
<Kelly.Friend@fdacs.gov>; Guerra, Robert <Robert.Guerra@fdacs.gov>; Harris Walters
<harris.walters@freshfromflorida.com>; Hayslip, George <George.Hayslip@fdacs.gov>; Hyatt Sudano
<hyatt.sudano@freshfromflorida.com>; James, Tamara <Tamara.James@fdacs.gov>; Lucas, Patty
<Patricia.Lucas@fdacs.gov>; Mcghee, Jim <James.McGhee@fdacs.gov>; Mompeller, Natalia
<Natalia.Mompeller@fdacs.gov>; Newton, Michele <Michele.Newton@fdacs.gov>; Poole, Rachel
<Rachel.Matthews@fdacs.gov>; Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>; Rockhill, Paul
<Paul.Rockhill@fdacs.gov>; Rygiel, Paul <Paul.Rygiel@fdacs.gov>; Rygiel, Teresa
<Teresa.Rygiel@fdacs.gov>; Shaness Thomas <shaness.thomas@freshfromflorida.com>; Silver,
Claudette <Claudette.Silver@fdacs.gov>; Singh, Rashmi <Rashmi.Singh@fdacs.gov>; Sudano, Hyatt
<Hyatt.Sudano@fdacs.gov>; Tompkins, Trevor <Trevor.Tompkins@fdacs.gov>; Van Hook, Blake
<Blake.VanHook@fdacs.gov>; Walters, Michael <Michael.Walters@fdacs.gov>; Watts, Jeffery
<Jeffery.Watts@fdacs.gov>; Wesley, James <James.Wesley@fdacs.gov>; White, Thomas
<thomas.white@freshfromflorida.com>; Whitley, Deborah <Deborah.Whitley@fdacs.gov>; Wilson,
Delta <Delta.Thomas@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Alleged Bee Kill: 325-195-2074 Florida Pest Control REF
Subject:
Mr. Dave Costa contacted the Department regarding his bee s dying. Mr. Costa s neighbor, Ms.
Cynthia Burton, had contracted Florida Pest Control to spray the bee s that had flown into her back
yard and were on her hammock on March 27th, 2025. Mr. Costa noticed shortly after that time that
his bee s were not acting normal.
Conduct a use investigation and document any violations of the Florida Pesticide Law and
Rules. Obtain full documentation of any violations that you find, including affidavits, photographs,
samples, etc. as appropriate. Coordinate with the department s local apiary inspector.
Collect dead bees, wax, vegetation and soil samples if appropriate, and swab samples
from the hives. Document any pesticides used in the area, including the beekeeper. Obtain
full documentation of any violations that you find, including affidavits, photographs,
samples, etc., as appropriate.
If physical samples are collected, please e-mail copies of the Sample Collection Reports to
George Hayslip.
File Name:
Florida Pest Control
File Number:
325-195-2074
Please note: If file name needs to be changed, contact the referral coordinators to make the
appropriate changes to the file to reflect the name of the parties involved.
Michele
Michele L. Newton
Environmental Specialist III
Bureau of Inspection and Incidence Response
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
From: Poirier, Michelle
Sent: Friday, April 11, 2025 1:46 PM
To: Rygiel, Teresa
Subject: Pesticide samples for 325-199-2129
Attachments: PHY NO 041025-2129-0101 PSCR.pdf; PHY NO 041025-2129-0102 PSCR.pdf; PHY NO
041025-2129-0103 PSCR.pdf; PHY NO 041025-2129-0104 PSCR.pdf; PHY NO 041025-2129-0105 PSCR.pdf
Good afternoon, Teresa,
James may have already made it to you to drop these samples off… but here are the collection reports.
On the PSCRs we specified to check for Fipronil and “Neonicotinoids”. There was not a specific
neonicotinoid product that the complainant mentioned, so we were not able to specify more than that.
The pesticide application that we are investigating with this case was an application of Fipronil. Please
let me know if there are any questions!
Respectfully,
Michelle Poirier
Environmental Specialist II
Bureau of Inspection and Incident Response
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
From: Wesley, James
Sent: Monday, April 14, 2025 11:40 AM
To: Poirier, Michelle
Subject: FW: Compliant form
Fyi
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Saturday, April 12, 2025 12:18 PM
To: Wesley, James <James.Wesley@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Compliant form
You don't often get email from dave@wesealgrout.com. Learn why this is important
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Hi Mr. Wesley,
We have not received the form to file a complaint against Dan. I hope it has a lot of space.
We also have not heard from anyone after confirming what Fl Pest Control used and when
they used it for the last month. I'm trying to figure out how to destroy these infected hives
and I don't want to release toxic fumes into my neighborhood. I wish I had a freezer big
enough to put them in. I've been worried that hive beetles, wax moths, ants, and more
would take over in my dead hives that are full of honey, but there is no evidence of insects
besides the few hive beetles I see regularly on the inside of the lid. I don't see any other
honeybees robbing of the 100's of pounds of unprotected honey. It's very odd.
If fibronil is a slow kill, how did it kill the pile of dead bees I saw just hours after it was
sprayed? Would that not defeat the purpose? Dead bees cannot be social and infect the
hive and flowers. Same with Injured bees that cannot return to their hives and forage. Did
the tech not take the bees, because they weren't supposed to die there?
The 2 inspectors that came out Thursday were polar opposites of Dan. They had bee suits,
were very informative, and reflected what your mission statement on the website. There
was no stress and I never even thought about calling the sheriff. They spent time informing
my neighbor about honeybees and how important they are instead of telling her to
use the word Anaphylaxis to make me have to move my hives. They were great. If you need
to pick someone for The Department Of Government Efficiency to investigate, Dan is your
man. He is the poster child of inefficiency and his report compared to the 2nd (more
thorough) inspection will prove it.
I overnighted my Application for Pesticide Notification, but it appears as if nobody has
picked up the mail.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
From: Poirier, Michelle
Sent: Monday, April 14, 2025 12:10 PM
To: Wesley, James
Subject: RE: Compliant form
Attachments: 053883-00279-20200617.pdf
James,
Thank you for sharing. I’m glad that we could be a positive experience for Mr. Costa.
With regards to his “how to handle the possibly contaminated honey” question; he may be able to
harvest it as he normally would and hold it in a quarantine area until it is cleared or condemned. I know
the honey remaining in the hive unprotected is a concern of his. From the product label, there is no
specific way to handle “contaminated” items other than to wash fabrics (i.e. clothing) and clean non-
fabrics items that may have had product (concentrated or diluted) spilled on them. It does not mention
HOW to clean the items. In the case of a spill, the label says to soak up the product with
sand/earth/suitable material and dispose of it as “pesticide waste”. I have attached the label to see
what your thoughts are. My interpretation is that if he collected the honey as he normally would (while
wearing PPE appropriate to the label) that he could bring this to a hazardous waste facility for disposal
should it be determined to be contaminated. It sounds like the hive boxes could be cleaned or disposed
of in the same way, depending on his level of concern.
Best,
Michelle Poirier
Environmental Specialist II
Bureau of Inspection and Incident Response
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
From: Wesley, James
Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2025 1:27 PM
To: Richmond, Neil
Cc: Bergquist, John
Subject: FW: Daniel Sumner Complaint- Costa Honey Farm/ Dave Costa
Attachments: Daniel Sumner complaint additional info
Neil,
Good afternoon, I received the following email from Mr. Dave Costa discussing a concern that he
had with Inspector Daniel Sumner. Mr. Costa sent me a subsequent email to add additional
information to his original statement. Please see the attached email for that information. Thank
you.
James E. Wesley
Natural Science Manager
Bureau of Inspection and Incident Response
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
(850) 528-5354 Cell
(386) 853-6430 Office
James.Wesley@fdacs.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable
by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered
public and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the
laws of the State of Florida.
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Monday, April 14, 2025 4:20 PM
To: Wesley, James <James.Wesley@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Daniel Sumner Complaint- Costa Honey Farm/ Dave Costa
You don't often get email from dave@wesealgrout.com. Learn why this is important
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Complaint against Daniel Sumner, FDACS pesticide inspector.
He was late and strolled up slowly with no introduction until I approached the stranger in
my back yard.
He acted like he didn t want to be there.
He was extremely dismissive to my requests and fought me and my fianc every step of the
way.
He didn t know how to spell Fipronil or Neonicotinoid.
Before starting the inspections, I asked the inspectors if any of them had authority to enter
her property to collect the bees, because I thought my neighbor would not cooperate. This
is because when my fianc (Bridget Saunders) told my neighbor that we have piles of dead
bees and we needed to know who sprayed the swarm with no comb, she caught a nasty
attitude and said she would call to have bees sprayed every time they are in her yard. My
apiary is 5yrs old and the house she s renting is less than 1yr old. Instead of Dan telling my
neighbor that if she were afraid of and allergic to honeybees, it was not a good idea to rent
a home directly next to a commercial apiary, where the builder put the driveway and garage
5 away from 12 tall bottlebrush bushes lining the front yard, an electric smart meter as
close to the hives as possible (10-12 ), and screen room door opening on the apiary
side. Instead, he told her about using the specific word Anaphylaxis so we would have
to move the established apiary. This infuriated Erin, my fianc , and myself. It s on Sgt.
Warren s bodycam. Is he allowed to do this? Why was he nice and cooperative with the
neighbor and the opposite towards me?
He refused to inspect the pile of dead bees because the tech said he used Fipronil and by
law the bees must be removed, so there are no dead bees to inspect. I told him I saw the
pile the day it was sprayed and earlier the day of inspection. He argued that there are no
bees and that s when I told him Brandon (apiary inspector) climbed a step or 2 on the 8
ladder I had securely placed next to the fence for easy viewing. He refused to climb a step
or 2 to see over the fence. He refused to ask my neighbor to inspect the bee kill site. This is
when I called the Sheriff, so the Sherif could escort the inspectors to the kill site in my
neighbor s yard. If he knew the law, why did he ignore it?
He did not collect any bees from the kill site, but Erin did. Erin said she gave the bees to
Michelle (pesticide inspector) to give to James Wesley. I don t know what Dan did when he
gained access, besides telling my neighbor to say Anaphylaxis.
He ignored the smoking gun, which is the pile of dead bees, because the label is the law
and the label for Fipronil states that the kill must be removed.
He ignored the fact that Fipronil is a slow kill, yet there was a large pile of bees (Erin
Supervisor for Apiary inspectors estimated 2000 dead bees in the pile) still on the ground
after almost 2 weeks. Why did he not question why a slow kill poison acted as a
knockdown?
He ignored previous treatments, such as lawn spray, which I believe either drifted or was
lazily sprayed over my fence and directly hit 2-3 hives. I m thinking this direct hit with lawn
spray caused a swarm, then the swarm with no comb was sprayed on the hammock with
Fipronil, which is now slowly killing the rest of my livestock and murdering my
neighborhood s ecosystem.
He ignored that there were no hive beetles or wax moths overtaking the dead hives, when
those are issues destroying average and apparently healthy hives.
He was on the phone with someone who was directing him to ask what I ve used in the
hives. He even said that he needed to be sure I did not spray my hives . While forcefully
ignoring the smoking gun. I want to know who he was on the phone with.
When filling out the report, Dan showed us a printed out copy of Taurus SC and said that s
what the tech said he used. My fianc was reading it over as I was giving my
statement. She read aloud the part about removal. This is when it clicked in my head that
Dan told us that there would be no bees, because it s the law to remove them. Dan then
lied and said he never said that. He argued with my fianc and me that he never said
it. How would I know it if he didn t say it and use it as the reason to not inspect the kill
site? I already signed his report, so I had to argue with him to add to the report that there
was a pile of dead bees. Why did I have to argue to have the report include the smoking
gun? He made an addendum just for the pile of bees at the kill site.
After he argued with us about the information in the Taurus SC for a long while, the told us
that it may not have been Taurus SC, it may be a different brand with fipronil. I then argued
that it doesn t matter which brand, because the active ingredient is Fipronil. He argued it
wasn t. Sgt. Warren s bodycam footage shows this clearly. The bodycam footage alone
shows him acting like he works for Rentokil.
Sgt Warren asked Dan to just take the samples besides just dead bees. He refused her
request, on bodycam. He wasted 2.5 hours of everyone s time.
He had no sense of urgency to remove the infected bees acting like a bowl of antifreeze for
stray animals. He said he would tell Fl Pest control that it would be a good idea to move
them. Not tell them that the Fipronil is attracting bees and possibly killing my livestock and
we need them removed now, since it s an admitted illegal application.
He acted like misuse of Fipronil is not a big deal.
I requested that James Wesley run Dan s investigation and compare it to Michelle s to
prove that he is either an extremely lazy and unknowledgeable 46yr employee or corrupt. I
would like to request that the Department Of Government Efficiency look into Dan. I asked
him if he worked for or was paid by FL Pest and Rentokil, plus my fianc wondered if he
worked for Monsanto, because he acted so corrupt and blatantly ignored the smoking gun
while hindering 3 official investigations. He was not a reflection of FDAC s mission
statement and did not follow SOP. Maybe it s not him directly being paid off, it might be a
family member like we are seeing in many political corruption cases today.
He refused to test the bottlebrush, fence line vegetation/soil between the kill site and my
hives, fence line vegetation/soil between the kill site and my Koi pond (bees water source
that I m obligated to have per the Apiary agreement), and algae/water sample from the
same pond. The algae test was requested initially, because the bees walk along the algae
to drink the water and Fipronil has great transferability properties. But, the more I think
about it, it may have lawn spray or lawn spray drift too.
I ve told everyone involved that if a test is not covered by the state that I would pay for them
myself, because I wanted a very thorough investigation as to what poisoned my food
source and is killing all of my livestock. I told them I did not want money to be an issue.
2 days after Dan was at my apiary, Michelle and her partner did an inspection. No Sheriff
needed, because they asked my neighbor if they could do another inspection and she
agreed. They did not waste anyone s time. No stress at all. My testing requests and
concerns were the same for both inspections. Michelle and her partner were polar
opposites of Dan. They fully reflected FDAC s mission statement and then some.
This is my recollection for a summary of events and my view/opinion/hypothesis of the
unknown.
Sincerely,
David Costa
Costa Honey Farm
From: Richmond, Neil
Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2025 2:09 PM
To: Friend, Kelly
Subject: Fwd: Daniel Sumner Complaint- Costa Honey Farm/ Dave Costa
Attachments: Daniel Sumner complaint additional info
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
Get Outlook for Android
From: Wesley, James <James.Wesley@fdacs.gov>
Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2025 1:26:33 PM
To: Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
Cc: Bergquist, John <John.Bergquist@fdacs.gov>
Subject: FW: Daniel Sumner Complaint- Costa Honey Farm/ Dave Costa
Neil,
Good afternoon, I received the following email from Mr. Dave Costa discussing a concern that he
had with Inspector Daniel Sumner. Mr. Costa sent me a subsequent email to add additional
information to his original statement. Please see the attached email for that information. Thank
you.
James E. Wesley
Natural Science Manager
Bureau of Inspection and Incident Response
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
(850) 528-5354 Cell
(386) 853-6430 Office
James.Wesley@fdacs.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable
by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered
public and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the
laws of the State of Florida.
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Monday, April 14, 2025 4:20 PM
To: Wesley, James <James.Wesley@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Daniel Sumner Complaint- Costa Honey Farm/ Dave Costa
You don't often get email from dave@wesealgrout.com. Learn why this is important
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Complaint against Daniel Sumner, FDACS pesticide inspector.
He was late and strolled up slowly with no introduction until I approached the stranger in
my back yard.
He acted like he didn t want to be there.
He was extremely dismissive to my requests and fought me and my fianc every step of the
way.
He didn t know how to spell Fipronil or Neonicotinoid.
Before starting the inspections, I asked the inspectors if any of them had authority to enter
her property to collect the bees, because I thought my neighbor would not cooperate. This
is because when my fianc (Bridget Saunders) told my neighbor that we have piles of dead
bees and we needed to know who sprayed the swarm with no comb, she caught a nasty
attitude and said she would call to have bees sprayed every time they are in her yard. My
apiary is 5yrs old and the house she s renting is less than 1yr old. Instead of Dan telling my
neighbor that if she were afraid of and allergic to honeybees, it was not a good idea to rent
a home directly next to a commercial apiary, where the builder put the driveway and garage
5 away from 12 tall bottlebrush bushes lining the front yard, an electric smart meter as
close to the hives as possible (10-12 ), and screen room door opening on the apiary
side. Instead, he told her about using the specific word Anaphylaxis so we would have
to move the established apiary. This infuriated Erin, my fianc , and myself. It s on Sgt.
Warren s bodycam. Is he allowed to do this? Why was he nice and cooperative with the
neighbor and the opposite towards me?
He refused to inspect the pile of dead bees because the tech said he used Fipronil and by
law the bees must be removed, so there are no dead bees to inspect. I told him I saw the
pile the day it was sprayed and earlier the day of inspection. He argued that there are no
bees and that s when I told him Brandon (apiary inspector) climbed a step or 2 on the 8
ladder I had securely placed next to the fence for easy viewing. He refused to climb a step
or 2 to see over the fence. He refused to ask my neighbor to inspect the bee kill site. This is
when I called the Sheriff, so the Sherif could escort the inspectors to the kill site in my
neighbor s yard. If he knew the law, why did he ignore it?
He did not collect any bees from the kill site, but Erin did. Erin said she gave the bees to
Michelle (pesticide inspector) to give to James Wesley. I don t know what Dan did when he
gained access, besides telling my neighbor to say Anaphylaxis.
He ignored the smoking gun, which is the pile of dead bees, because the label is the law
and the label for Fipronil states that the kill must be removed.
He ignored the fact that Fipronil is a slow kill, yet there was a large pile of bees (Erin
Supervisor for Apiary inspectors estimated 2000 dead bees in the pile) still on the ground
after almost 2 weeks. Why did he not question why a slow kill poison acted as a
knockdown?
He ignored previous treatments, such as lawn spray, which I believe either drifted or was
lazily sprayed over my fence and directly hit 2-3 hives. I m thinking this direct hit with lawn
spray caused a swarm, then the swarm with no comb was sprayed on the hammock with
Fipronil, which is now slowly killing the rest of my livestock and murdering my
neighborhood s ecosystem.
He ignored that there were no hive beetles or wax moths overtaking the dead hives, when
those are issues destroying average and apparently healthy hives.
He was on the phone with someone who was directing him to ask what I ve used in the
hives. He even said that he needed to be sure I did not spray my hives . While forcefully
ignoring the smoking gun. I want to know who he was on the phone with.
When filling out the report, Dan showed us a printed out copy of Taurus SC and said that s
what the tech said he used. My fianc was reading it over as I was giving my
statement. She read aloud the part about removal. This is when it clicked in my head that
Dan told us that there would be no bees, because it s the law to remove them. Dan then
lied and said he never said that. He argued with my fianc and me that he never said
it. How would I know it if he didn t say it and use it as the reason to not inspect the kill
site? I already signed his report, so I had to argue with him to add to the report that there
was a pile of dead bees. Why did I have to argue to have the report include the smoking
gun? He made an addendum just for the pile of bees at the kill site.
After he argued with us about the information in the Taurus SC for a long while, the told us
that it may not have been Taurus SC, it may be a different brand with fipronil. I then argued
that it doesn t matter which brand, because the active ingredient is Fipronil. He argued it
wasn t. Sgt. Warren s bodycam footage shows this clearly. The bodycam footage alone
shows him acting like he works for Rentokil.
Sgt Warren asked Dan to just take the samples besides just dead bees. He refused her
request, on bodycam. He wasted 2.5 hours of everyone s time.
He had no sense of urgency to remove the infected bees acting like a bowl of antifreeze for
stray animals. He said he would tell Fl Pest control that it would be a good idea to move
them. Not tell them that the Fipronil is attracting bees and possibly killing my livestock and
we need them removed now, since it s an admitted illegal application.
He acted like misuse of Fipronil is not a big deal.
I requested that James Wesley run Dan s investigation and compare it to Michelle s to
prove that he is either an extremely lazy and unknowledgeable 46yr employee or corrupt. I
would like to request that the Department Of Government Efficiency look into Dan. I asked
him if he worked for or was paid by FL Pest and Rentokil, plus my fianc wondered if he
worked for Monsanto, because he acted so corrupt and blatantly ignored the smoking gun
while hindering 3 official investigations. He was not a reflection of FDAC s mission
statement and did not follow SOP. Maybe it s not him directly being paid off, it might be a
family member like we are seeing in many political corruption cases today.
He refused to test the bottlebrush, fence line vegetation/soil between the kill site and my
hives, fence line vegetation/soil between the kill site and my Koi pond (bees water source
that I m obligated to have per the Apiary agreement), and algae/water sample from the
same pond. The algae test was requested initially, because the bees walk along the algae
to drink the water and Fipronil has great transferability properties. But, the more I think
about it, it may have lawn spray or lawn spray drift too.
I ve told everyone involved that if a test is not covered by the state that I would pay for them
myself, because I wanted a very thorough investigation as to what poisoned my food
source and is killing all of my livestock. I told them I did not want money to be an issue.
2 days after Dan was at my apiary, Michelle and her partner did an inspection. No Sheriff
needed, because they asked my neighbor if they could do another inspection and she
agreed. They did not waste anyone s time. No stress at all. My testing requests and
concerns were the same for both inspections. Michelle and her partner were polar
opposites of Dan. They fully reflected FDAC s mission statement and then some.
This is my recollection for a summary of events and my view/opinion/hypothesis of the
unknown.
Sincerely,
David Costa
Costa Honey Farm
352-502-2792
From: Goletz, Katherine on behalf of Commissioner Simpson
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2025 8:48 AM
To: Friend, Kelly;Frazier, Courtney
Cc: Boree, Kelley
Subject: FW: Fl Pest Control admitted to an illegal spray that wiped out my apiary and is
murdering my ecosystem.
Please see below.
Katherine H. Goletz
Director, External Affairs
Office of Commissioner Wilton Simpson
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
(850) 544-1309 Cell
(850) 617-7700 Office
Katherine.Goletz@FDACS.gov
The Capitol - PL 10
400 South Monroe Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399
www.FDACS.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes). Most written communications to or from
state employees are public records obtainable by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be
considered public, and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the laws of the State of Florida.
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2025 2:02 AM
To: Commissioner Simpson <Wilton.Simpson@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Fl Pest Control admitted to an illegal spray that wiped out my apiary and is murdering my
ecosystem.
​
I have been told you are involved in my livestock wipeout and would be forwarded my very
detailed complaint against Dan Sumner, Pesticide Inspector. I have not heard anything
since James Wesley told me he would call me back Monday morning after he followed up
with Michelle Porierre"s interview with FL Pest Control. Am I the only one understanding
how a plie of dead bees poisoned by Fiprinol about 25' from my hives has killed or is killing
all of my hives and is murdering my local ecosystem? Why am I the only one concerned
about demanding a sense of urgency? Is everyone in your organization ignorant to the
effects of fiprinol? I've asked several times about how to destroy contaminated bees that
are murdering my local ecosystem and ask if FL pest is responsible for destroying the hives
they illegally poisoned, but I never receive straight answers.
Why is there zero sense of urgency? How many people in your organization are either
useful idiots or corrupt? Why do I have to ask these questions when I have piles of dead
bees and FL Pest Control left a smoking gun (plie of dead bees killed by a slow kill poison
that acted like a knockdown poison) for almost 2 weeks, just 25' from Costa Honey Farm?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
Costa Honey Farm
From: Wesley, James
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2025 9:10 AM
To: Richmond, Neil
Cc: Bergquist, John
Subject: FW: Daniel Sumner Complaint Re: Honey Bee kill investigation- Dave Costa/Costa Honey
Farm
Attachments: Daniel Sumner Complaint Re: Honey Bee kill investigation- Dave Costa/Costa Honey
Farm
Neil,
Good morning, I wanted to let you know that I received the following email this morning from Ms.
Bridget Saunders in regard to her visit from inspector Daniel Sumner. Please let me know if you need any
further information. Thank you.
James E. Wesley
Natural Science Manager
Bureau of Inspection and Incident Response Division of Agricultural Environmental Services Florida
Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
(850) 528-5354 Cell
(386) 853-6430 Office
James.Wesley@fdacs.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable by the public
upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered public and will only be
withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the laws of the State of Florida.
-----Original Message-----
From: Bridget Saunders <villagego2girl@yahoo.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2025 7:35 AM
To: Wesley, James <James.Wesley@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Daniel Sumner Complaint Re: Honey Bee kill investigation- Dave Costa/Costa Honey Farm
[You don't often get email from villagego2girl@yahoo.com. Learn why this is important at
https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentification ]
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments
unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Inspector Daniel Sumner came to my fianc (Dave Costa) home at 9695 SE 157th ln Summerfield on
4/8/25 to do an investigation about a pesticide sprayed to kill honey bees at our neighbors (Cyn) house
at 9679 SE 157th Ln that was done by Florida Pest Control on 3/27/25
Daniel arrived late to the 1pm appointment, was totally unprepared to collect samples, and walked up
looking like he did not want to be here. He looked and acted very unprofessional from the start.
My fianc immediately asked him about collecting the dead bees from the neighbors yard. He said there
were no bees in her yard because according to the law the pest control company had to remove them,
but even if there were bees, legally he couldn t go into her yard to get the bees. We asked if he could at
least introduce himself and ASK the neighbor if he could get the bees and he refused. My fianc called
the Sheriff Sgt Warren and LT Larson came from Marion Co Sheriff. I was with the apiary inspectors
watching as they inspected the hives and couldn t believe the person who came to investigate pesticides
sprayed didn t have a bee suit and the massive amount of dead bees didn t bother him. He walked away
talking on the phone at one point without saying a word and even the inspectors were unsure if he was
still here. When he came back he questioned my fianc s use of Apivar (mite treatments) and asked Erin
the difference between Apistan (something we have never heard of) and Apivar and the correct dosage
and use of Apivar insinuating that this was somehow my fianc s fault. The bee inspector Erin apologized
for his behavior very early on and said this is not how someone from the state should behave.
I d like to know who he spoke to on his aprox 10 min phone call and wonder if they were telling him what
to say/ask. I honestly question if he has ties to Fl Pest control or Rentokil (my company that owns Fl
Pest). He seemed like he was here on their behalf and NOT to do an investigation on why we have a
massive bee kill in our yard.
Eventually Mr Sumner, Erin, and the 2 officers went next door to speak to Cyn and look at the pile of
dead bees. We thought he was going to collect a dead bee sample but that didn t occur. I stood on a
ladder in my yard to watch what was going on and listen. I couldn t hear everything but I did hear Mr
Sumner s tone was much different talking to our neighbor that caused the problem then with my Fiance
and I who are the victims of this tragic event. I heard Mr Sumner coach Cyn (our neighbor who is renting
the home at 9679 SE 157th Ln) on what to say and write and make sure you use the word "anaphylaxis
and I almost fell off the ladder. PLEASE LOOK AT POLICE BODY CAM! I couldn t wait to ask him why he
would tell her the word anaphylaxis and advise her to write a letter and use that word. When he came
back into our yard I asked him that and he said she's allergic to bees and y all have a bunch of bees in a
residential neighborhood as if this is our fault again. He also asked if we have a HOA. I told him we are a
legal registered apiary in the state of Florida for the past 5 yrs with the correct number of hives. The
owner of the land her house was built on, the builder, her realtor, and Cyn herself were all aware we had
bees. I really pushed him on why he would coach her to use the word anaphylaxis. I asked if she carried
an epi-pen? Does he have proof she has anaphylaxis to honey bees? AGAIN does he have ties to Fl Pest
Control? He was not here at all to find out why we had thousands of dead bees!! The officers diffused
the situation as my fianc and I could not believe this man is coaching our neighbor on what to say/
write to make us possibly move/get rid of our bees. Mr Sumner, my fianc , the beekeepers, and Officer
Lawson all went on the back patio so Mr Sumner could take a statement from my fianc . Office Warren
and I talked on the side of the patio. After what seemed about 30 min, we walked to the back patio and
he was still writing the statement. When I walked up I heard him say on October 27th .my fianc
quickly stopped him and it caught my attention that he was using the wrong month. Was he trying to
make the investigation invalid with bad information?
My fianc handed me some papers about Taurus SC (the product Mr Sumner said was used b/c he spoke
to FL Pest control and that s what they told him). It was about 10 pages or so and I asked if I could make
copies. I took it inside and made copies and came out with a highlighter and read outloud all of my
concerns with Fl Pest using this product less than 25 from our hives. I directed all of my statements and
questions to Mr Sumner.
Such as:
*In a highlighted square in bold font under the name Taurus SC it says "don t use on/in commercial bee
hives" why would someone think it ok to spray 10 -20 away from hives??
*"This product is toxic to birds, fish, and aquatic invertebrates" .we have a coi pond for our bees *"Do
not allow people or pets to contact contaminated area or reoccupy contaminated areas of the structure
until clean-up is completed" ..the pile of dead bees are still there *Why does this product specifically
mention carpenter bees but no other bee??? Why was this product allowed to be used?
*It lists multiple very specific pests Taurus SC kills, why is honey bee not on the list? It says its for
termites and other wood infesting pests.
I asked why this product was allowed to be used to kill honey bees when the label is the law and the
label does not say anything about honey bees, except to NOT use it in/on commercial bee hives.
At that point I said we are a commercial bee apiary. We are Costa Honey Farm. Why could this be used
right beside our hives?
He essentially told me I wasn t looking at the paper correctly and to bring it to him so he could show me
something. He took the paper from me and looked at it but was never able to prove me wrong on
anything b/c I was reading and highlighting directly from the paper he gave my fianc . After I spent close
to an hr reading and studying this paper, he says this product may not have even been the product used.
My fiance and I couldn t believe him. Dave asked him if he worked for Rentokil (the company that owns
Fl Pest Control and is quickly becoming a pest control monopoly) and Mr Sumner got very defensive.
Why would you act like that if you have no ties to the pest control industry? It took Mr Sumner over 2 hrs
to write up his report and during the whole report and his whole visit he refused to collect samples of
bottlebrush bushes, grass, soil, and dead bees. I had asked him multiple times while he was here for a
business card b/c I knew we were going to need to write a complaint about him. He finally provided me
with one towards the very end. I noticed his title and asked him "being an environmental specialist, does
the amount of dead bees bother you because it doesn t seem like it does ?. I was expecting his response
to be absolutely it does. Or I hate to see anytime something like this happens .but instead he gave some
BS answer about he has done this for 40+ yrs and never said yes or no to a yes/no question.
In Summation, I believe Mr Sumner needs to be thoroughly investigated especially after you see the
police body cam of him coaching the neighbor on what to say/write and his reaction to if he works for
Rentokil. He was one of the most unprofessional people I have ever dealt with and made my Fianc and I
feel like we were the problem and we did something wrong instead of us being the victims of this
unnecessary bee massacre. His tone was completely different with the neighbor who called the pest
control company and caused this whole problem. (The neighbor who told me every time she saw bees in
her yard she was gonna call to have them sprayed.) If I only met Mr Sumner from Fl Dept of Agriculture, I
would think it was a corrupt organization that didn t care about the environment. Thankfully 2 days later
Michelle and Ed (I believe) came out and were the 100% complete opposite of Mr Sumner and were very
professional & knowledgeable, and it was obvious they worked for Fl Dept of AG and not a pest control
company. Erin and Brandon (Bee inspectors) were also professional, friendly, and extremely helpful.
Erin, especially, was super knowledgeable and she seemed truly concerned for the amount of dead bees
in our yard.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read the very real concern and for your help finding out the
cause of this bee massacre AND to find out how we prevent this from happening in the future to us and
to others. Wonder if similar situations are happening all over the US causing the decline in Bee
populations??
Bridget Saunders
From: Richmond, Neil
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2025 11:23 AM
To: Poirier, Michelle
Subject: Fwd: [Customer Support] Re: [Product QA] Should Taurus SC be used to kill a honeybee
swarm w/ no comb on a hammock?
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
Get Outlook for Android
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2025 10:56:45 AM
To: Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Fwd: [Customer Support] Re: [Product QA] Should Taurus SC be used to kill a honeybee swarm
w/ no comb on a hammock?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
352-502-2792
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: DoMyOwn Customer Support <support@domyownpestcontrol.com>
Date: Mon, Apr 14, 2025 at 10:55?PM
Subject: [Customer Support] Re: [Product QA] Should Taurus SC be used to kill a honeybee
swarm w/ no comb on a hammock?
To: Dave C <dave@wesealgrout.com>
##- Please type your reply above this line -##
Your request (#1279176) has been updated. Reply to this email if needed.
Tonya (DoMyOwn)
Apr 14, 2025, 10:55?PM EDT
Taurus is not labeled to control honeybees therefore we can not provide any advice if it was
used off label. You can contact your local cooperative extension office and ask for the
phone number for your local honey bee farmer. Many bee farmers will come
remove honey bees free of charge because of the recent decline in
the honey bee population.
Tonya
Customer Care Specialist
DoMyOwn.com
1-866-581-7378
Dave C
Apr 14, 2025, 4:37?PM EDT
Taurus SC Termiticide
https://www.domyown.com/taurus-sc-termiticide-p-1816.html
Q. Should Taurus SC be used to kill a honeybee swarm w/ no comb on a hammock?
What do I do if a pest control company tech said they sprayed Taurus SC on a honeybee
swarm with no comb, on a hammock in the middle of a small, grass backyard? They left the
pile of appx 2000 bees for almost 2 weeks. This pile of dead bees was about 25' from my
hives in my registered, commercial apiary. All of my livestock is dead or dying. What do I do
with the infected hives and honey I was about to harvest? These bees are murdering my
ecosystem and nobody has any idea of how to destroy them. Will burning the hives with
Taurus SC turn my neighborhood into a gas chamber? Samples have been sent to 2 labs,
but that can take weeks. I don't want hive beetles or wax moths to take over the dead hives.
Dave C
Florida
From: Wesley, James
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2025 12:00 PM
To: Friend, Kelly
Cc: Richmond, Neil;Frazier, Courtney;Bergquist, John
Subject: FW: Complaint concerning inspector Daniel Sumner for case file #325_195_2074
Kelly,
Great afternoon, I wanted to let you know that I am still waiting to get the official responses from
both Sergeant Warren (of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office) and Mrs. Erin Jenkins, State Apiarist
erin.jenkins@fdacs.gov, as to their encounters with inspector Daniel Sumner on 04/07/25. I was
last in contact with Sgt. Tiffany Warren via email on Sunday 4/13/25, and with Mrs. Jenkins by
telephone last week. Both ladies stated that they would like to provide a statement as to the
inspection that took place on 04/07/25. I will of course let you know once I have received their
statements. Thank you.
James E. Wesley
Natural Sciences Manager I
Bureau of Inspection and Incident Response
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
(850) 528-5354 Cell
(386) 853-6430 Office
James.Wesley@fdacs.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable
by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered
public and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the
laws of the State of Florida.
From: Warren,Tiffany <twarren@marionso.com> /0
Sent: Sunday, April 13, 2025 5:15 PM
To: Wesley, James <James.Wesley@fdacs.gov>
Subject: RE: Complaint concerning inspector Daniel Sumner for case file #325_195_2074
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
I ended up taking off part of the weekend due to a personal matter. I have not forgotten,
and I do intend on filling this out. I will try to get to it tomorrow.
Sincerely,
Sgt Warren
From: Wesley, James <James.Wesley@fdacs.gov>
Sent: Wednesday, April 9, 2025 11:58 AM
To: Warren,Tiffany <twarren@marionso.com>
Subject: Complaint concerning inspector Daniel Sumner for case file #325_195_2074
*****************************************************************************************
*****************************************************************************************
Sergeant Warren,
Good afternoon, I hope all is well your way. Thank you for speaking with me yesterday in regard to
Mr. David Costa’s bee kill incident in Marion county. During our discussion you mention that the
inspector assigned to the incident, Mr. Daniel Sumner, acted in a manner that was both
inappropriate and unprofessional. I hoped that you would be wiling to provide a written statement
as to highlight your unpleasant experience with Mr. Sumner during the incident/investigation. I
intend to provide your statement to upper management for further action. Please feel free to call
me directly if you have any questions or concern. Thank you so much.
Respectfully,
James E. Wesley
Natural Science Manager
Bureau of Inspection and Incident Response
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
From: Richmond, Neil
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2025 8:25 AM
To: Friend, Kelly
Subject: Fwd: HR 4277 Saving America’s Pollinators Act of 2023
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
Get Outlook for Android
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2025, 8:01 AM
To: Commissioner Simpson
Subject: HR 4277 Saving America’s Pollinators Act of 2023
​
What do we need to do to make congress vote on this bill with a sense of urgency? Did you
notice this bill wants to classify fipronil as a neonicotinoid? Why is that? Why was it not
voted on? Who stoped the vote and who benefited most? Why do articles post 2023
mention fipronil every time they mentioned neonicotinoids? Is this like sugar and
aspartame and other fake sugars? Do the scientists change one molecule to say it’s not a
neonicotinoid? Why is a stupid, with no college degree, floor guy/ side yard commercial
beekeeper asking questions that the ones who do this every day are not asking?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
From: Friend, Kelly
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2025 8:31 AM
To: Frazier, Courtney
Subject: FW: HR 4277 Saving America’s Pollinators Act of 2023
From: Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2025 8:25 AM
To: Friend, Kelly <Kelly.Friend@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Fwd: HR 4277 Saving America’s Pollinators Act of 2023
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
Get Outlook for Android
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2025, 8:01 AM
To: Commissioner Simpson
Subject: HR 4277 Saving America’s Pollinators Act of 2023
​
What do we need to do to make congress vote on this bill with a sense of urgency? Did you
notice this bill wants to classify fipronil as a neonicotinoid? Why is that? Why was it not
voted on? Who stoped the vote and who benefited most? Why do articles post 2023
mention fipronil every time they mentioned neonicotinoids? Is this like sugar and
aspartame and other fake sugars? Do the scientists change one molecule to say it’s not a
neonicotinoid? Why is a stupid, with no college degree, floor guy/ side yard commercial
beekeeper asking questions that the ones who do this every day are not asking?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
From: Jenkins, Erin
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2025 9:38 AM
To: Wesley, James
Subject: RE: Complaint concerning inspector Daniel Sumner for case file #325_195_2074
Good afternoon, Mr.Wesley .
Thank you for reaching out in regard to this situation and I apologize in my delay.
AES Inspector arrived on scene with a negative attitude immediately towards the beekeeper and
this investigation.
AES Inspector stated that no samples would be taken and was only there to observe. I asked if the
inspector had a bee suit, jacket or veil to minimize any stings but was told they did not have one
because of all the Hurricane supplies in their vehicle.
At this point, AES Inspector stayed in closed in screen porch while we looked through the colonies
and pulled our viral samples to send to our lab.
AES Inspector asked beekeeper what they used for treatment (Apivar strips) and then AES asked
me about Apistan which I stated it is not used often but not what beekeeper used.
After completion of pulling my viral samples, the police arrived and talked with beekeeper and AES
Inspector (police were called as beekeeper wanted the dead bees sampled next door).
AES inspector stated to all present that they already spoke with the Pest control company and was
already aware of what was used and that they would be going there next to conduct further
investigation.
When we went next door, the AES Inspector took pictures of the mass dead bees on the ground and
the property. When we began to leave AES Inspector probed questions to neighbor asking if they
were allergic to bees, if they were anaphylaxis and if so they should write a certified letter to
neighbor so they could not keep bees their anymore.
When beekeeper became frustrated there was a lot of yelling between beekeeper and AES
Inspector to were police stepped in and de-escalated the situation.
Beekeeper requested additional samples on water source that was close to the spray and bees but
AES stated they could not do water samples as the lab does not do it.
Once we returned to back yard, the AES inspector did agree to take one dead bee sample from the
ground outside of colonies. AES handed us a huge jar and said to fill it up to the top but no tools
were given to pull samples.
AES inspector told beekeeper the active ingredient used next door and then stated an hour later
that it may not have been used.
Lastly when we were leaving AES Inspector stated Thanks for coming out and I will probably get
wrote up for this .
It was clear that the inspector did not come prepared for the task that was assigned and seemed
agitated coming into this situation.
If you need anymore information from me please let me know.
Thank you very much.
Erin Jenkins
State Apiarist
Apiary Inspection Section
Bureau of Plant and Apiary inspection
Division of Plant Industry
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Office: (352)-420-8401
Cell: (863)990-3024
Erin.Jenkins@FDACS.gov
Doyle Conner Building
1911 South West 34th Street
Post Office Box 147100
Gainesville, Florida 32614-7100
www.FDACS.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes). Most written
communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable by the public upon request. Emails
sent to me at this email address may be considered public and will only be withheld from disclosure if
deemed confidential pursuant to the laws of the State of Florida.
From: Wesley, James <James.Wesley@fdacs.gov>
Sent: Wednesday, April 9, 2025 12:00 PM
To: Jenkins, Erin <Erin.Jenkins@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Complaint concerning inspector Daniel Sumner for case file #325_195_2074
Mrs. Jenkins,
Good afternoon, I hope all is well your way. Thank you for speaking with me today in regard to Mr.
David Costa s bee kill incident in Marion county. During our discussion you mention that the
inspector assigned to the incident, Mr. Daniel Sumner, acted in a manner that was both
inappropriate and unprofessional. I hoped that you would be willing to provide a written statement
as to highlight your unpleasant experience with Mr. Sumner during the incident/investigation. I
intend to provide your statement to upper management for further action. Please feel free to call
me directly if you have any questions or concern. Thank you so much for your help.
Respectfully,
James E. Wesley
Natural Science Manager
Bureau of Inspection and Incident Response
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
From: Richmond, Neil
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2025 4:23 PM
To: Cooper, James
Subject: FW: [Customer Support] Re: [Product QA] Should Taurus SC be used to kill a honeybee
swarm w/ no comb on a hammock?
Do you know what the inerts are to Taurus SC?
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2025 10:18 AM
To: Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>; Wesley, James <James.Wesley@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Fwd: [Customer Support] Re: [Product QA] Should Taurus SC be used to kill a honeybee swarm
w/ no comb on a hammock?
​
How do we find out what the inactive ingredients are?
​
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: DoMyOwn Customer Support <support@domyownpestcontrol.com>
Date: Thu, Apr 17, 2025 at 9:09?AM
Subject: [Customer Support] Re: [Product QA] Should Taurus SC be used to kill a honeybee
swarm w/ no comb on a hammock?
To: Dave C <dave@wesealgrout.com>
##- Please type your reply above this line -##
Your request (#1279176) has been updated. Reply to this email if needed.
Tonya (DoMyOwn)
Apr 17, 2025, 9:09?AM EDT
Inactive ingredients are proprietary info and not available to the public.
Tonya
Customer Care Specialist
DoMyOwn.com
1-866-581-7378
Dave C
Apr 17, 2025, 8:02?AM EDT
? External
Do you have a list of the inactive ingredients?
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into solely by an e-mail communication.
Tonya (DoMyOwn)
Apr 14, 2025, 10:55?PM EDT
Taurus is not labeled to control honeybees therefore we can not provide any advice if it was
used off label. You can contact your local cooperative extension office and ask for the
phone number for your local honey bee farmer. Many bee farmers will come
remove honey bees free of charge because of the recent decline in
the honey bee population.
Tonya
Customer Care Specialist
DoMyOwn.com
1-866-581-7378
Dave C
Apr 14, 2025, 4:37?PM EDT
Taurus SC Termiticide
https://www.domyown.com/taurus-sc-termiticide-p-1816.html
Q. Should Taurus SC be used to kill a honeybee swarm w/ no comb on a hammock?
What do I do if a pest control company tech said they sprayed Taurus SC on a honeybee
swarm with no comb, on a hammock in the middle of a small, grass backyard? They left the
pile of appx 2000 bees for almost 2 weeks. This pile of dead bees was about 25' from my
hives in my registered, commercial apiary. All of my livestock is dead or dying. What do I do
with the infected hives and honey I was about to harvest? These bees are murdering my
ecosystem and nobody has any idea of how to destroy them. Will burning the hives with
Taurus SC turn my neighborhood into a gas chamber? Samples have been sent to 2 labs,
but that can take weeks. I don't want hive beetles or wax moths to take over the dead hives.
Dave C
Florida
[7P73M6-6M955]
From: Richmond, Neil
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2025 8:08 AM
To: Rygiel, Teresa;Silver, Claudette
Cc: Everton, Jerry
Subject: FW: BEE KIll: 325-199-2129 Florida Pest Control REF
Attachments: 325-199-2129.docx
Can we please ensure that all samples and case review of this particular file are expedited.
Thanks
From: Newton, Michele <Michele.Newton@fdacs.gov>
Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2025 9:05 AM
To: Poirier, Michelle <Michelle.Poirier@fdacs.gov>
Cc: Harris, Ed <Eddie.Harris@fdacs.gov>; Bee Kill EPA <beekill@epa.gov>; Michelle Diaz-Laboy
<diazlaboy.michelle@epa.gov>; Allee, Timothy <Timothy.Allee@fdacs.gov>; Bergquist, John
<John.Bergquist@fdacs.gov>; Bixler, Keith <Keith.Bixler@fdacs.gov>; Brown, Amy
<Amy.Brown@fdacs.gov>; Bryant, Craig <Craig.Bryant@fdacs.gov>; Coffield, Todd
<Todd.Coffield@fdacs.gov>; Cooper, James <James.Cooper@fdacs.gov>; Davis, Cyndi
<Cynthia.Davis@fdacs.gov>; Everton, Jerry <Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov>; Frazier, Courtney
<Courtney.Frazier@fdacs.gov>; Friend, Kelly <Kelly.Friend@fdacs.gov>; Guerra, Robert
<Robert.Guerra@fdacs.gov>; Walters, Harris <Harris.Walters@fdacs.gov>; Hayslip, George
<George.Hayslip@fdacs.gov>; Sudano, Hyatt <Hyatt.Sudano@fdacs.gov>; James, Tamara
<Tamara.James@fdacs.gov>; Lucas, Patty <Patricia.Lucas@fdacs.gov>; Mcghee, Jim
<James.McGhee@fdacs.gov>; Mompeller, Natalia <Natalia.Mompeller@fdacs.gov>; Newton, Michele
<Michele.Newton@fdacs.gov>; Poole, Rachel <Rachel.Matthews@fdacs.gov>; Richmond, Neil
<Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>; Rockhill, Paul <Paul.Rockhill@fdacs.gov>; Rygiel, Paul
<Paul.Rygiel@fdacs.gov>; Rygiel, Teresa <Teresa.Rygiel@fdacs.gov>; Thomas, Shaness
<Shaness.Thomas@fdacs.gov>; Silver, Claudette <Claudette.Silver@fdacs.gov>; Singh, Rashmi
<Rashmi.Singh@fdacs.gov>; Sudano, Hyatt <Hyatt.Sudano@fdacs.gov>; Tompkins, Trevor
<Trevor.Tompkins@fdacs.gov>; Van Hook, Blake <Blake.VanHook@fdacs.gov>; Walters, Michael
<Michael.Walters@fdacs.gov>; Watts, Jeffery <Jeffery.Watts@fdacs.gov>; Wesley, James
<James.Wesley@fdacs.gov>; White Jr, Thomas <Thomas.WhiteJr@fdacs.gov>; Whitley, Deborah
<Deborah.Whitley@fdacs.gov>; Wilson, Delta <Delta.Thomas@fdacs.gov>
Subject: BEE KIll: 325-199-2129 Florida Pest Control REF
Subject:
Mr. Dave Costa contacted the Department regarding his bee s dying. Mr. Costa s neighbor, Ms.
Cynthia Burton, had contracted Florida Pest Control to spray the bee s that had flown into her back
yard and were on her hammock on March 27th, 2025. Mr. Costa noticed shortly after that time that
his bee s were not acting normal.
Conduct a use investigation and document any violations of the Florida Pesticide Law and
Rules. Obtain full documentation of any violations that you find, including affidavits, photographs,
samples, etc. as appropriate. Coordinate with the department s local apiary inspector.
Collect dead bees, wax, vegetation and soil samples if appropriate, and swab samples
from the hives. Document any pesticides used in the area, including the beekeeper. Obtain
full documentation of any violations that you find, including affidavits, photographs,
samples, etc., as appropriate.
If physical samples are collected, please e-mail copies of the Sample Collection Reports to
George Hayslip.
File Name:
Florida Pest Control
File Number:
325-199-2129
Please note: If file name needs to be changed, contact the referral coordinators to make the
appropriate changes to the file to reflect the name of the parties involved.
Michele
Michele L. Newton
Environmental Specialist III
Bureau of Inspection and Incidence Response
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
From: Cooper, James
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2025 8:34 AM
To: Singh, Rashmi
Cc: Richmond, Neil
Subject: FW: [Customer Support] Re: [Product QA] Should Taurus SC be used to kill a honeybee
swarm w/ no comb on a hammock?
Rashmi,
Can we get this label, Taurus SC that Neil has a question about?
Thanks,
Cooper
From: Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2025 4:23 PM
To: Cooper, James <James.Cooper@fdacs.gov>
Subject: FW: [Customer Support] Re: [Product QA] Should Taurus SC be used to kill a honeybee swarm
w/ no comb on a hammock?
Do you know what the inerts are to Taurus SC?
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2025 10:18 AM
To: Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>; Wesley, James <James.Wesley@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Fwd: [Customer Support] Re: [Product QA] Should Taurus SC be used to kill a honeybee swarm
w/ no comb on a hammock?
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
How do we find out what the inactive ingredients are?
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: DoMyOwn Customer Support <support@domyownpestcontrol.com>
Date: Thu, Apr 17, 2025 at 9:09?AM
Subject: [Customer Support] Re: [Product QA] Should Taurus SC be used to kill a honeybee
swarm w/ no comb on a hammock?
To: Dave C <dave@wesealgrout.com>
##- Please type your reply above this line -##
Your request (#1279176) has been updated. Reply to this email if needed.
Tonya (DoMyOwn)
Apr 17, 2025, 9:09?AM EDT
Inactive ingredients are proprietary info and not available to the public.
Tonya
Customer Care Specialist
DoMyOwn.com
1-866-581-7378
Dave C
Apr 17, 2025, 8:02?AM EDT
? External
Do you have a list of the inactive ingredients?
Disclaimer: This communication and any attachments contain private, confidential,
privileged and/or proprietary information intended solely for the Recipient(s) named above.
If you are not the intended Recipient, any use, dissemination, distribution or copying of the
communication is strictly prohibited. If received in error, we apologize and ask that you
please notify the Sender by returning this e-mail and permanently deleting this
communication from your computer, including destruction of any printed copies. Any
views expressed herein are not necessarily those of the Company represented by this e-
mail source. No contracts, agreements or legally binding understandings may be entered
into solely by an e-mail communication.
Tonya (DoMyOwn)
Apr 14, 2025, 10:55?PM EDT
Taurus is not labeled to control honeybees therefore we can not provide any advice if it was
used off label. You can contact your local cooperative extension office and ask for the
phone number for your local honey bee farmer. Many bee farmers will come
remove honey bees free of charge because of the recent decline in
the honey bee population.
Tonya
Customer Care Specialist
DoMyOwn.com
1-866-581-7378
Dave C
Apr 14, 2025, 4:37?PM EDT
Taurus SC Termiticide
https://www.domyown.com/taurus-sc-termiticide-p-1816.html
Q. Should Taurus SC be used to kill a honeybee swarm w/ no comb on a hammock?
What do I do if a pest control company tech said they sprayed Taurus SC on a honeybee
swarm with no comb, on a hammock in the middle of a small, grass backyard? They left the
pile of appx 2000 bees for almost 2 weeks. This pile of dead bees was about 25' from my
hives in my registered, commercial apiary. All of my livestock is dead or dying. What do I do
with the infected hives and honey I was about to harvest? These bees are murdering my
ecosystem and nobody has any idea of how to destroy them. Will burning the hives with
Taurus SC turn my neighborhood into a gas chamber? Samples have been sent to 2 labs,
but that can take weeks. I don't want hive beetles or wax moths to take over the dead hives.
Dave C
Florida
[7P73M6-6M955]
From: Rygiel, Teresa
Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2025 8:18 AM
To: Amason, Christian;Tower, Zachary;Meeks Jr, Billy;Mehr, Sylvia;Williams, Taleya
Cc: Lucas, Patty;Cooper, Quentin
Subject: Priority Bee Kill case
Hi,
When do we think the priority bee kill case, Florida Pest Control will be done?
Also, please hold off on any prep/analysis still pending for AB49397 (Mr. David Costa) sample.
thanks
Teresa L Rygiel
Assistant Chief, Bureau of Agricultural Environmental Laboratories
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
From: Walters, Harris
Sent: Friday, April 25, 2025 1:02 PM
To: Whitley, Deborah
Cc: Silver, Claudette
Subject: RE: Bee Kill - Florida Pest Control 325-199-2129
Hey Debbie,
I can work one of those up for you, no problem.
At the very least I would need the lab reports. The write up from the inspector can often be useful as
well.
Thanks,
Harris Walters
Environmental Consultant
Scientific Evaluation Section
Bureau of Scientific Evaluation and Technical Assistance
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
(850) 617-7926
Harris.Walters@FDACS.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable
by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered
public and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the
laws of the State of Florida.
From: Whitley, Deborah <Deborah.Whitley@fdacs.gov>
Sent: Friday, April 25, 2025 11:50 AM
To: Walters, Harris <Harris.Walters@fdacs.gov>
Cc: Silver, Claudette <Claudette.Silver@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Bee Kill - Florida Pest Control 325-199-2129
Hi Harris:
We just received a bee kill investigation report. Samples were sent to the lab. I was wondering if we could
get you to do a Bee Kill Assessment Report?
The lab should have received the samples on April 11th, they were taken April 10th and shipped the 11th.
Let me know what you need from us.
Thanks,
Debbie
Deborah J Whitley
Environmental Specialist III
Bureau of Licensing & Enforcement
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
From: Richmond, Neil
Sent: Monday, April 28, 2025 10:08 AM
To: Rygiel, Teresa;Lucas, Patty;Everton, Jerry;Friend, Kelly;Frazier, Courtney
Cc: Bergquist, John
Subject: Florida Pest Control and David Costa, File no. 325-199-2129 and 325-203-4138
​
Both of the Bee samples were collected from around Mr. Costa’s hives and not from the neighbors
yard.
​
Neil D. Richmond
Bureau Chief, Bureau of Inspection and Incident Response
(850) 617-7862
Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov
From: Richmond, Neil
Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2025 8:13 AM
To: Friend, Kelly;Frazier, Courtney
Subject: FW: Lab results
​
What can we reply to Mr. Costa?
​
​
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2025 4:48 PM
To: Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Re: Lab results
​
Ok, thank you. Did you receive the apiary inspection report? I was told it points to
pesticides.
Any plan for destroying these poisoned hives? Is it FL Pest Control's responsibility, since
they poisoned them with an illegal (in 3-5 ways) application of pesticide?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
On Tue, Apr 29, 2025 at 4:35?PM Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov> wrote:
I have sent your inquiry to the lab. They should respond shortly.
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2025 9:20 AM
To: Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Lab results
Good morning,
Do you have any updates on lab results or reports?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
From: Friend, Kelly
Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2025 8:47 AM
To: Richmond, Neil;Frazier, Courtney
Subject: RE: Lab results
​
It is pending lab results and the file will need to be reviewed by the Bureau of Licensing and
Enforcement.
​
From: Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2025 8:13 AM
To: Friend, Kelly <Kelly.Friend@fdacs.gov>; Frazier, Courtney <Courtney.Frazier@fdacs.gov>
Subject: FW: Lab results
What can we reply to Mr. Costa?
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2025 4:48 PM
To: Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Re: Lab results
Ok, thank you. Did you receive the apiary inspection report? I was told it points to
pesticides.
Any plan for destroying these poisoned hives? Is it FL Pest Control's responsibility, since
they poisoned them with an illegal (in 3-5 ways) application of pesticide?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
On Tue, Apr 29, 2025 at 4:35?PM Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov> wrote:
I have sent your inquiry to the lab. They should respond shortly.
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2025 9:20 AM
To: Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Lab results
Good morning,
Do you have any updates on lab results or reports?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
From: Jenkins, Erin
Sent: Thursday, May 1, 2025 10:24 AM
To: Fulton, James
Subject: FW: Lab results
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2025 3:29 PM
To: Jenkins, Erin <Erin.Jenkins@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Re: Lab results
​
Thank you for all of your help. I'm not really sure how to read it. This is all new to me. Is it a
PCR test? What does no issue and no significant note on all of them mean?. It shows
signs of Acute Paralysis and potential of Chronic Paralysis and Nosema Ceranae, is there
an normal/allowable limit or should there be zero? I've never heard of these
before. Should hives be tested periodically? Is there a way I can do the test? The bees
were tested about 2 weeks after the illegal swarm kill, so could sublethal doses lead to
these issues? I can't find much research on sublethal doses of pesticides and how they
affect the hive.
​
I remember you taking samples out of different hives, did they mix them all together, or do
they have individual hive results?
​
Michelle,the pesticide inspector, took some honey samples to be tested.
Good Friday, my neighbor had a guy pressure wash the fence in just the area where my
bees are. He washed it for a long time and sprayed over the top and got on my
hives. Cover up or harassment? So, I've been anxiously waiting on the pesticide results.
I have not touched my hives at all since you inspected them, because I knew it was a crime
scene and I do not want any excuse of me interfering in any way. I've been waiting on the
test results to tell me, with no doubt, if I'm crazy or if someone killed my bees and they
need to be destroyed. I have not heard from anyone on destroying the hives. What do I do
with 1000-1500# of contaminated hives that are murdering my ecosystem? How long
before I can start over?
​
Thank you for the links, I'll check them out.
​
Thank you,
Dave Costa
All Surface Rejuvenations Plus
352-502-0707
WeSealGrout.com
1576 Bella Cruz Drive, #329
The Villages, FL 32159
855-732-5476 24hr Free Recorded Message
On Wed, Apr 30, 2025 at 10:24?AM Jenkins, Erin <Erin.Jenkins@fdacs.gov> wrote:
Good morning, Mr. Costa.
I have attached our Lab results for the viral tests run by our lab here in Gainesville. I
apologize for the delay.
As I mentioned when we began the investigation, signs of Acute Paralysis and potential of
Chronic Paralysis were visually seen inside and outside the colonies.
These were detected in your colonies along with Nosema Ceranae which do not present
similar signs to Nosema Apis.
Our lab did mention at the very bottom Abiotic factors should be investigated as
possible causes of colony death. - James Fulton I look forward to seeing results
from AES.
I have additionally attached the Approved Medications for use if applicable.
Here are some resources I have found for your use (WE DO NOT SPONSOR THESE
WEBSITES) but feel free to contact DPI Helpline to get in touch with Dr. James Fulton-
Honey Bee Diagnostics Laboratory / Bees/Apiary / Agriculture Industry / Home - Florida
Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services.
James Fulton, Ph.D.
Biological Scientist
1-888-397-1517 Helpline
Website from USDA explaining Nosema Apis and Nosema ceranae Bee Health
Acute Bee Paralysis Virus - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics
Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics
I know you mentioned Honey Testing as well so this is a website we share to beekeeper as
well - Honey Testing Labs | National Honey Board
If you ever need to or want to request antibiotics this is that website as well:
Antibiotic Request Form: The Florida State Beekeepers Association hosts an online
request portal for
Florida registered beekeepers to utilize for free to request a prescription for antibiotics for
their hives.
Requests are sent to FDACS for review and are then submitted to a UF Veterinarian for
approval.
Registered beekeepers may submit a request for antibiotics using this link:
www.beeVFD.com
If you have any further questions please feel free to reach out.
Thank you for your time.
Erin Jenkins
State Apiarist
Apiary Inspection Section
Bureau of Plant and Apiary inspection
Division of Plant Industry
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Office: (352)-420-8401
Cell: (863)990-3024
Erin.Jenkins@FDACS.gov
Doyle Conner Building
1911 South West 34th Street
Post Office Box 147100
Gainesville, Florida 32614-7100
www.FDACS.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes). Most written
communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable by the public upon request.
Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered public and will only be withheld from disclosure
if deemed confidential pursuant to the laws of the State of Florida.
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2025 9:26 AM
To: Jenkins, Erin <Erin.Jenkins@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Re: Lab results
Thank you, I appreciate it.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
On Tue, Apr 29, 2025 at 9:22?AM Jenkins, Erin <Erin.Jenkins@fdacs.gov> wrote:
Good morning.
Yes we have the results for the viral loads and Brandon was going to be calling you today.
I will send them over when I get out of meetings and feel free to also contact the lab as
well if we can t answer all questions on the viral issues.
Erin Jenkins
State Apiarist
Apiary Inspection Section
Bureau of Plant and Apiary inspection
Division of Plant Industry
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Office: (352)-420-8401
Cell: (863)990-3024
Erin.Jenkins@FDACS.gov
Doyle Conner Building
1911 South West 34th Street
Post Office Box 147100
Gainesville, Florida 32614-7100
www.FDACS.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes). Most written
communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable by the public upon request.
Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered public and will only be withheld from disclosure
if deemed confidential pursuant to the laws of the State of Florida.
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2025 9:20:02 AM
To: Jenkins, Erin <Erin.Jenkins@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Lab results
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Good morning,
Do you have any updates on lab results or reports?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
From: Richmond, Neil
Sent: Friday, May 2, 2025 3:44 PM
To: Frazier, Courtney;Friend, Kelly
Subject: FW: Lab results for Costa Honey Farm
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Friday, May 2, 2025 3:40 PM
To: Silver, Claudette <Claudette.Silver@fdacs.gov>; Everton, Jerry <Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Lab results for Costa Honey Farm
​
Hi,
How do I get a copy of the report? What are the next steps? What exactly does the
enforcement department handle (pertaining to my case)?
I have not touched my hives since the inspectors were there, because I knew it was a crime
scene. Something really needs to be done with them if Fipronil killed the bees and
contaminated my honey and are constantly murdering my local ecosystem. I also don’t
want to invite hive beetles, wax moths, etc. I’m just trying to find someone with a sense of
urgency to destroy the contaminated hives. I’ve even offered to load them on my trailer
and park it in a large freezer if you have one, so they can be preserved, if needed, during the
criminal investigation of my livestock being killed and food source contaminated. If not the
freezer, can I dump them at FL Pest Control’s Ocala office? I want the poisoned bees to
stop poisoning my environment. It’s been several weeks with no plan on stopping the
poisoning of my property. I’m sick of looking at these dead and dying hives (that I worked
my a$$ off for 5yrs to build up) contaminating my neighborhood.
Please help or direct me to someone who has an answer on removing the hives from my
property immediately. I am extremely disappointed by the complete absence of any sense
of urgency to remove poisoned hives from my property.
​
Thank you,
Dave Costa
Costa Honey Farm
352-502-2792
On Thu, May 1, 2025 at 10:32?AM Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com> wrote:
Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
All Surface Rejuvenations Plus
352-502-0707
WeSealGrout.com
1576 Bella Cruz Drive, #329
The Villages, FL 32159
855-732-5476 24hr Free Recorded Message
On Thu, May 1, 2025 at 10:15?AM Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov> wrote:
Good morning Mr. Costa,
The case file and the lab results are now in the enforcement section. I have copied them on this
email as they can provide you information with your case going forward.
Thanks
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 1, 2025 10:13 AM
To: Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Re: Lab results
Good morning,
Any updates on the lab results?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
All Surface Rejuvenations Plus
352-502-0707
WeSealGrout.com
1576 Bella Cruz Drive, #329
The Villages, FL 32159
855-732-5476 24hr Free Recorded Message
On Tue, Apr 29, 2025 at 4:48?PM Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com> wrote:
Ok, thank you. Did you receive the apiary inspection report? I was told it points to
pesticides.
Any plan for destroying these poisoned hives? Is it FL Pest Control's responsibility,
since they poisoned them with an illegal (in 3-5 ways) application of pesticide?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
All Surface Rejuvenations Plus
352-502-0707
WeSealGrout.com
1576 Bella Cruz Drive, #329
The Villages, FL 32159
855-732-5476 24hr Free Recorded Message
On Tue, Apr 29, 2025 at 4:35?PM Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov> wrote:
I have sent your inquiry to the lab. They should respond shortly.
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2025 9:20 AM
To: Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Lab results
Good morning,
Do you have any updates on lab results or reports?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
From: Silver, Claudette
Sent: Friday, May 2, 2025 4:33 PM
To: Dave Costa;Everton, Jerry
Subject: RE: Lab results for Costa Honey Farm
Attachments: AB49365_Florida Pest Control.pdf; AB49366_Florida Pest Control.pdf; AB49367_Florida
Pest Control.pdf; AB49397_Mr David Costa.pdf; AB49363_Florida Pest Control.pdf; AB49364_Florida
Pest Control.pdf; Lab qualifier.pdf
​
Mr. Costa,
We created a public records request for the laboratory results. I have also attached them for your
convenience.
Your case is still in the review process. We recognize the urgency of this matter and have prioritized
your case.
The pesticide enforcement section reviews the submitted cases and determines if there was a
violation of Florida Statutes or Florida Administrative code 5E-14. The removal of bee hives is
outside the authority of our section, however we are currently researching options for hive removal
that may be available to you in the State of Florida.
Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Thank you,
Claudette Silver
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Friday, May 2, 2025 3:40 PM
To: Silver, Claudette <Claudette.Silver@fdacs.gov>; Everton, Jerry <Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Lab results for Costa Honey Farm
​
Hi,
How do I get a copy of the report? What are the next steps? What exactly does the
enforcement department handle (pertaining to my case)?
I have not touched my hives since the inspectors were there, because I knew it was a crime
scene. Something really needs to be done with them if Fipronil killed the bees and
contaminated my honey and are constantly murdering my local ecosystem. I also don t
want to invite hive beetles, wax moths, etc. I m just trying to find someone with a sense of
urgency to destroy the contaminated hives. I ve even offered to load them on my trailer
and park it in a large freezer if you have one, so they can be preserved, if needed, during the
criminal investigation of my livestock being killed and food source contaminated. If not the
freezer, can I dump them at FL Pest Control s Ocala office? I want the poisoned bees to
stop poisoning my environment. It s been several weeks with no plan on stopping the
poisoning of my property. I m sick of looking at these dead and dying hives (that I worked
my a$$ off for 5yrs to build up) contaminating my neighborhood.
Please help or direct me to someone who has an answer on removing the hives from my
property immediately. I am extremely disappointed by the complete absence of any sense
of urgency to remove poisoned hives from my property.
​
Thank you,
Dave Costa
Costa Honey Farm
352-502-2792
On Thu, May 1, 2025 at 10:32?AM Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com> wrote:
Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
On Thu, May 1, 2025 at 10:15?AM Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov> wrote:
Good morning Mr. Costa,
The case file and the lab results are now in the enforcement section. I have copied them on this
email as they can provide you information with your case going forward.
Thanks
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 1, 2025 10:13 AM
To: Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Re: Lab results
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Good morning,
Any updates on the lab results?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
On Tue, Apr 29, 2025 at 4:48?PM Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com> wrote:
Ok, thank you. Did you receive the apiary inspection report? I was told it points to
pesticides.
Any plan for destroying these poisoned hives? Is it FL Pest Control's responsibility,
since they poisoned them with an illegal (in 3-5 ways) application of pesticide?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
On Tue, Apr 29, 2025 at 4:35?PM Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov> wrote:
I have sent your inquiry to the lab. They should respond shortly.
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2025 9:20 AM
To: Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Lab results
Good morning,
Do you have any updates on lab results or reports?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
From: Jenkins, Erin
Sent: Monday, May 5, 2025 8:12 AM
To: Emery, Tyson
Subject: FW: Lab results for Costa Honey Farm
Good morning, Tyson.
Just wanted to keep you in the loop on the AES case.
Thank you.
Erin Jenkins
State Apiarist
Apiary Inspection Section
Bureau of Plant and Apiary inspection
Division of Plant Industry
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Office: (352)-420-8401
Cell: (863)990-3024
Erin.Jenkins@FDACS.gov
Doyle Conner Building
1911 South West 34th Street
Post Office Box 147100
Gainesville, Florida 32614-7100
www.FDACS.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes). Most written
communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable by the public upon request. Emails
sent to me at this email address may be considered public and will only be withheld from disclosure if
deemed confidential pursuant to the laws of the State of Florida.
​
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Friday, May 2, 2025 6:50 PM
To: Silver, Claudette <Claudette.Silver@fdacs.gov>
Cc: Everton, Jerry <Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Re: Lab results for Costa Honey Farm
​
Thank you,
What do the positive numbers mean? Is there info for the average person on what these
numbers mean?
How is Fipronil on the bees in the hive, but not in the honey?
Did they take samples of capped honey where the affected bees could not have
touched? Or did they take only open honey cells that the affected bees probably could
have come in contact with?
Could the swarms and robbing have taken the uncapped honey from the dead hive?
Was the honey sample taken correctly?
Why was only the hive that had the most dead bees tested and not the one Brandon could
barely lift?
There were a couple of strong hives that now appear weak...those were not tested
either. Sub lethal doses have been completely ignored.
Anyone saying the honey is not contaminated, I'm going to ask them to stand behind their
work and eat honey from the hives.
Is more accurate testing going to be done to find out where the Diuron (herbicide) and
Imidacloprid (neonicotinoid) came from?
Why were these poisons not mentioned by Fl Pest or my neighbor?
Is it another crime if they fail to report using these poisons during a state investigation?
I was treated like I was crazy for saying someone probably sprayed the fence
(which caused the swarm that Fl Pest illegally killed), but the soil samples show these
poisons in the soil. I was treated like I was crazy for flipping out when they washed the
fence (to obviously cover up evidence) only in the 30-40 feet exactly on the other side of my
hives. My neighbor told the landlord she was having the grass cleaned off of the
fence. Who is investigating this to see if they are covering up vandalizing my livestock and
food supply?
​
I was extremely persistent in testing the dead bees under the hammock, the soil under the
dead bees, and the soil under the fence on my neighbor's side (where I was very persistent
that someone sprayed, causing the swarm Fl Pest illegally sprayed). None of this was
tested, because I was told that nothing else was sprayed. I was treated like I was stupid for
demanding these tests. Are you kidding me? Are you really going to not test to see if the
applicator (who admittedly violated many federal laws) is telling the truth? The soil results
show clearly that we are dealing with a liar covering up a neonic. Why has nobody been out
to check this felony? Can someone perform a real criminal investigation ASAP??
I told everyone that I would pay for any samples that the state didn't cover. So why was I
ignored?????? Does anyone know how to do a thorough investigation? Why am I the only
one who has these concerns? What do you do now, after everyone was wrong but me?
If there was a sense of urgency, why did it take several days to share? These reports were
done days ago that found Fipronil, Diuron (herbicide), and Imidacloprid (neonicotinoid)
where they should not be.
​
I really wish everyone would take this issue as seriously as I am. I'm extremely
disappointed in how I've been treated like I'm crazy, yet it's been days and nothing has
been done after finding out that I was absolutely right about needing to test other areas and
other poisons.
Nobody seems to care about the poisonous hives right next to my home, which completely
defies the purpose of FDACS. I want a plan to remove the poisonous hives off my property
ASAP at the expense of who killed them. I did not poison them, so I should not have to
keep hives that are destroying my ecosystem. The longer they are here, the longer before I
can start over. This is not fair to me in any way whatsoever.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
Costa Honey Farm
352-502-2792
On Fri, May 2, 2025 at 4:32?PM Silver, Claudette <Claudette.Silver@fdacs.gov> wrote:
Mr. Costa,
We created a public records request for the laboratory results. I have also attached them for your
convenience.
Your case is still in the review process. We recognize the urgency of this matter and have
prioritized your case.
The pesticide enforcement section reviews the submitted cases and determines if there was a
violation of Florida Statutes or Florida Administrative code 5E-14. The removal of bee hives is
outside the authority of our section, however we are currently researching options for hive
removal that may be available to you in the State of Florida.
Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Thank you,
Claudette Silver
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Friday, May 2, 2025 3:40 PM
To: Silver, Claudette <Claudette.Silver@fdacs.gov>; Everton, Jerry <Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Lab results for Costa Honey Farm
You don't often get email from dave@wesealgrout.com. Learn why this is important
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Hi,
How do I get a copy of the report? What are the next steps? What exactly does the
enforcement department handle (pertaining to my case)?
I have not touched my hives since the inspectors were there, because I knew it was a
crime scene. Something really needs to be done with them if Fipronil killed the bees and
contaminated my honey and are constantly murdering my local ecosystem. I also don t
want to invite hive beetles, wax moths, etc. I m just trying to find someone with a sense of
urgency to destroy the contaminated hives. I ve even offered to load them on my trailer
and park it in a large freezer if you have one, so they can be preserved, if needed, during
the criminal investigation of my livestock being killed and food source contaminated. If
not the freezer, can I dump them at FL Pest Control s Ocala office? I want the poisoned
bees to stop poisoning my environment. It s been several weeks with no plan on stopping
the poisoning of my property. I m sick of looking at these dead and dying hives (that I
worked my a$$ off for 5yrs to build up) contaminating my neighborhood.
Please help or direct me to someone who has an answer on removing the hives from my
property immediately. I am extremely disappointed by the complete absence of any
sense of urgency to remove poisoned hives from my property.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
Costa Honey Farm
352-502-2792
On Thu, May 1, 2025 at 10:32?AM Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com> wrote:
Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
All Surface Rejuvenations Plus
352-502-0707
WeSealGrout.com
1576 Bella Cruz Drive, #329
The Villages, FL 32159
855-732-5476 24hr Free Recorded Message
On Thu, May 1, 2025 at 10:15?AM Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov> wrote:
Good morning Mr. Costa,
The case file and the lab results are now in the enforcement section. I have copied them on this
email as they can provide you information with your case going forward.
Thanks
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 1, 2025 10:13 AM
To: Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Re: Lab results
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Good morning,
Any updates on the lab results?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
All Surface Rejuvenations Plus
352-502-0707
WeSealGrout.com
1576 Bella Cruz Drive, #329
The Villages, FL 32159
855-732-5476 24hr Free Recorded Message
On Tue, Apr 29, 2025 at 4:48?PM Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com> wrote:
Ok, thank you. Did you receive the apiary inspection report? I was told it points to
pesticides.
Any plan for destroying these poisoned hives? Is it FL Pest Control's responsibility,
since they poisoned them with an illegal (in 3-5 ways) application of pesticide?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
On Tue, Apr 29, 2025 at 4:35?PM Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov> wrote:
I have sent your inquiry to the lab. They should respond shortly.
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2025 9:20 AM
To: Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Lab results
Good morning,
Do you have any updates on lab results or reports?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
From: Wesley, James
Sent: Monday, May 5, 2025 1:34 PM
To: Bridget Saunders;Jenkins, Erin;Poirier, Michelle
Subject: RE: Dead bee/soil sample report David Costa
Ms. Saunders,
Good afternoon, I am glad that you received the sample taken from the hive. The remaining samples are
still being processed, and Michelle and I spoke about making sure that Mr. Costa receives the results
once they do come in. In regard to the termiticide made to the new construction, we do not require that
builder make a pesticide/termiticide application at the time of construction. I am not certain why the
applicator saw it necessary to make the application. We will certainly let you know when we receive the
remaining samples. Mr. Costa's case file is currently under review with our Bureau of Licensing and
Enforcement. Thank you.
James E. Wesley
Natural Sciences Manager I
Bureau of Inspection and Incident Response Division of Agricultural Environmental Services Florida
Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
(850) 528-5354 Cell
(386) 853-6430 Office
James.Wesley@fdacs.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable by the public
upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered public and will only be
withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the laws of the State of Florida.
​
-----Original Message-----
From: Bridget Saunders <villagego2girl@yahoo.com>
Sent: Monday, May 5, 2025 11:26 AM
To: Jenkins, Erin <Erin.Jenkins@fdacs.gov>; Poirier, Michelle <Michelle.Poirier@fdacs.gov>; Wesley,
James <James.Wesley@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Dead bee/soil sample report David Costa
​
Good Morning Erin, Michelle, and James,
Dave and I got the report showing Fipronil in the one hive where dead bees were taken, but we did not
get the pesticide toxicology report for the dead bees from our neighbors yard. I know Erin took a sample
of those bees on April 8th when she was there on her first visit. When can we expect to receive the
pesticide toxicology report from those bees as well as that soil sample? Dave was adamant those bees
were tested and Dan s refusal to take and test those bees were the reason the Marion County Sheriff
was involved as well as a 2nd visit by FDACS was made.
Also has anyone questioned why a 6 month old NEW construction house was treated for termites
again??? Isn t it state code a termite treatment is done at construction?
Thanks,
Bridget Saunders (Dave s fianc )
From: Richmond, Neil
Sent: Tuesday, May 6, 2025 1:59 PM
To: Bridget Saunders;Wesley, James
Cc: Everton, Jerry
Subject: RE: Illegal spray by FL Pest control.
Jerry Everton is over enforcement.
-----Original Message-----
From: Bridget Saunders <villagego2girl@yahoo.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 6, 2025 1:56 PM
To: Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>; Wesley, James <James.Wesley@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Illegal spray by FL Pest control.
[You don't often get email from villagego2girl@yahoo.com. Learn why this is important at
https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentification ]
​
Good afternoon, I know you both are well aware of the illegal spray done by Florida pest control of a
termite killer that killed our honeybees and poisoned our bee yard. (Dave Costa case). I understand that
you both are very busy and have many other cases on your plates. Could you please direct my fianc and
me to someone who can answer questions for us? We were provided with lab test which shows Florida
pest control killed and poisoned our honeybees (federally as you know they are considered livestock)
and it really seems like no one cares.
Do you have a contact of the enforcement agency that our case has been referred to or do you have a
specific contact person at the EPA?
Two additional chemicals (one a neonic) were found on our fence line and we need to find out who
sprayed those chemicals.
Also are you aware a double termite spray was done? Our neighbors house is a new construction home
and it was treated for termites by regal pest control June 2024 when the house was being built. I spoke
to someone yesterday at Regal (now Turners) and was told depending on what chemical they used, they
are not due for another spray for 5 to 10 years yet the renter had it situated 9 months later. Who can
find out what chemical was used?
My fianc sent an email out on Friday and it seems that he has been ignored by everyone. We are just
trying to find out answers and if you don t know the answers, if someone could just tell us that you don t
know and point us in the direction of someone that does know, we would greatly appreciate it.
If you have never been a beekeeper, you have no idea what it takes to run a Beeyard and the amount of
sweat equity put into caring for bees especially in the FL heat.
My fianc is very passionate about bees and started backyard Beekeeping for his allergies. We are not
going to get any honey this whole entire summer because of the poisoning and the longer we keep
poisoned bees on our property, the longer it will take us to reestablish our hives. We are looking for help
from anyone who can help us.
He wants the poisoned bees removed from our property and he wants to find out what was used to kill
the swarm of bees in a knockdown fashion in our neighbor s yard since Fipronel is not a knockdown
killer. Who can answer these questions for us? Feel free to give either one of us a call. We were told all
testing was complete and then we were told you are still waiting on testing from the dead bees from the
neighbors yard.
My guess is neither of you have lost sleep over these dead hives, but my fianc and I have and have
both spent countless hours researching, making phone calls, writing emails, and documenting this case.
We would like some normalcy back in our life and to start the process of rebuilding our Beeyard as soon
as possible. Thank you for any help you can offer.
Thanks,
Bridget Saunders (Dave Costa s fianc )
From: Friend, Kelly
Sent: Tuesday, May 6, 2025 5:57 PM
To: Goletz, Katherine;Boree, Kelley
Cc: Frazier, Courtney;Everton, Jerry
Subject: Fw: Lab results for Costa Honey Farm
​
Good afternoon, Kelley and Katherine -
I saw this email come through and wanted to let you know that Claudette, on our
enforcement team, has reached out to Mr. Costa, and Jerry spoke to his fiance today. Jerry
will give Mr. Costa a call in the morning. This case file is under review for any violations of
our pesticide law. We can circle back tomorrow if you need additional information.
​
Kelly
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
Get Outlook for Android
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 6, 2025 5:30:45 PM
To: Silver, Claudette <Claudette.Silver@fdacs.gov>; Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>;
Commissioner Simpson <Wilton.Simpson@fdacs.gov>; Lucas, Patty <Patricia.Lucas@fdacs.gov>;
Jenkins, Erin <Erin.Jenkins@fdacs.gov>; Everton, Jerry <Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov>; Wesley,
James <James.Wesley@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Re: Lab results for Costa Honey Farm
​
Not one FDACS employee responded to me about this email I sent Friday. You can see
the list of recipients. This process in dealing with FDACS has been extremely
disappointing. Does anyone know how to handle this? You are supposed to be fighting for
my rights as a registered commercial apiary, especially after an admitted illegal
application of a pesticide and finding fipronil INSIDE a hive. I want these poisoned hives off
of my property ASAP. How many times do I need to ask about removal of the poisoned
hives? I've asked almost daily for one month. I'm tired of being ignored.
On Fri, May 2, 2025 at 6:50?PM Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com> wrote:
Thank you,
What do the positive numbers mean? Is there info for the average person on what these
numbers mean?
How is Fipronil on the bees in the hive, but not in the honey?
Did they take samples of capped honey where the affected bees could not have
touched? Or did they take only open honey cells that the affected bees probably could
have come in contact with?
Could the swarms and robbing have taken the uncapped honey from the dead hive?
Was the honey sample taken correctly?
Why was only the hive that had the most dead bees tested and not the one Brandon could
barely lift?
There were a couple of strong hives that now appear weak...those were not tested
either. Sub lethal doses have been completely ignored.
Anyone saying the honey is not contaminated, I'm going to ask them to stand behind their
work and eat honey from the hives.
Is more accurate testing going to be done to find out where the Diuron (herbicide) and
Imidacloprid (neonicotinoid) came from?
Why were these poisons not mentioned by Fl Pest or my neighbor?
Is it another crime if they fail to report using these poisons during a state investigation?
I was treated like I was crazy for saying someone probably sprayed the fence
(which caused the swarm that Fl Pest illegally killed), but the soil samples show these
poisons in the soil. I was treated like I was crazy for flipping out when they washed the
fence (to obviously cover up evidence) only in the 30-40 feet exactly on the other side of
my hives. My neighbor told the landlord she was having the grass cleaned off of the
fence. Who is investigating this to see if they are covering up vandalizing my livestock and
food supply?
I was extremely persistent in testing the dead bees under the hammock, the soil under the
dead bees, and the soil under the fence on my neighbor's side (where I was very persistent
that someone sprayed, causing the swarm Fl Pest illegally sprayed). None of this was
tested, because I was told that nothing else was sprayed. I was treated like I was stupid
for demanding these tests. Are you kidding me? Are you really going to not test to see if
the applicator (who admittedly violated many federal laws) is telling the truth? The soil
results show clearly that we are dealing with a liar covering up a neonic. Why has nobody
been out to check this felony? Can someone perform a real criminal investigation
ASAP??
I told everyone that I would pay for any samples that the state didn't cover. So why was I
ignored?????? Does anyone know how to do a thorough investigation? Why am I the only
one who has these concerns? What do you do now, after everyone was wrong but me?
If there was a sense of urgency, why did it take several days to share? These reports were
done days ago that found Fipronil, Diuron (herbicide), and Imidacloprid (neonicotinoid)
where they should not be.
I really wish everyone would take this issue as seriously as I am. I'm extremely
disappointed in how I've been treated like I'm crazy, yet it's been days and nothing has
been done after finding out that I was absolutely right about needing to test other areas
and other poisons.
Nobody seems to care about the poisonous hives right next to my home, which
completely defies the purpose of FDACS. I want a plan to remove the poisonous hives off
my property ASAP at the expense of who killed them. I did not poison them, so I should
not have to keep hives that are destroying my ecosystem. The longer they are here, the
longer before I can start over. This is not fair to me in any way whatsoever.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
Costa Honey Farm
352-502-2792
On Fri, May 2, 2025 at 4:32?PM Silver, Claudette <Claudette.Silver@fdacs.gov> wrote:
Mr. Costa,
We created a public records request for the laboratory results. I have also attached them for
your convenience.
Your case is still in the review process. We recognize the urgency of this matter and have
prioritized your case.
The pesticide enforcement section reviews the submitted cases and determines if there was a
violation of Florida Statutes or Florida Administrative code 5E-14. The removal of bee hives is
outside the authority of our section, however we are currently researching options for hive
removal that may be available to you in the State of Florida.
Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Thank you,
Claudette Silver
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Friday, May 2, 2025 3:40 PM
To: Silver, Claudette <Claudette.Silver@fdacs.gov>; Everton, Jerry <Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Lab results for Costa Honey Farm
You don't often get email from dave@wesealgrout.com. Learn why this is important
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Hi,
How do I get a copy of the report? What are the next steps? What exactly does the
enforcement department handle (pertaining to my case)?
I have not touched my hives since the inspectors were there, because I knew it was a
crime scene. Something really needs to be done with them if Fipronil killed the bees and
contaminated my honey and are constantly murdering my local ecosystem. I also don t
want to invite hive beetles, wax moths, etc. I m just trying to find someone with a sense
of urgency to destroy the contaminated hives. I ve even offered to load them on my
trailer and park it in a large freezer if you have one, so they can be preserved, if needed,
during the criminal investigation of my livestock being killed and food source
contaminated. If not the freezer, can I dump them at FL Pest Control s Ocala office? I
want the poisoned bees to stop poisoning my environment. It s been several weeks
with no plan on stopping the poisoning of my property. I m sick of looking at these dead
and dying hives (that I worked my a$$ off for 5yrs to build up) contaminating my
neighborhood.
Please help or direct me to someone who has an answer on removing the hives from my
property immediately. I am extremely disappointed by the complete absence of any
sense of urgency to remove poisoned hives from my property.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
Costa Honey Farm
352-502-2792
On Thu, May 1, 2025 at 10:32?AM Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com> wrote:
Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
On Thu, May 1, 2025 at 10:15?AM Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov> wrote:
Good morning Mr. Costa,
The case file and the lab results are now in the enforcement section. I have copied them on this
email as they can provide you information with your case going forward.
Thanks
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 1, 2025 10:13 AM
To: Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Re: Lab results
Good morning,
Any updates on the lab results?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
On Tue, Apr 29, 2025 at 4:48?PM Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com> wrote:
Ok, thank you. Did you receive the apiary inspection report? I was told it points to
pesticides.
Any plan for destroying these poisoned hives? Is it FL Pest Control's responsibility,
since they poisoned them with an illegal (in 3-5 ways) application of pesticide?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
All Surface Rejuvenations Plus
352-502-0707
WeSealGrout.com
1576 Bella Cruz Drive, #329
The Villages, FL 32159
855-732-5476 24hr Free Recorded Message
On Tue, Apr 29, 2025 at 4:35?PM Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov> wrote:
I have sent your inquiry to the lab. They should respond shortly.
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2025 9:20 AM
To: Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Lab results
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Good morning,
Do you have any updates on lab results or reports?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
From: Poirier, Michelle
Sent: Wednesday, May 7, 2025 3:16 PM
To: Wesley, James
Subject: FW: Regal sprayed for insects
FYI, additional emails from Mr. Costa.
Michelle
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 7, 2025 2:33 PM
To: Poirier, Michelle <Michelle.Poirier@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Re: Regal sprayed for insects
​
Regal also told her that they will spray bees any time she requests. They told her the bees
must be contained to my property. Please educate Regal Termite, now Turner’s.
On Wed, May 7, 2025 at 2:28?PM Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com> wrote:
My the owner of next door said regal termite recently sprayed for pests, not bees. Was
this in the report?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
From: Richmond, Neil
Sent: Thursday, May 8, 2025 5:36 AM
To: Frazier, Courtney;Friend, Kelly
Subject: Fwd: Report
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
Get Outlook for Android
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 7, 2025, 5:47 PM
To: Poirier, Michelle
Cc: Wesley, James
Subject: Re: Report
​
Good afternoon,
The affidavits are still not there. Just the same info that’s been there and I sent to you.
Are you saying that the directly sprayed bees were not tested and you are using a
statement from a technician who unlawfully (5 ways) applied fipronil, to prove they were
sprayed with fipronil and nothing else, like the neonic found in the soil? Why would the
smoking gun not be tested? Why would we assume the smoking gun was the murder
weapon and not test to be sure?
You are assuming that Mrs Brutton is not lying. Her landlord just told me today that Regal
did in fact spray for pests recently. I was very adamant about the possibility of someone
spraying something that caused the hammock swarm and directly hit the closest 3
hives. It was extremely, visibly obvious that those 3 hives were drastically different. It
would make perfect sense to contact Regal because of this, plus I bet their sticker is on her
electric box, so they would most likely be the 1st call.
You tested a small section of one hive, so there’s most definitely a very high possibility of
finding the neonic (found in the soil) inside of a different hive.
Levels of saturation would be able to tell if it was recently applied and if it was applied at
the lawful rate. Again, you are assuming that the tech and Mrs Brutton are not
lying. Again, you tested one hive and ignore the fact that regal could have caused the 1st
swarm with an illegal application of a pesticide. Why are you not questioning how a
neonicotinoid got on my side of the fence?
Why are you assuming all the hives would have the same results?
I’ve never voiced a concern for legal application of pesticides. That would be utterly
ridiculous and highly hypocritical of me. I have only mentioned unlawful applications and
only the ones that directly affected my hives. Nothing else. Can you give an example of a
legal pesticide application that would cause the soil on my side of the fence to test positive
for a neonicotinoid?
Why are there so many assumptions? Why would you assume there’s only one murder
weapon? There should be zero assumptions in an investigation.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
On Wed, May 7, 2025 at 3:14?PM Poirier, Michelle <Michelle.Poirier@fdacs.gov> wrote:
Good afternoon, Dave,
All of the Affidavits (yours included) should all be accessible through the GovQA links that were sent to
your email. If this is not the case or you are still having trouble accessing these links, please let me
know. I am not able to see what you can access but have been told that the whole case file should be
available for your review.
To answer your other questions:
* The deceased bees were sent to our Pesticide Lab for proper disposal. The case file includes
evidence in the form of statements and invoice records showing that these bees were directly
sprayed by the applicator.
* Our objective with this case was to determine if a possible pesticide misuse could have been
associated with the death of your bees. All of the pesticide uses at Ms. Bruton’s property that
she was aware of from the time of her moving in until the time of case file submission were
documented in the case file. If other products were directly responsible for the death of your
bees, they would have been present on the pesticide analysis of your bees and/or
honey/comb.
* Some pesticides can remain in the environment (i.e. soil) for years, depending on what they are.
This makes it nearly impossible to confirm who applied them and when. In this case, Ms.
Bruton did not have records or knowledge of any of the other chemicals found in the analyses
being applied around the time of the death of your bees or within 5 months prior to the
investigation. If traces of these chemicals were associated with the death of your bees (our
objective to determine), not only should they have shown up in the bee or honey/comb
samples but also your bees likely would have been affected well before now.
* We cannot stop a pest control company from legally applying pesticide products to some else’s
property. As long as they follow the product label and state/federal laws regarding pesticide
use, then they have every right to apply pesticide products.
I have attached the Florida Pest Control Law, Chapter 482 F.S., for your review. It covers the things that
the Department can enforce and what pest control companies are required to keep/share in relation to
their pesticide applications. I think this may help to answer some of your other questions. Please note
that pest control companies are not required to share application records with one another.
Best,
Michelle Poirier
Environmental Specialist II
Bureau of Inspection and Incident Response
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Cell: (850) 755-7526
Office: (386) 853-6432
Michelle.Poirier@fdacs.gov
The Conner Building
3125 Conner Boulevard, Suite N
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1650
www.fdacs.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable
by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered
public and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the
laws of the State of Florida.
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 6, 2025 6:45 PM
To: Poirier, Michelle <Michelle.Poirier@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Re: Report
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Thank you for your help. I forwarded you the lab results. No affidavits were included.
Dan had me sign a handwritten report and also an addendum for the smoking gun (pile of
sprayed bees) that I had to fight him to include..
What happened to the dead bees that were in her yard and the soil under them?
Can you still add to the report?
Did you interview Regal Termite (Now Turner's)? They did the initial termite treatment
about 9 months ago. It doesn't need to be treated again for 5-10yrs, according to
them. I'm wondering if she had Regal spray anything. There is a neonic in the soil
sample. Nobody reported using the neonic. She had a guy pressure wash her side of the
fence for a long time. It was only the fence directly on the other side of my hives. Was she
covering up the neonic? Who sprayed the neonic and herbicide on my side of the
fence? Absolutely nothing gets sprayed on that side of the house. Why would a renter
have a termite treatment done on a brand new home that was recently treated?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
On Tue, May 6, 2025 at 5:33?PM Poirier, Michelle <Michelle.Poirier@fdacs.gov> wrote:
Good evening, Dave,
From the records office, there are actually 3 requests that they have received and fulfilled for you at
this point. You should be able to access each of these. They all should include the same information.
I’m glad to hear that you have at least been able to access one of them.
James and I do not currently have access to the pesticide analysis reports, so we do not know their
status without checking in with the lab. We have been told some of the results, but we inspectors
usually don’t receive these reports until the case file has been fully processed and enforcement
actions have been taken. You, as the complainant, should have received any of the analyses that were
completed directly from the lab. To recap, there were 6 samples taken that you should receive reports
for. The bee sample the Dan collected, the bottle brush foliar sample, the bee sample that Ed and I
collected from inside your hives, the honey/comb sample, the soil sample between your hives and the
fence line, and the algae sample from your koi pond. If you have not received reports for all of these,
then they are still pending.
As for Dan’s part of the file, there is only the Affidavit that he collected from you and the Pesticide
Sample Collection Report from the bees that he collected from your property. He did not compose a
Narrative report for this case since he was not the inspector who completed the case. In my Narrative
report, I noted the things that were completed when he started the investigation.
The Affidavits from Ms. Bruton, the FL Pest technician, and the FL Pest Certified Operator should be
included in the file on all three requests. They will be titled “Affidavit- [last name]”. These are what
was recorded from each interview, just like we recorded your Affidavits from your interviews.
Additionally, the technician gave us the application details which were recorded on the UIR, or the
Use Investigation Report.
I hope this helps to answer your questions.
Respectfully,
Michelle Poirier
Environmental Specialist II
Bureau of Inspection and Incident Response
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Cell: (850) 755-7526
Office: (386) 853-6432
Michelle.Poirier@fdacs.gov
The Conner Building
3125 Conner Boulevard, Suite N
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1650
www.fdacs.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable
by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered
public and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the
laws of the State of Florida.
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 6, 2025 4:39 PM
To: Poirier, Michelle <Michelle.Poirier@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Re: Report
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
One has been in progress for a while. I didn't know they were the same, because it's
missing Dan's report, neighbor's interview, and the interview with Fl Pest control's tech
and supervisor. Plus James said the testing was not complete. I'm confused about what
is really going on.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
On Tue, May 6, 2025 at 11:28?AM Poirier, Michelle <Michelle.Poirier@fdacs.gov> wrote:
It seems that you actually have two requests for the same case file now. The original request that I
submitted for you on 4/25/25 (P046281-042525) and the one that you submitted (P046348-050225).
According to our section that processes these requests, the information should be the same in both
requests. Again, please let me know if you are unable to find the GovQA emails for the requests.
Michelle Poirier
Environmental Specialist II
Bureau of Inspection and Incident Response
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Cell: (850) 755-7526
Office: (386) 853-6432
Michelle.Poirier@fdacs.gov
The Conner Building
3125 Conner Boulevard, Suite N
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1650
www.fdacs.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable
by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered
public and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the
laws of the State of Florida.
From: Poirier, Michelle
Sent: Tuesday, May 6, 2025 11:14 AM
To: 'Dave Costa' <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Subject: RE: Report
Dave,
Your request to access the case file was completed on Friday (5/2/25). You should have received an
email from GovQA that day that included a link to access the file. The request number is #P046348-
050225. Let me know if you are unable to find the email.
Best,
Michelle Poirier
Environmental Specialist II
Bureau of Inspection and Incident Response
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Cell: (850) 755-7526
Office: (386) 853-6432
Michelle.Poirier@fdacs.gov
The Conner Building
3125 Conner Boulevard, Suite N
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1650
www.fdacs.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable
by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered
public and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the
laws of the State of Florida.
From: Poirier, Michelle
Sent: Tuesday, May 6, 2025 8:22 AM
To: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Subject: RE: Report
Good morning, Dave,
Let me check in on the public records request for you. I’ll let you know where it stands.
Respectfully,
Michelle Poirier
Environmental Specialist II
Bureau of Inspection and Incident Response
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Cell: (850) 755-7526
Office: (386) 853-6432
Michelle.Poirier@fdacs.gov
The Conner Building
3125 Conner Boulevard, Suite N
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1650
www.fdacs.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable
by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered
public and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the
laws of the State of Florida.
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Monday, May 5, 2025 5:09 PM
To: Poirier, Michelle <Michelle.Poirier@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Report
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Hi, Michelle,
The request for your report is still in progress. Is this normal? The request for the
pesticides were available friday afternoon.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
From: Richmond, Neil
Sent: Thursday, May 8, 2025 12:48 PM
To: Friend, Kelly;Frazier, Courtney
Subject: FW: You know my hive has Fipronil inside and still do absolutely nothing????
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 8, 2025 12:46 PM
To: Everton, Jerry <Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov>
Cc: Commissioner Simpson <Wilton.Simpson@fdacs.gov>; Wesley, James <James.Wesley@fdacs.gov>;
Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>; Silver, Claudette <Claudette.Silver@fdacs.gov>; Lucas,
Patty <Patricia.Lucas@fdacs.gov>; Jenkins, Erin <Erin.Jenkins@fdacs.gov>; Friend, Kelly
<Kelly.Friend@fdacs.gov>; Frazier, Courtney <Courtney.Frazier@fdacs.gov>; Brown, Amy
<Amy.Brown@fdacs.gov>; Singh, Rashmi <Rashmi.Singh@fdacs.gov>; Davalos, Ricardo
<Ricardo.Davalos@fdacs.gov>
Subject: You know my hive has Fipronil inside and still do absolutely nothing????
​
You can ignore me, but I won t stop until I have the answers that I m told I will get.
Why do you push me to have to send an email like this when I m the victim of illegal
applications of Fiprinol that killed my hives???? I m demanding you respect my
constitutional and state rights as a beekeeper and landowner.
How irresponsible is your agency to be well aware of positive test results for Fipronil inside
the only hive tested, yet nothing is done? That s been over a week!!! You have a tech that
admitted over 5 ways he unlawfully applied Fipronil . that was a month ago!!!! Are you
gaslighting me or is fdacs really run this irresponsibly? What the !!!! is actually going on?
This is beyond stupid at this point.
Why do I still have no answers and cannot access the affidavits?
Why does everyone want to pass the buck and nobody has any answers? Why doesn t
anyone know how to handle this case?
This is absolutely ridiculous, irresponsible, and unacceptable. Fdacs is an enormous
disappointment and the mission statement is a blatant lie. The lack of detail and zero
sense of urgency should not be tolerated. No private business could be run this way.
What the !!!! do I need to do to get answers???? I ve been asking every day for a month
now. I want answers!!!!!! Now!!!!
Thank you,
Dave Costa
On Wed, May 7, 2025 at 6:28?PM Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com> wrote:
I did not receive an email response.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
On Wed, May 7, 2025 at 12:15?PM Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com> wrote:
Being consumed with this illegal bee kill, I m behind in my main business. Can you email
your response and I can go over it when I get some free time.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
On Wed, May 7, 2025 at 11:08?AM Everton, Jerry <Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov> wrote:
Good Morning Dave,
I am in receipt of your email and had the opportunity to speak with Bridget Saunders via
telephone yesterday afternoon regarding hers and your concerns.
I am hoping that you may have some time available this afternoon for you and I to have a
telephone call.
If available, what time would work best for you?
Thank you,
Gerald Everton
Chief, Bureau of Licensing & Enforcement
Division of Agriculture Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
850-617-7944 - Office
850-408-2996 - Cell
Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov
www.FDACS.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable
by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered
public and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the
laws of the State of Florida.
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 6, 2025 5:31 PM
To: Silver, Claudette <Claudette.Silver@fdacs.gov>; Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>;
Commissioner Simpson <Wilton.Simpson@fdacs.gov>; Lucas, Patty <Patricia.Lucas@fdacs.gov>;
Jenkins, Erin <Erin.Jenkins@fdacs.gov>; Everton, Jerry <Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov>; Wesley, James
<James.Wesley@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Re: Lab results for Costa Honey Farm
You don't often get email from dave@wesealgrout.com. Learn why this is important
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Not one FDACS employee responded to me about this email I sent Friday. You can see
the list of recipients. This process in dealing with FDACS has been extremely
disappointing. Does anyone know how to handle this? You are supposed to be fighting
for my rights as a registered commercial apiary, especially after an admitted illegal
application of a pesticide and finding fipronil INSIDE a hive. I want these poisoned hives
off of my property ASAP. How many times do I need to ask about removal of the
poisoned hives? I've asked almost daily for one month. I'm tired of being ignored.
On Fri, May 2, 2025 at 6:50?PM Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com> wrote:
Thank you,
What do the positive numbers mean? Is there info for the average person on what
these numbers mean?
How is Fipronil on the bees in the hive, but not in the honey?
Did they take samples of capped honey where the affected bees could not have
touched? Or did they take only open honey cells that the affected bees probably could
have come in contact with?
Could the swarms and robbing have taken the uncapped honey from the dead hive?
Was the honey sample taken correctly?
Why was only the hive that had the most dead bees tested and not the one Brandon
could barely lift?
There were a couple of strong hives that now appear weak...those were not tested
either. Sub lethal doses have been completely ignored.
Anyone saying the honey is not contaminated, I'm going to ask them to stand behind
their work and eat honey from the hives.
Is more accurate testing going to be done to find out where the Diuron (herbicide) and
Imidacloprid (neonicotinoid) came from?
Why were these poisons not mentioned by Fl Pest or my neighbor?
Is it another crime if they fail to report using these poisons during a state
investigation?
I was treated like I was crazy for saying someone probably sprayed the fence
(which caused the swarm that Fl Pest illegally killed), but the soil samples show these
poisons in the soil. I was treated like I was crazy for flipping out when they washed the
fence (to obviously cover up evidence) only in the 30-40 feet exactly on the other side of
my hives. My neighbor told the landlord she was having the grass cleaned off of the
fence. Who is investigating this to see if they are covering up vandalizing my livestock
and food supply?
I was extremely persistent in testing the dead bees under the hammock, the soil under
the dead bees, and the soil under the fence on my neighbor's side (where I was very
persistent that someone sprayed, causing the swarm Fl Pest illegally sprayed). None
of this was tested, because I was told that nothing else was sprayed. I was treated like
I was stupid for demanding these tests. Are you kidding me? Are you really going to not
test to see if the applicator (who admittedly violated many federal laws) is telling the
truth? The soil results show clearly that we are dealing with a liar covering up a
neonic. Why has nobody been out to check this felony? Can someone perform a real
criminal investigation ASAP??
I told everyone that I would pay for any samples that the state didn't cover. So why was
I ignored?????? Does anyone know how to do a thorough investigation? Why am I the
only one who has these concerns? What do you do now, after everyone was wrong but
me?
If there was a sense of urgency, why did it take several days to share? These reports
were done days ago that found Fipronil, Diuron (herbicide), and Imidacloprid
(neonicotinoid) where they should not be.
I really wish everyone would take this issue as seriously as I am. I'm extremely
disappointed in how I've been treated like I'm crazy, yet it's been days and nothing has
been done after finding out that I was absolutely right about needing to test other areas
and other poisons.
Nobody seems to care about the poisonous hives right next to my home, which
completely defies the purpose of FDACS. I want a plan to remove the poisonous hives
off my property ASAP at the expense of who killed them. I did not poison them, so I
should not have to keep hives that are destroying my ecosystem. The longer they are
here, the longer before I can start over. This is not fair to me in any way whatsoever.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
Costa Honey Farm
352-502-2792
On Fri, May 2, 2025 at 4:32?PM Silver, Claudette <Claudette.Silver@fdacs.gov> wrote:
Mr. Costa,
We created a public records request for the laboratory results. I have also attached them for
your convenience.
Your case is still in the review process. We recognize the urgency of this matter and have
prioritized your case.
The pesticide enforcement section reviews the submitted cases and determines if there was a
violation of Florida Statutes or Florida Administrative code 5E-14. The removal of bee hives is
outside the authority of our section, however we are currently researching options for hive
removal that may be available to you in the State of Florida.
Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Thank you,
Claudette Silver
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Friday, May 2, 2025 3:40 PM
To: Silver, Claudette <Claudette.Silver@fdacs.gov>; Everton, Jerry <Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Lab results for Costa Honey Farm
You don't often get email from dave@wesealgrout.com. Learn why this is important
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Hi,
How do I get a copy of the report? What are the next steps? What exactly does the
enforcement department handle (pertaining to my case)?
I have not touched my hives since the inspectors were there, because I knew it was a
crime scene. Something really needs to be done with them if Fipronil killed the bees
and contaminated my honey and are constantly murdering my local ecosystem. I also
don t want to invite hive beetles, wax moths, etc. I m just trying to find someone with
a sense of urgency to destroy the contaminated hives. I ve even offered to load them
on my trailer and park it in a large freezer if you have one, so they can be preserved, if
needed, during the criminal investigation of my livestock being killed and food source
contaminated. If not the freezer, can I dump them at FL Pest Control s Ocala office? I
want the poisoned bees to stop poisoning my environment. It s been several weeks
with no plan on stopping the poisoning of my property. I m sick of looking at these
dead and dying hives (that I worked my a$$ off for 5yrs to build up) contaminating my
neighborhood.
Please help or direct me to someone who has an answer on removing the hives from
my property immediately. I am extremely disappointed by the complete absence of
any sense of urgency to remove poisoned hives from my property.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
Costa Honey Farm
352-502-2792
On Thu, May 1, 2025 at 10:32?AM Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com> wrote:
Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
All Surface Rejuvenations Plus
On Thu, May 1, 2025 at 10:15?AM Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov> wrote:
Good morning Mr. Costa,
The case file and the lab results are now in the enforcement section. I have copied them on
this email as they can provide you information with your case going forward.
Thanks
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 1, 2025 10:13 AM
To: Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Re: Lab results
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Good morning,
Any updates on the lab results?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
On Tue, Apr 29, 2025 at 4:48?PM Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com> wrote:
Ok, thank you. Did you receive the apiary inspection report? I was told it points to
pesticides.
Any plan for destroying these poisoned hives? Is it FL Pest Control's responsibility,
since they poisoned them with an illegal (in 3-5 ways) application of pesticide?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
On Tue, Apr 29, 2025 at 4:35?PM Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
wrote:
I have sent your inquiry to the lab. They should respond shortly.
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2025 9:20 AM
To: Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Lab results
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Good morning,
Do you have any updates on lab results or reports?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
From: Everton, Jerry
Sent: Thursday, May 8, 2025 1:02 PM
To: Friend, Kelly
Cc: Frazier, Courtney
Subject: RE: Lab results for Costa Honey Farm
(For your review)
Good Afternoon Dave,
The Division of Agricultural Environmental Services is tasked with licensing and enforcement of
Feed, Seed, Fertilizer, Pest Control, pesticides, and pesticide applicators in the State of Florida.
In your case, our authority lies with the application of Taurus SC by Florida Pest Control. My
Bureau, Licensing and Enforcement, reviews case files referred to us from our field inspection
staff. During our review, we are looking for compliance with Section 482, F.S. and Rule 5E-14,
F.A.C. If administrative violations are determined, the bureau will issue an administrative action
(please note, our authority is administrative only). Administrative actions could be a Notice of
Noncompliance, Administrative Warning Letter, or an Administrative Fine, depending on the
severity of the violation. Rule 5E-14.149 will dictate how the bureau will move forward with
administrative actions, and how much an administrative fine, if applicable, would equal.
Inspectors who take physical samples follow the internal sampling procedures.
AES does not remove beehives. We are communicating with the Division of Plant Industry to see if
there are available resources for beehive removal.
If you would like additional samples to be analyzed, listed below is a list of private laboratories who
do pesticide analysis.
South Dakota Agricultural Labs
1335 Western Ave
Brookings, SD 57006-4728
605-692-7325
www.sdaglabs.com
SDCS@sdaglabs.com
Eurofins:
Eurofins Environment Testing - Tampa
6712 Benjamin Road Suite 100
Tampa, FL 33634-4403
813-885-7427
Eurofins Environment Testing Pensacola
3355 McLemore Drive
Pensacola, FL 32514-7045
850-474-1001
Env.Marketing@ET.EurofinsUS.com
www.eurofinsus.com/env
Pesticides Testing - Eurofins Scientific
Environment testing enquiry form - Eurofins Scientific
Pacific Agricultural Laboratory
21830 SW Alexander Ln
Sherwood, OR 97140
503-626-7943
Contact Pacific Agricultural Laboratory
We are wrapping up the final review of your case file and will have a determination very soon.
Thank you for your patience,
Gerald Everton
Chief, Bureau of Licensing & Enforcement
Division of Agriculture Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
850-617-7944 - Office
850-408-2996 - Cell
Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable
by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered
public and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the
laws of the State of Florida.
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 7, 2025 12:16 PM
To: Everton, Jerry <Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Re: Lab results for Costa Honey Farm
​
Being consumed with this illegal bee kill, I m behind in my main business. Can you email
your response and I can go over it when I get some free time.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
On Wed, May 7, 2025 at 11:08?AM Everton, Jerry <Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov> wrote:
Good Morning Dave,
I am in receipt of your email and had the opportunity to speak with Bridget Saunders via telephone
yesterday afternoon regarding hers and your concerns.
I am hoping that you may have some time available this afternoon for you and I to have a
telephone call.
If available, what time would work best for you?
Thank you,
Gerald Everton
Chief, Bureau of Licensing & Enforcement
Division of Agriculture Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
850-617-7944 - Office
850-408-2996 - Cell
Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov
www.FDACS.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable
by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered
public and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the
laws of the State of Florida.
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 6, 2025 5:31 PM
To: Silver, Claudette <Claudette.Silver@fdacs.gov>; Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>;
Commissioner Simpson <Wilton.Simpson@fdacs.gov>; Lucas, Patty <Patricia.Lucas@fdacs.gov>;
Jenkins, Erin <Erin.Jenkins@fdacs.gov>; Everton, Jerry <Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov>; Wesley, James
<James.Wesley@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Re: Lab results for Costa Honey Farm
You don't often get email from dave@wesealgrout.com. Learn why this is important
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Not one FDACS employee responded to me about this email I sent Friday. You can see
the list of recipients. This process in dealing with FDACS has been extremely
disappointing. Does anyone know how to handle this? You are supposed to be fighting for
my rights as a registered commercial apiary, especially after an admitted illegal
application of a pesticide and finding fipronil INSIDE a hive. I want these poisoned hives
off of my property ASAP. How many times do I need to ask about removal of the poisoned
hives? I've asked almost daily for one month. I'm tired of being ignored.
On Fri, May 2, 2025 at 6:50?PM Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com> wrote:
Thank you,
What do the positive numbers mean? Is there info for the average person on what these
numbers mean?
How is Fipronil on the bees in the hive, but not in the honey?
Did they take samples of capped honey where the affected bees could not have
touched? Or did they take only open honey cells that the affected bees probably could
have come in contact with?
Could the swarms and robbing have taken the uncapped honey from the dead hive?
Was the honey sample taken correctly?
Why was only the hive that had the most dead bees tested and not the one Brandon
could barely lift?
There were a couple of strong hives that now appear weak...those were not tested
either. Sub lethal doses have been completely ignored.
Anyone saying the honey is not contaminated, I'm going to ask them to stand behind their
work and eat honey from the hives.
Is more accurate testing going to be done to find out where the Diuron (herbicide) and
Imidacloprid (neonicotinoid) came from?
Why were these poisons not mentioned by Fl Pest or my neighbor?
Is it another crime if they fail to report using these poisons during a state investigation?
I was treated like I was crazy for saying someone probably sprayed the fence
(which caused the swarm that Fl Pest illegally killed), but the soil samples show these
poisons in the soil. I was treated like I was crazy for flipping out when they washed the
fence (to obviously cover up evidence) only in the 30-40 feet exactly on the other side of
my hives. My neighbor told the landlord she was having the grass cleaned off of the
fence. Who is investigating this to see if they are covering up vandalizing my livestock
and food supply?
I was extremely persistent in testing the dead bees under the hammock, the soil under
the dead bees, and the soil under the fence on my neighbor's side (where I was very
persistent that someone sprayed, causing the swarm Fl Pest illegally sprayed). None of
this was tested, because I was told that nothing else was sprayed. I was treated like I
was stupid for demanding these tests. Are you kidding me? Are you really going to not
test to see if the applicator (who admittedly violated many federal laws) is telling the
truth? The soil results show clearly that we are dealing with a liar covering up a
neonic. Why has nobody been out to check this felony? Can someone perform a real
criminal investigation ASAP??
I told everyone that I would pay for any samples that the state didn't cover. So why was I
ignored?????? Does anyone know how to do a thorough investigation? Why am I the
only one who has these concerns? What do you do now, after everyone was wrong but
me?
If there was a sense of urgency, why did it take several days to share? These reports were
done days ago that found Fipronil, Diuron (herbicide), and Imidacloprid (neonicotinoid)
where they should not be.
I really wish everyone would take this issue as seriously as I am. I'm extremely
disappointed in how I've been treated like I'm crazy, yet it's been days and nothing has
been done after finding out that I was absolutely right about needing to test other areas
and other poisons.
Nobody seems to care about the poisonous hives right next to my home, which
completely defies the purpose of FDACS. I want a plan to remove the poisonous hives off
my property ASAP at the expense of who killed them. I did not poison them, so I should
not have to keep hives that are destroying my ecosystem. The longer they are here, the
longer before I can start over. This is not fair to me in any way whatsoever.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
Costa Honey Farm
352-502-2792
On Fri, May 2, 2025 at 4:32?PM Silver, Claudette <Claudette.Silver@fdacs.gov> wrote:
Mr. Costa,
We created a public records request for the laboratory results. I have also attached them for
your convenience.
Your case is still in the review process. We recognize the urgency of this matter and have
prioritized your case.
The pesticide enforcement section reviews the submitted cases and determines if there was a
violation of Florida Statutes or Florida Administrative code 5E-14. The removal of bee hives is
outside the authority of our section, however we are currently researching options for hive
removal that may be available to you in the State of Florida.
Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Thank you,
Claudette Silver
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Friday, May 2, 2025 3:40 PM
To: Silver, Claudette <Claudette.Silver@fdacs.gov>; Everton, Jerry <Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Lab results for Costa Honey Farm
You don't often get email from dave@wesealgrout.com. Learn why this is important
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Hi,
How do I get a copy of the report? What are the next steps? What exactly does the
enforcement department handle (pertaining to my case)?
I have not touched my hives since the inspectors were there, because I knew it was a
crime scene. Something really needs to be done with them if Fipronil killed the bees
and contaminated my honey and are constantly murdering my local ecosystem. I also
don t want to invite hive beetles, wax moths, etc. I m just trying to find someone with a
sense of urgency to destroy the contaminated hives. I ve even offered to load them on
my trailer and park it in a large freezer if you have one, so they can be preserved, if
needed, during the criminal investigation of my livestock being killed and food source
contaminated. If not the freezer, can I dump them at FL Pest Control s Ocala office? I
want the poisoned bees to stop poisoning my environment. It s been several weeks
with no plan on stopping the poisoning of my property. I m sick of looking at these dead
and dying hives (that I worked my a$$ off for 5yrs to build up) contaminating my
neighborhood.
Please help or direct me to someone who has an answer on removing the hives from my
property immediately. I am extremely disappointed by the complete absence of any
sense of urgency to remove poisoned hives from my property.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
Costa Honey Farm
352-502-2792
On Thu, May 1, 2025 at 10:32?AM Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com> wrote:
Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
On Thu, May 1, 2025 at 10:15?AM Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov> wrote:
Good morning Mr. Costa,
The case file and the lab results are now in the enforcement section. I have copied them on
this email as they can provide you information with your case going forward.
Thanks
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 1, 2025 10:13 AM
To: Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Re: Lab results
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Good morning,
Any updates on the lab results?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
On Tue, Apr 29, 2025 at 4:48?PM Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com> wrote:
Ok, thank you. Did you receive the apiary inspection report? I was told it points to
pesticides.
Any plan for destroying these poisoned hives? Is it FL Pest Control's responsibility,
since they poisoned them with an illegal (in 3-5 ways) application of pesticide?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
All Surface Rejuvenations Plus
352-502-0707
WeSealGrout.com
1576 Bella Cruz Drive, #329
The Villages, FL 32159
855-732-5476 24hr Free Recorded Message
On Tue, Apr 29, 2025 at 4:35?PM Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov> wrote:
I have sent your inquiry to the lab. They should respond shortly.
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2025 9:20 AM
To: Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Lab results
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Good morning,
Do you have any updates on lab results or reports?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
From: Wesley, James
Sent: Thursday, May 8, 2025 1:03 PM
To: Poirier, Michelle
Subject: In regard to Mr. David Costa
Michelle,
Good afternoon, I understand that Mr. David Costa has been contacting you via email concerning
his case. Please do not respond to him any longer, for this case has been submitted to case review
for further decisions.
James E. Wesley
Natural Sciences Manager I
Bureau of Inspection and Incident Response
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
(850) 528-5354 Cell
(386) 853-6430 Office
James.Wesley@fdacs.gov
From: Poirier, Michelle
Sent: Thursday, May 8, 2025 1:48 PM
To: Turner, Shannon
Subject: RE: Public Records Request 325-199-2129
Follow Up Flag: Follow up
Flag Status: Flagged
Shannon,
I am not certain that he has been able to find the links… he keeps saying that he cannot see the
Affidavits, only the lab reports (which makes me think that he is not looking at the right emails). I
caution you about trying to send it directly from your email. He has bombarded much of the department
with emails/phone calls at this point and I have been directed not to respond to him any further. So, I’m
not sure what that means for trying to fulfill his records request.
Best,
Michelle Poirier
Environmental Specialist II
Bureau of Inspection and Incident Response
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Cell: (850) 755-7526
Office: (386) 853-6432
Michelle.Poirier@fdacs.gov
The Conner Building
3125 Conner Boulevard, Suite N
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1650
www.fdacs.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable
by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered
public and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the
laws of the State of Florida.
From: Turner, Shannon <Shannon.Turner@fdacs.gov>
Sent: Tuesday, May 6, 2025 1:10 PM
To: Poirier, Michelle <Michelle.Poirier@fdacs.gov>
Subject: RE: Public Records Request 325-199-2129
The notices may have gone to his Spam or Junk folder. If he cannot find any of them, I
can try to send it to him through regular email. Just keep me posted.
Thanks,
Ms. Shannon D. Turner, CPM
Director’s Office
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Office: (850) 617-7912
Cell: (850) 528-5349
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
3125 Conner Boulevard, Suite E
Tallahassee, Florida 32399
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable
by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered
public and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the
laws of the State of Florida.
From: Poirier, Michelle <Michelle.Poirier@fdacs.gov>
Sent: Tuesday, May 6, 2025 1:06 PM
To: Turner, Shannon <Shannon.Turner@fdacs.gov>
Subject: RE: Public Records Request 325-199-2129
Shannon,
He hasn’t responded back to my emails from this morning yet, but I asked for him to let me know if he is
unable find the GovQA emails. As you can see, he has been very anxiously awaiting this case file. I’ll let
you know when he responds.
Best,
Michelle Poirier
Environmental Specialist II
Bureau of Inspection and Incident Response
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Cell: (850) 755-7526
Office: (386) 853-6432
Michelle.Poirier@fdacs.gov
The Conner Building
3125 Conner Boulevard, Suite N
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1650
www.fdacs.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable
by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered
public and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the
laws of the State of Florida.
From: Turner, Shannon <Shannon.Turner@fdacs.gov>
Sent: Tuesday, May 6, 2025 12:49 PM
To: Poirier, Michelle <Michelle.Poirier@fdacs.gov>
Subject: RE: Public Records Request 325-199-2129
I have found yet another request from the same requester for the same case file from
just yesterday on request #P046367-050525 which has also been completed and
released, so hopefully between the 3 requests, he will be ablet o retrieve the information
he requested. Please let me know if he continues to have difficulty and we will try to get
the information to him another way.
Thank you,
Ms. Shannon D. Turner, CPM
Director’s Office
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Office: (850) 617-7912
Cell: (850) 528-5349
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
3125 Conner Boulevard, Suite E
Tallahassee, Florida 32399
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable
by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered
public and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the
laws of the State of Florida.
From: Turner, Shannon
Sent: Tuesday, May 6, 2025 11:18 AM
To: Poirier, Michelle <Michelle.Poirier@fdacs.gov>
Subject: RE: Public Records Request 325-199-2129
It appears he also had another request for the same thing. P046281-042525. I
uploaded the same information to that one so maybe he will get it from that request as
well now.
Ms. Shannon D. Turner, CPM
Director’s Office
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Office: (850) 617-7912
Cell: (850) 528-5349
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
3125 Conner Boulevard, Suite E
Tallahassee, Florida 32399
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable
by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered
public and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the
laws of the State of Florida.
From: Turner, Shannon
Sent: Tuesday, May 6, 2025 11:06 AM
To: Poirier, Michelle <Michelle.Poirier@fdacs.gov>
Subject: RE: Public Records Request 325-199-2129
Michelle,
This request was completed on request #P046348-050225. The requester should have
gotten an email from GovQA referencing that number along with instructions on how to
download the files to view. He may want to do an email search for the request number
to get the link.
Ms. Shannon D. Turner, CPM
Director’s Office
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Office: (850) 617-7912
Cell: (850) 528-5349
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
3125 Conner Boulevard, Suite E
Tallahassee, Florida 32399
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable
by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered
public and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the
laws of the State of Florida.
From: Poirier, Michelle <Michelle.Poirier@fdacs.gov>
Sent: Tuesday, May 6, 2025 8:23 AM
To: Turner, Shannon <Shannon.Turner@fdacs.gov>
Subject: RE: Public Records Request 325-199-2129
Good morning, Shannon,
Mr. Costa has reached out regarding this request to check in on its status. Do you happen to have any
updates?
Thank you,
Michelle Poirier
Environmental Specialist II
Bureau of Inspection and Incident Response
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Cell: (850) 755-7526
Office: (386) 853-6432
Michelle.Poirier@fdacs.gov
The Conner Building
3125 Conner Boulevard, Suite N
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1650
www.fdacs.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable
by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered
public and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the
laws of the State of Florida.
From: Turner, Shannon <Shannon.Turner@fdacs.gov>
Sent: Friday, April 25, 2025 1:23 PM
To: Poirier, Michelle <Michelle.Poirier@fdacs.gov>
Subject: RE: Public Records Request 325-199-2129
I created request P046281-042525 for this request and will release it to the requester as
soon as possible.
Ms. Shannon D. Turner, CPM
Director’s Office
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Office: (850) 617-7912
Cell: (850) 528-5349
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
3125 Conner Boulevard, Suite E
Tallahassee, Florida 32399
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable
by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered
public and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the
laws of the State of Florida.
From: Poirier, Michelle <Michelle.Poirier@fdacs.gov>
Sent: Friday, April 25, 2025 10:18 AM
To: Turner, Shannon <Shannon.Turner@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Public Records Request 325-199-2129
Good morning, Shannon,
Happy Friday! The complainant for the file, Florida Pest Control 325-199-2129, is requesting access to
the entire case file. His information is included below.
Complainant: Dave Costa
E-mail: Dave@wesealgrout.com
Phone Number: (352) 502-2792
Thank you for your help!
Best,
Michelle Poirier
Environmental Specialist II
Bureau of Inspection and Incident Response
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Cell: (850) 755-7526
Office: (386) 853-6432
Michelle.Poirier@fdacs.gov
The Conner Building
3125 Conner Boulevard, Suite N
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1650
www.fdacs.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable
by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered
public and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the
laws of the State of Florida.
From: Richmond, Neil
Sent: Thursday, May 8, 2025 2:46 PM
To: Friend, Kelly
Subject: FW: You know my hive has Fipronil inside and still do absolutely nothing????
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 8, 2025 2:44 PM
To: Everton, Jerry <Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov>
Cc: Commissioner Simpson <Wilton.Simpson@fdacs.gov>; Wesley, James <James.Wesley@fdacs.gov>;
Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>; Silver, Claudette <Claudette.Silver@fdacs.gov>; Lucas,
Patty <Patricia.Lucas@fdacs.gov>; Jenkins, Erin <Erin.Jenkins@fdacs.gov>; Friend, Kelly
<Kelly.Friend@fdacs.gov>; Frazier, Courtney <Courtney.Frazier@fdacs.gov>; Brown, Amy
<Amy.Brown@fdacs.gov>; Singh, Rashmi <Rashmi.Singh@fdacs.gov>; Davalos, Ricardo
<Ricardo.Davalos@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Re: You know my hive has Fipronil inside and still do absolutely nothing????
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
WHY CAN I STILL NOT VIEW THE AFFIDAVITS AND DAN"S
REPORT?????????????????????????????????????????
Why has nobody interpreted the test results?
Since I understand how everyone passes the buck, there's zero sense of urgency, and
nobody seems to be correct about what is supposed to happen, I made all of the recipients
visible to everyone in hopes that between everyone I would get the answers I was told I
would get. I am starting to understand how compartmentalized the operation is and how it
takes many people to complete one simple task. I figured each person could answer the
part they're responsible for, since I get very few straight answers.
Who does the administrative dept pass the case to after they find an illegal
application? Why does your bureau name have enforcement in it if you're just
administrative? Is it your job to question the thoroughness and accuracy of investigations?
Sorry, but you are incorrect about the procedure for samples, because they did not know
how to take an algae sample. The algae was put in water, so it's probably watered
down. Dan was ill prepared to take samples. He had no supplies, not even a bee suit,
because of the last hurricane. There's more.
I'm not asking ASE to remove the hives, why would you say that? Can you please be
accurate? I've been demanding for over a month that the party responsible for killing my
hives should be responsible for removing them ASAP, nobody else.
Why are you ignoring the neonic in the soil on my side of the fence? Why are you ignoring
that it can be an additional illegal application by a different pest control company, since
she recently had Regal spray outside for pests?
Why are you ignoring the herbicide ON the piles of dead bees under my hives and soil on
my side of the fence?
How can you say you have a complete investigation without more testing after finding what
should not be found in the samples and so many preposterous assumptions?
Are you really allowed to assume so many extremely important aspects of this
investigation? Assuming that the tech and my neighbor would not lie to cover their butt is
preposterous. To trust a tech who admittedly illegally sprayed a swarm, illegally sprayed a
hammock, illegally left dead bodies for 2 weeks, illegally over applied the poison to make a
slow kill act as a knockdown, illegally caused fipronil to be found inside a hive in a
commercial apiary, and illegally did not report the amount of fipronil used on the 2nd trip to
finish the fipronil treatment is exponentially preposterous.
Thank you for your sense of urgency.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
On Thu, May 8, 2025 at 1:21?PM Everton, Jerry <Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov> wrote:
Good Afternoon Dave,
The Division of Agricultural Environmental Services (AES) is tasked with licensing and enforcement
of Feed, Seed, Fertilizer, Pest Control, pesticides, and pesticide applicators in the State of Florida.
In your case, our authority lies with the application of Taurus SC by Florida Pest Control. My
Bureau, Licensing and Enforcement, reviews case files referred to us from our field inspection
staff. During our review, we are looking for compliance with Section 482, F.S. and Rule 5E-14,
F.A.C. If administrative violations are determined, the bureau will issue an administrative action
(please note, our authority is administrative only). Administrative actions could be a Notice of
Noncompliance, Administrative Warning Letter, or an Administrative Fine, depending on the
severity of the violation. Rule 5E-14.149, F.A.C. will dictate how the bureau will move forward with
administrative actions, and how much an administrative fine, if applicable, would equal.
Inspectors who take physical samples follow the internal sampling procedures.
AES does not remove beehives.
If you would like additional samples to be analyzed, listed below is a list of private laboratories
who do pesticide analysis.
South Dakota Agricultural Labs
1335 Western Ave
Brookings, SD 57006-4728
605-692-7325
www.sdaglabs.com
SDCS@sdaglabs.com
Eurofins:
Eurofins Environment Testing - Tampa
6712 Benjamin Road Suite 100
Tampa, FL 33634-4403
813-885-7427
Eurofins Environment Testing Pensacola
3355 McLemore Drive
Pensacola, FL 32514-7045
850-474-1001
Env.Marketing@ET.EurofinsUS.com
www.eurofinsus.com/env
Pesticides Testing - Eurofins Scientific
Environment testing enquiry form - Eurofins Scientific
Pacific Agricultural Laboratory
21830 SW Alexander Ln
Sherwood, OR 97140
503-626-7943
Contact Pacific Agricultural Laboratory
We are wrapping up the final review of your case file and will have a determination very soon.
Thank you for your patience,
Gerald Everton
Chief, Bureau of Licensing & Enforcement
Division of Agriculture Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
850-617-7944 - Office
850-408-2996 - Cell
Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov
www.FDACS.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable
by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered
public and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the
laws of the State of Florida.
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 8, 2025 12:46 PM
To: Everton, Jerry <Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov>
Cc: Commissioner Simpson <Wilton.Simpson@fdacs.gov>; Wesley, James <James.Wesley@fdacs.gov>;
Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>; Silver, Claudette <Claudette.Silver@fdacs.gov>; Lucas,
Patty <Patricia.Lucas@fdacs.gov>; Jenkins, Erin <Erin.Jenkins@fdacs.gov>; Friend, Kelly
<Kelly.Friend@fdacs.gov>; Frazier, Courtney <Courtney.Frazier@fdacs.gov>; Brown, Amy
<Amy.Brown@fdacs.gov>; Singh, Rashmi <Rashmi.Singh@fdacs.gov>; Davalos, Ricardo
<Ricardo.Davalos@fdacs.gov>
Subject: You know my hive has Fipronil inside and still do absolutely nothing????
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
You can ignore me, but I won t stop until I have the answers that I m told I will get.
Why do you push me to have to send an email like this when I m the victim of illegal
applications of Fiprinol that killed my hives???? I m demanding you respect my
constitutional and state rights as a beekeeper and landowner.
How irresponsible is your agency to be well aware of positive test results for Fipronil
inside the only hive tested, yet nothing is done? That s been over a week!!! You have a
tech that admitted over 5 ways he unlawfully applied Fipronil . that was a month
ago!!!! Are you gaslighting me or is fdacs really run this irresponsibly? What the !!!! is
actually going on? This is beyond stupid at this point.
Why do I still have no answers and cannot access the affidavits?
Why does everyone want to pass the buck and nobody has any answers? Why doesn t
anyone know how to handle this case?
This is absolutely ridiculous, irresponsible, and unacceptable. Fdacs is an enormous
disappointment and the mission statement is a blatant lie. The lack of detail and zero
sense of urgency should not be tolerated. No private business could be run this way.
What the !!!! do I need to do to get answers???? I ve been asking every day for a month
now. I want answers!!!!!! Now!!!!
Thank you,
Dave Costa
On Wed, May 7, 2025 at 6:28?PM Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com> wrote:
I did not receive an email response.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
On Wed, May 7, 2025 at 12:15?PM Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com> wrote:
Being consumed with this illegal bee kill, I m behind in my main business. Can you
email your response and I can go over it when I get some free time.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
On Wed, May 7, 2025 at 11:08?AM Everton, Jerry <Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov> wrote:
Good Morning Dave,
I am in receipt of your email and had the opportunity to speak with Bridget Saunders via
telephone yesterday afternoon regarding hers and your concerns.
I am hoping that you may have some time available this afternoon for you and I to have a
telephone call.
If available, what time would work best for you?
Thank you,
Gerald Everton
Chief, Bureau of Licensing & Enforcement
Division of Agriculture Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
850-617-7944 - Office
850-408-2996 - Cell
Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov
www.FDACS.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable
by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered
public and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the
laws of the State of Florida.
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 6, 2025 5:31 PM
To: Silver, Claudette <Claudette.Silver@fdacs.gov>; Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>;
Commissioner Simpson <Wilton.Simpson@fdacs.gov>; Lucas, Patty <Patricia.Lucas@fdacs.gov>;
Jenkins, Erin <Erin.Jenkins@fdacs.gov>; Everton, Jerry <Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov>; Wesley, James
<James.Wesley@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Re: Lab results for Costa Honey Farm
You don't often get email from dave@wesealgrout.com. Learn why this is important
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Not one FDACS employee responded to me about this email I sent Friday. You can see
the list of recipients. This process in dealing with FDACS has been extremely
disappointing. Does anyone know how to handle this? You are supposed to be fighting
for my rights as a registered commercial apiary, especially after an admitted illegal
application of a pesticide and finding fipronil INSIDE a hive. I want these poisoned
hives off of my property ASAP. How many times do I need to ask about removal of the
poisoned hives? I've asked almost daily for one month. I'm tired of being ignored.
On Fri, May 2, 2025 at 6:50?PM Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com> wrote:
Thank you,
What do the positive numbers mean? Is there info for the average person on what
these numbers mean?
How is Fipronil on the bees in the hive, but not in the honey?
Did they take samples of capped honey where the affected bees could not have
touched? Or did they take only open honey cells that the affected bees probably
could have come in contact with?
Could the swarms and robbing have taken the uncapped honey from the dead hive?
Was the honey sample taken correctly?
Why was only the hive that had the most dead bees tested and not the one Brandon
could barely lift?
There were a couple of strong hives that now appear weak...those were not tested
either. Sub lethal doses have been completely ignored.
Anyone saying the honey is not contaminated, I'm going to ask them to stand behind
their work and eat honey from the hives.
Is more accurate testing going to be done to find out where the Diuron (herbicide) and
Imidacloprid (neonicotinoid) came from?
Why were these poisons not mentioned by Fl Pest or my neighbor?
Is it another crime if they fail to report using these poisons during a state
investigation?
I was treated like I was crazy for saying someone probably sprayed the fence
(which caused the swarm that Fl Pest illegally killed), but the soil samples show these
poisons in the soil. I was treated like I was crazy for flipping out when they washed the
fence (to obviously cover up evidence) only in the 30-40 feet exactly on the other side
of my hives. My neighbor told the landlord she was having the grass cleaned off of the
fence. Who is investigating this to see if they are covering up vandalizing my livestock
and food supply?
I was extremely persistent in testing the dead bees under the hammock, the soil under
the dead bees, and the soil under the fence on my neighbor's side (where I was very
persistent that someone sprayed, causing the swarm Fl Pest illegally sprayed). None
of this was tested, because I was told that nothing else was sprayed. I was treated like
I was stupid for demanding these tests. Are you kidding me? Are you really going to
not test to see if the applicator (who admittedly violated many federal laws) is telling
the truth? The soil results show clearly that we are dealing with a liar covering up a
neonic. Why has nobody been out to check this felony? Can someone perform a real
criminal investigation ASAP??
I told everyone that I would pay for any samples that the state didn't cover. So why
was I ignored?????? Does anyone know how to do a thorough investigation? Why am
I the only one who has these concerns? What do you do now, after everyone was
wrong but me?
If there was a sense of urgency, why did it take several days to share? These reports
were done days ago that found Fipronil, Diuron (herbicide), and Imidacloprid
(neonicotinoid) where they should not be.
I really wish everyone would take this issue as seriously as I am. I'm extremely
disappointed in how I've been treated like I'm crazy, yet it's been days and nothing has
been done after finding out that I was absolutely right about needing to test other
areas and other poisons.
Nobody seems to care about the poisonous hives right next to my home, which
completely defies the purpose of FDACS. I want a plan to remove the poisonous hives
off my property ASAP at the expense of who killed them. I did not poison them, so I
should not have to keep hives that are destroying my ecosystem. The longer they are
here, the longer before I can start over. This is not fair to me in any way whatsoever.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
Costa Honey Farm
352-502-2792
On Fri, May 2, 2025 at 4:32?PM Silver, Claudette <Claudette.Silver@fdacs.gov> wrote:
Mr. Costa,
We created a public records request for the laboratory results. I have also attached them for
your convenience.
Your case is still in the review process. We recognize the urgency of this matter and have
prioritized your case.
The pesticide enforcement section reviews the submitted cases and determines if there was
a violation of Florida Statutes or Florida Administrative code 5E-14. The removal of bee hives
is outside the authority of our section, however we are currently researching options for hive
removal that may be available to you in the State of Florida.
Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Thank you,
Claudette Silver
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Friday, May 2, 2025 3:40 PM
To: Silver, Claudette <Claudette.Silver@fdacs.gov>; Everton, Jerry <Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Lab results for Costa Honey Farm
You don't often get email from dave@wesealgrout.com. Learn why this is important
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Hi,
How do I get a copy of the report? What are the next steps? What exactly does the
enforcement department handle (pertaining to my case)?
I have not touched my hives since the inspectors were there, because I knew it was a
crime scene. Something really needs to be done with them if Fipronil killed the bees
and contaminated my honey and are constantly murdering my local ecosystem. I
also don t want to invite hive beetles, wax moths, etc. I m just trying to find someone
with a sense of urgency to destroy the contaminated hives. I ve even offered to load
them on my trailer and park it in a large freezer if you have one, so they can be
preserved, if needed, during the criminal investigation of my livestock being killed
and food source contaminated. If not the freezer, can I dump them at FL Pest
Control s Ocala office? I want the poisoned bees to stop poisoning my environment.
It s been several weeks with no plan on stopping the poisoning of my property. I m
sick of looking at these dead and dying hives (that I worked my a$$ off for 5yrs to build
up) contaminating my neighborhood.
Please help or direct me to someone who has an answer on removing the hives from
my property immediately. I am extremely disappointed by the complete absence of
any sense of urgency to remove poisoned hives from my property.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
Costa Honey Farm
352-502-2792
On Thu, May 1, 2025 at 10:32?AM Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com> wrote:
Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
All Surface Rejuvenations Plus
352-502-0707
WeSealGrout.com
1576 Bella Cruz Drive, #329
The Villages, FL 32159
855-732-5476 24hr Free Recorded Message
On Thu, May 1, 2025 at 10:15?AM Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
wrote:
Good morning Mr. Costa,
The case file and the lab results are now in the enforcement section. I have copied them on
this email as they can provide you information with your case going forward.
Thanks
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 1, 2025 10:13 AM
To: Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Re: Lab results
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Good morning,
Any updates on the lab results?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
All Surface Rejuvenations Plus
352-502-0707
WeSealGrout.com
1576 Bella Cruz Drive, #329
The Villages, FL 32159
855-732-5476 24hr Free Recorded Message
On Tue, Apr 29, 2025 at 4:48?PM Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com> wrote:
Ok, thank you. Did you receive the apiary inspection report? I was told it points to
pesticides.
Any plan for destroying these poisoned hives? Is it FL Pest Control's responsibility,
since they poisoned them with an illegal (in 3-5 ways) application of pesticide?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
All Surface Rejuvenations Plus
352-502-0707
WeSealGrout.com
1576 Bella Cruz Drive, #329
The Villages, FL 32159
855-732-5476 24hr Free Recorded Message
On Tue, Apr 29, 2025 at 4:35?PM Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
wrote:
I have sent your inquiry to the lab. They should respond shortly.
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2025 9:20 AM
To: Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Lab results
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Good morning,
Do you have any updates on lab results or reports?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
From: cswebmaster
Sent: Thursday, May 8, 2025 4:08 PM
To: dpihelp@fdacs.gov
Subject: Ticket: E7D6C1C68C201 Re: [External]FW: Unlawful application of Fipronol killed my
bees andFDACS has no plan to remove the poisoned hives from my property.
Good morning,
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services received the correspondence
below.
This information is forwarded to you for review and any response or action you feel is
appropriate.
Respectfully,
Frances R. Tucker
Administrative Assistant I
Division of Consumer Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
1-800-435-7352
1-800-352-9832 (En Español)
(850) 410-3733
Frances.Tucker@FDACS.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable
by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered
public and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the
laws of the State of Florida.
-----------------------------
From: Governor's Office of Citizen Services <EOGCitizenServices@eog.myflorida.com>
Sent: 2025/05/08 09:33:14
To: cswebmaster@freshfromflorida.com <cswebmaster@freshfromflorida.com>
Subject: [External]FW: Unlawful application of Fipronol killed my bees andFDACS has no
plan to remove the poisoned hives from my property.
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
​
Please find an email below received by Governor Ron DeSantis’s Office of Citizen Services. This
correspondence is forwarded to your office for review and any action you deem appropriate.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Sean Brannon
Office of Citizen Services
Executive Office of the Governor
From: David Costa <noreply@flgov.com>
Sent: Monday, May 5, 2025 9:03 PM
To: GovernorRon.DeSantis@eog.myflorida.com
Subject: Unlawful application of Fipronol killed my bees and FDACS has no plan to remove the poisoned
hives from my property.
Submitted
Mon, 05/05/2025 - 21:03
Sender Information
David Costa
Dave@wesealgrout.com
3525022792
Subject
Unlawful application of Fipronol killed my bees and FDACS has no plan to remove the
poisoned hives from my property.
Message
Please help!
Fl Pest Control unlawfully (more than 5 ways) sprayed Fipronil on a swarm in my neighbor’s
yard and it killed some of my hives and is killing the rest. The bees inside of a hive tested
positive for Fipronil. FDACS is making me keep the poisoned hives and refuses to give me a
plan to get rid of the poisoned hives that are murdering my ecosystem.
FDACS is severely lacking in investigation skills and they have zero sense of urgency after
finding out there is Fipronil in a hive.
Please note that under Florida law correspondence sent to the Governor's Office, which is
not confidential or exempt pursuant to chapter 119 of the Florida Statutes, is a public
record made available upon request.
From: cswebmaster
Sent: Thursday, May 8, 2025 4:08 PM
To: dpihelp@fdacs.gov
Subject: Ticket: E7D6C1C68C201 Re: [External]FW: Unlawful application of Fipronol killed my
bees andFDACS has no plan to remove the poisoned hives from my property.
Good morning,
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services received the correspondence
below.
This information is forwarded to you for review and any response or action you feel is
appropriate.
Respectfully,
Frances R. Tucker
Administrative Assistant I
Division of Consumer Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
1-800-435-7352
1-800-352-9832 (En Español)
(850) 410-3733
Frances.Tucker@FDACS.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable
by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered
public and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the
laws of the State of Florida.
-----------------------------
From: Governor's Office of Citizen Services <EOGCitizenServices@eog.myflorida.com>
Sent: 2025/05/08 09:33:14
To: cswebmaster@freshfromflorida.com <cswebmaster@freshfromflorida.com>
Subject: [External]FW: Unlawful application of Fipronol killed my bees andFDACS has no
plan to remove the poisoned hives from my property.
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Please find an email below received by Governor Ron DeSantis’s Office of Citizen Services. This
correspondence is forwarded to your office for review and any action you deem appropriate.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Sean Brannon
Office of Citizen Services
Executive Office of the Governor
From: David Costa <noreply@flgov.com>
Sent: Monday, May 5, 2025 9:03 PM
To: GovernorRon.DeSantis@eog.myflorida.com
Subject: Unlawful application of Fipronol killed my bees and FDACS has no plan to remove the poisoned
hives from my property.
Submitted
Mon, 05/05/2025 - 21:03
Sender Information
David Costa
Dave@wesealgrout.com
3525022792
Subject
Unlawful application of Fipronol killed my bees and FDACS has no plan to remove the
poisoned hives from my property.
Message
Please help!
Fl Pest Control unlawfully (more than 5 ways) sprayed Fipronil on a swarm in my neighbor’s
yard and it killed some of my hives and is killing the rest. The bees inside of a hive tested
positive for Fipronil. FDACS is making me keep the poisoned hives and refuses to give me a
plan to get rid of the poisoned hives that are murdering my ecosystem.
FDACS is severely lacking in investigation skills and they have zero sense of urgency after
finding out there is Fipronil in a hive.
IP Address
142.197.200.175
User Agent
Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 18_4_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML,
like Gecko) CriOS/135.0.7049.83 Mobile/15E148 Safari/604.1
Please note that under Florida law correspondence sent to the Governor's Office, which is
not confidential or exempt pursuant to chapter 119 of the Florida Statutes, is a public
record made available upon request.
From: Jenkins, Erin
Sent: Thursday, May 8, 2025 4:42 PM
To: Emery, Tyson
Subject: Fw: You know my hive has Fipronil inside and still do absolutely nothing????
I just called and left a voicemail to have him. Call me back.
Erin Jenkins
State Apiarist
Apiary Inspection Section
Bureau of Plant and Apiary inspection
Division of Plant Industry
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Office: (352)-420-8401
Cell: (863)990-3024
Erin.Jenkins@FDACS.gov
Doyle Conner Building
1911 South West 34th Street
Post Office Box 147100
Gainesville, Florida 32614-7100
www.FDACS.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes). Most written
communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable by the public upon request. Emails
sent to me at this email address may be considered public and will only be withheld from disclosure if
deemed confidential pursuant to the laws of the State of Florida.
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 8, 2025 2:44:23 PM
To: Everton, Jerry <Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov>
Cc: Commissioner Simpson <Wilton.Simpson@fdacs.gov>; Wesley, James <James.Wesley@fdacs.gov>;
Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>; Silver, Claudette <Claudette.Silver@fdacs.gov>; Lucas,
Patty <Patricia.Lucas@fdacs.gov>; Jenkins, Erin <Erin.Jenkins@fdacs.gov>; Friend, Kelly
<Kelly.Friend@fdacs.gov>; Frazier, Courtney <Courtney.Frazier@fdacs.gov>; Brown, Amy
<Amy.Brown@fdacs.gov>; Singh, Rashmi <Rashmi.Singh@fdacs.gov>; Davalos, Ricardo
<Ricardo.Davalos@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Re: You know my hive has Fipronil inside and still do absolutely nothing????
WHY CAN I STILL NOT VIEW THE AFFIDAVITS AND DAN"S
REPORT?????????????????????????????????????????
Why has nobody interpreted the test results?
Since I understand how everyone passes the buck, there's zero sense of urgency, and
nobody seems to be correct about what is supposed to happen, I made all of the recipients
visible to everyone in hopes that between everyone I would get the answers I was told I
would get. I am starting to understand how compartmentalized the operation is and how it
takes many people to complete one simple task. I figured each person could answer the
part they're responsible for, since I get very few straight answers.
Who does the administrative dept pass the case to after they find an illegal
application? Why does your bureau name have enforcement in it if you're just
administrative? Is it your job to question the thoroughness and accuracy of investigations?
Sorry, but you are incorrect about the procedure for samples, because they did not know
how to take an algae sample. The algae was put in water, so it's probably watered
down. Dan was ill prepared to take samples. He had no supplies, not even a bee suit,
because of the last hurricane. There's more.
I'm not asking ASE to remove the hives, why would you say that? Can you please be
accurate? I've been demanding for over a month that the party responsible for killing my
hives should be responsible for removing them ASAP, nobody else.
Why are you ignoring the neonic in the soil on my side of the fence? Why are you ignoring
that it can be an additional illegal application by a different pest control company, since
she recently had Regal spray outside for pests?
Why are you ignoring the herbicide ON the piles of dead bees under my hives and soil on
my side of the fence?
How can you say you have a complete investigation without more testing after finding what
should not be found in the samples and so many preposterous assumptions?
Are you really allowed to assume so many extremely important aspects of this
investigation? Assuming that the tech and my neighbor would not lie to cover their butt is
preposterous. To trust a tech who admittedly illegally sprayed a swarm, illegally sprayed a
hammock, illegally left dead bodies for 2 weeks, illegally over applied the poison to make a
slow kill act as a knockdown, illegally caused fipronil to be found inside a hive in a
commercial apiary, and illegally did not report the amount of fipronil used on the 2nd trip to
finish the fipronil treatment is exponentially preposterous.
Thank you for your sense of urgency.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
On Thu, May 8, 2025 at 1:21?PM Everton, Jerry <Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov> wrote:
Good Afternoon Dave,
The Division of Agricultural Environmental Services (AES) is tasked with licensing and enforcement
of Feed, Seed, Fertilizer, Pest Control, pesticides, and pesticide applicators in the State of Florida.
In your case, our authority lies with the application of Taurus SC by Florida Pest Control. My
Bureau, Licensing and Enforcement, reviews case files referred to us from our field inspection
staff. During our review, we are looking for compliance with Section 482, F.S. and Rule 5E-14,
F.A.C. If administrative violations are determined, the bureau will issue an administrative action
(please note, our authority is administrative only). Administrative actions could be a Notice of
Noncompliance, Administrative Warning Letter, or an Administrative Fine, depending on the
severity of the violation. Rule 5E-14.149, F.A.C. will dictate how the bureau will move forward with
administrative actions, and how much an administrative fine, if applicable, would equal.
Inspectors who take physical samples follow the internal sampling procedures.
AES does not remove beehives.
If you would like additional samples to be analyzed, listed below is a list of private laboratories
who do pesticide analysis.
South Dakota Agricultural Labs
1335 Western Ave
Brookings, SD 57006-4728
605-692-7325
www.sdaglabs.com
SDCS@sdaglabs.com
Eurofins:
Eurofins Environment Testing - Tampa
6712 Benjamin Road Suite 100
Tampa, FL 33634-4403
813-885-7427
Eurofins Environment Testing Pensacola
3355 McLemore Drive
Pensacola, FL 32514-7045
850-474-1001
Env.Marketing@ET.EurofinsUS.com
www.eurofinsus.com/env
Pesticides Testing - Eurofins Scientific
Environment testing enquiry form - Eurofins Scientific
Pacific Agricultural Laboratory
21830 SW Alexander Ln
Sherwood, OR 97140
503-626-7943
Contact Pacific Agricultural Laboratory
We are wrapping up the final review of your case file and will have a determination very soon.
Thank you for your patience,
Gerald Everton
Chief, Bureau of Licensing & Enforcement
Division of Agriculture Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
850-617-7944 - Office
850-408-2996 - Cell
Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov
www.FDACS.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable
by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered
public and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the
laws of the State of Florida.
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 8, 2025 12:46 PM
To: Everton, Jerry <Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov>
Cc: Commissioner Simpson <Wilton.Simpson@fdacs.gov>; Wesley, James <James.Wesley@fdacs.gov>;
Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>; Silver, Claudette <Claudette.Silver@fdacs.gov>; Lucas,
Patty <Patricia.Lucas@fdacs.gov>; Jenkins, Erin <Erin.Jenkins@fdacs.gov>; Friend, Kelly
<Kelly.Friend@fdacs.gov>; Frazier, Courtney <Courtney.Frazier@fdacs.gov>; Brown, Amy
<Amy.Brown@fdacs.gov>; Singh, Rashmi <Rashmi.Singh@fdacs.gov>; Davalos, Ricardo
<Ricardo.Davalos@fdacs.gov>
Subject: You know my hive has Fipronil inside and still do absolutely nothing????
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
You can ignore me, but I won t stop until I have the answers that I m told I will get.
Why do you push me to have to send an email like this when I m the victim of illegal
applications of Fiprinol that killed my hives???? I m demanding you respect my
constitutional and state rights as a beekeeper and landowner.
How irresponsible is your agency to be well aware of positive test results for Fipronil
inside the only hive tested, yet nothing is done? That s been over a week!!! You have a
tech that admitted over 5 ways he unlawfully applied Fipronil . that was a month
ago!!!! Are you gaslighting me or is fdacs really run this irresponsibly? What the !!!! is
actually going on? This is beyond stupid at this point.
Why do I still have no answers and cannot access the affidavits?
Why does everyone want to pass the buck and nobody has any answers? Why doesn t
anyone know how to handle this case?
This is absolutely ridiculous, irresponsible, and unacceptable. Fdacs is an enormous
disappointment and the mission statement is a blatant lie. The lack of detail and zero
sense of urgency should not be tolerated. No private business could be run this way.
What the !!!! do I need to do to get answers???? I ve been asking every day for a month
now. I want answers!!!!!! Now!!!!
Thank you,
Dave Costa
On Wed, May 7, 2025 at 6:28?PM Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com> wrote:
I did not receive an email response.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
On Wed, May 7, 2025 at 12:15?PM Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com> wrote:
Being consumed with this illegal bee kill, I m behind in my main business. Can you
email your response and I can go over it when I get some free time.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
On Wed, May 7, 2025 at 11:08?AM Everton, Jerry <Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov> wrote:
Good Morning Dave,
I am in receipt of your email and had the opportunity to speak with Bridget Saunders via
telephone yesterday afternoon regarding hers and your concerns.
I am hoping that you may have some time available this afternoon for you and I to have a
telephone call.
If available, what time would work best for you?
Thank you,
Gerald Everton
Chief, Bureau of Licensing & Enforcement
Division of Agriculture Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
850-617-7944 - Office
850-408-2996 - Cell
Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov
www.FDACS.gov
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable
by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered
public and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the
laws of the State of Florida.
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 6, 2025 5:31 PM
To: Silver, Claudette <Claudette.Silver@fdacs.gov>; Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>;
Commissioner Simpson <Wilton.Simpson@fdacs.gov>; Lucas, Patty <Patricia.Lucas@fdacs.gov>;
Jenkins, Erin <Erin.Jenkins@fdacs.gov>; Everton, Jerry <Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov>; Wesley, James
<James.Wesley@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Re: Lab results for Costa Honey Farm
You don't often get email from dave@wesealgrout.com. Learn why this is important
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Not one FDACS employee responded to me about this email I sent Friday. You can see
the list of recipients. This process in dealing with FDACS has been extremely
disappointing. Does anyone know how to handle this? You are supposed to be fighting
for my rights as a registered commercial apiary, especially after an admitted illegal
application of a pesticide and finding fipronil INSIDE a hive. I want these poisoned
hives off of my property ASAP. How many times do I need to ask about removal of the
poisoned hives? I've asked almost daily for one month. I'm tired of being ignored.
On Fri, May 2, 2025 at 6:50?PM Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com> wrote:
Thank you,
What do the positive numbers mean? Is there info for the average person on what
these numbers mean?
How is Fipronil on the bees in the hive, but not in the honey?
Did they take samples of capped honey where the affected bees could not have
touched? Or did they take only open honey cells that the affected bees probably
could have come in contact with?
Could the swarms and robbing have taken the uncapped honey from the dead hive?
Was the honey sample taken correctly?
Why was only the hive that had the most dead bees tested and not the one Brandon
could barely lift?
There were a couple of strong hives that now appear weak...those were not tested
either. Sub lethal doses have been completely ignored.
Anyone saying the honey is not contaminated, I'm going to ask them to stand behind
their work and eat honey from the hives.
Is more accurate testing going to be done to find out where the Diuron (herbicide) and
Imidacloprid (neonicotinoid) came from?
Why were these poisons not mentioned by Fl Pest or my neighbor?
Is it another crime if they fail to report using these poisons during a state
investigation?
I was treated like I was crazy for saying someone probably sprayed the fence
(which caused the swarm that Fl Pest illegally killed), but the soil samples show these
poisons in the soil. I was treated like I was crazy for flipping out when they washed the
fence (to obviously cover up evidence) only in the 30-40 feet exactly on the other side
of my hives. My neighbor told the landlord she was having the grass cleaned off of the
fence. Who is investigating this to see if they are covering up vandalizing my livestock
and food supply?
I was extremely persistent in testing the dead bees under the hammock, the soil under
the dead bees, and the soil under the fence on my neighbor's side (where I was very
persistent that someone sprayed, causing the swarm Fl Pest illegally sprayed). None
of this was tested, because I was told that nothing else was sprayed. I was treated like
I was stupid for demanding these tests. Are you kidding me? Are you really going to
not test to see if the applicator (who admittedly violated many federal laws) is telling
the truth? The soil results show clearly that we are dealing with a liar covering up a
neonic. Why has nobody been out to check this felony? Can someone perform a real
criminal investigation ASAP??
I told everyone that I would pay for any samples that the state didn't cover. So why
was I ignored?????? Does anyone know how to do a thorough investigation? Why am
I the only one who has these concerns? What do you do now, after everyone was
wrong but me?
If there was a sense of urgency, why did it take several days to share? These reports
were done days ago that found Fipronil, Diuron (herbicide), and Imidacloprid
(neonicotinoid) where they should not be.
I really wish everyone would take this issue as seriously as I am. I'm extremely
disappointed in how I've been treated like I'm crazy, yet it's been days and nothing has
been done after finding out that I was absolutely right about needing to test other
areas and other poisons.
Nobody seems to care about the poisonous hives right next to my home, which
completely defies the purpose of FDACS. I want a plan to remove the poisonous hives
off my property ASAP at the expense of who killed them. I did not poison them, so I
should not have to keep hives that are destroying my ecosystem. The longer they are
here, the longer before I can start over. This is not fair to me in any way whatsoever.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
Costa Honey Farm
352-502-2792
On Fri, May 2, 2025 at 4:32?PM Silver, Claudette <Claudette.Silver@fdacs.gov> wrote:
Mr. Costa,
We created a public records request for the laboratory results. I have also attached them for
your convenience.
Your case is still in the review process. We recognize the urgency of this matter and have
prioritized your case.
The pesticide enforcement section reviews the submitted cases and determines if there was
a violation of Florida Statutes or Florida Administrative code 5E-14. The removal of bee hives
is outside the authority of our section, however we are currently researching options for hive
removal that may be available to you in the State of Florida.
Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Thank you,
Claudette Silver
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Friday, May 2, 2025 3:40 PM
To: Silver, Claudette <Claudette.Silver@fdacs.gov>; Everton, Jerry <Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Lab results for Costa Honey Farm
You don't often get email from dave@wesealgrout.com. Learn why this is important
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Hi,
How do I get a copy of the report? What are the next steps? What exactly does the
enforcement department handle (pertaining to my case)?
I have not touched my hives since the inspectors were there, because I knew it was a
crime scene. Something really needs to be done with them if Fipronil killed the bees
and contaminated my honey and are constantly murdering my local ecosystem. I
also don t want to invite hive beetles, wax moths, etc. I m just trying to find someone
with a sense of urgency to destroy the contaminated hives. I ve even offered to load
them on my trailer and park it in a large freezer if you have one, so they can be
preserved, if needed, during the criminal investigation of my livestock being killed
and food source contaminated. If not the freezer, can I dump them at FL Pest
Control s Ocala office? I want the poisoned bees to stop poisoning my environment.
It s been several weeks with no plan on stopping the poisoning of my property. I m
sick of looking at these dead and dying hives (that I worked my a$$ off for 5yrs to build
up) contaminating my neighborhood.
Please help or direct me to someone who has an answer on removing the hives from
my property immediately. I am extremely disappointed by the complete absence of
any sense of urgency to remove poisoned hives from my property.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
Costa Honey Farm
352-502-2792
On Thu, May 1, 2025 at 10:32?AM Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com> wrote:
Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it.
Thank you,
Dave Costa
All Surface Rejuvenations Plus
352-502-0707
WeSealGrout.com
1576 Bella Cruz Drive, #329
The Villages, FL 32159
855-732-5476 24hr Free Recorded Message
On Thu, May 1, 2025 at 10:15?AM Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
wrote:
Good morning Mr. Costa,
The case file and the lab results are now in the enforcement section. I have copied them on
this email as they can provide you information with your case going forward.
Thanks
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 1, 2025 10:13 AM
To: Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Re: Lab results
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Good morning,
Any updates on the lab results?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
All Surface Rejuvenations Plus
352-502-0707
WeSealGrout.com
1576 Bella Cruz Drive, #329
The Villages, FL 32159
855-732-5476 24hr Free Recorded Message
On Tue, Apr 29, 2025 at 4:48?PM Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com> wrote:
Ok, thank you. Did you receive the apiary inspection report? I was told it points to
pesticides.
Any plan for destroying these poisoned hives? Is it FL Pest Control's responsibility,
since they poisoned them with an illegal (in 3-5 ways) application of pesticide?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
All Surface Rejuvenations Plus
352-502-0707
WeSealGrout.com
1576 Bella Cruz Drive, #329
The Villages, FL 32159
855-732-5476 24hr Free Recorded Message
On Tue, Apr 29, 2025 at 4:35?PM Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
wrote:
I have sent your inquiry to the lab. They should respond shortly.
From: Dave Costa <dave@wesealgrout.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2025 9:20 AM
To: Richmond, Neil <Neil.Richmond@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Lab results
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or
open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Good morning,
Do you have any updates on lab results or reports?
Thank you,
Dave Costa
From: Friend, Kelly
Sent: Thursday, May 8, 2025 5:34 PM
To: Smith, Trevor;Hodges, Greg;Jenkins, Erin;Emery, Tyson
Cc: Frazier, Courtney;Everton, Jerry;Silver, Claudette
Subject: FW: Florida Pest Control 325-199-2129
Attachments: 49 RPT to Dave Costa.pdf; 44 AC Fine_Vernon.pdf; 41 Lab qualifier.pdf; 39
AB49366_Florida Pest Control.pdf; 40 AB49367_Florida Pest Control.pdf; 35 AB49397_Mr David
Costa.pdf; 36 AB49363_Florida Pest Control.pdf; 37 AB49364_Florida Pest Control.pdf; 38
AB49365_Florida Pest Control.pdf
Good afternoon, DPI Apiary Team –
We have completed the review of the investigation regarding Mr. Costa’s bees. The final action to
Mr. Vernon and letter to Mr. Costa is attached, along with lab results. Mr. Costa has some
questions about how to best handle his hives. Can you please reach out to him to assist with next
steps?
Thank you for all of your assistance!
Kelly
From: Silver, Claudette <Claudette.Silver@fdacs.gov>
Sent: Thursday, May 8, 2025 5:15 PM
To: dave@wesealgrout.com
Cc: Everton, Jerry <Gerald.Everton@fdacs.gov>; Whitley, Deborah <Deborah.Whitley@fdacs.gov>
Subject: Florida Pest Control 325-199-2129
Dear Mr. Costa,
We have completed the review of your case and are attaching the action to Mr. Vernon for your
information. We understand that you have questions about what to do with your hives and have
reached out the Division of Plant Industry, Apiary Inspection team. They will be reaching out to you
to discuss next steps for your hives.
I have also attached a “Pesticide Reporting Qualifier Definitions” that may assist you in
interpreting the laboratory results. I would also be happy to assist you with any further questions
you have regarding the laboratory results and am available by phone at (850) 617-7828 or by e-mail.
Thank you,
Claudette Silver
Environmental Manager
Division of Agricultural and Environmental Services
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
(850) 617-7828
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable
by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this address may be considered
public and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the
laws of the State of Florida.