“Disappointed professional”

Plasencia joined the Ocoee Police Department in 2016 after serving 30 years with the Miami-Dade Police Department. She was promoted to Acting Chief when longtime Chief Charlie Brown retired. She was officially named Chief of Police in April 2021.

At the time of her firing, then-City Manager Frank issued a statement that said he’d decided “to move the department in a different direction. There was no official misconduct involved.” Frank retired in 2024.

On Dec. 5, 2023, Plasencia went to the city commission to request that commissioners reconsider her termination, saying, she was “not a bitter former employee. I'm a disappointed professional.”

During her statement, Plasencia laid out many of the themes that eventually formed the backbone of her lawsuit: the lack of due process, the gender discrimination, the campaign by a close friend of the former city manager — later identified as McKinstry — to have her fired.

“Culture of dissension”

Plasencia maintains in her lawsuit that she was left out of key meetings with Ocoee management that were “relevant and prudent to the successful operation of the Police Department …” She claims she was not permitted to “supervise the male Deputy Chiefs (sic), which is standard policy and within law enforcement's best practices.” And she claims that Frank would “often not answer [her] calls, texts or emails, yet … would quickly answer or respond to the Deputy Chiefs’ (sic) calls, texts, or emails.” Finally, Plasencia states, in order to get “approval, guidance or direction” from Frank on key issues, she would have to resort to asking the deputy chiefs to ask him for her.

Plasencia also states in the lawsuit that McKinstry made “disparaging comments about [her] being female,” made his “strong dislike” of her known throughout the police department and made false statements within the department to “erode her professional standing.”

She draws a straight line from an Aug. 22, 2023, grievance filed with the human resources department director about McKinstry, to her Nov. 14, 2023, termination. She states in the lawsuit that he created a  “created a culture of dissension … with his antagonistic behavior and actions.”

Plasencia specifically alleges that McKinstry asked employees to file “unsubstantiated complaints” about her; made derogatory statements to the city’s collective bargaining representative to “start a campaign to have [her] terminated from the department”; and that he made false statements to Frank and Mayor Johnson, “seeking to defame [her] and ensure [her] termination…”

In September, about a month after Plasencia met with the human resources director about McKinstry, the lawsuit states, she brought the matter to Frank, who was her immediate supervisor. The following month, in October, the human resources director “suggested that [she] retire.” About two weeks after that, on Oct. 30, Frank “told [her] to retire or face a media frenzy” over her accusations about the police department. The human resources director gave her the option to retire with eight weeks of severance pay. Plasencia refused and was fired on Nov. 14.

The city of Ocoee has denied Plasencia’s allegations, maintaining her termination was “based on legitimate, nondiscriminatory, reasonable factors other than her gender,” according to court documents. In December 2023, WKMG reported that there had been complaints about Plasencia’s behavior and leadership. One such complaint described her management style as “haphazard decision-making, devoid of any logical or strategic considerations for the betterment of the citizens of Ocoee or the department as a whole …”

The city also stated in court documents that it has “a well-disseminated and consistently enforced policy against discrimination and retaliation, as well as a reasonable and available procedure for receiving and investigating alleged complaints of discrimination.”

The city filed a motion to have the lawsuit's defamation claim dismissed.