Orlando Fire Department District Chief Toby Bevelacqua faces misdemeanor charges of fraud for falsifying a state grant money application. According to Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, the grant was was supposed to pay for special training for firefighters, but instead Bevelacqua spent the $345,245 grant on medical supplies, trucks and other equipment. In 2005 and 2006, the department sent dozens of firefighters for training in handling hazardous materials and rescuing victims from collapsed building, and the grant was offered to reimburse the department for that training.

In 2007, the firefighters labor union complained about having to attend the training classes on their days off even though the city had received grant money to pay them, alerting state officials and sparking an investigation.