A Sunrise Police sergeant was arrested, accused of threatening to kill the head of his department’s internal affairs unit. He has now been cleared of all charges, but it’s far from the end of the story. 7’s Heather Walker investigates. This is the mug shot of a Sunrise Police sergeant. In June, Daniel Rodriguez turned himself into jail, accused of “written threats to kill” and extortion.  At the time, his attorney told 7News the arrest was retaliation for reporting the misconduct of a higher-ranking officer. Michael Gottlieb, attorney: “My client saw a wrong being committed in his police department, and he tried to right it.” Rodriguez claimed Lt. Brian Katz removed this antique fire alarm bell from the wall of a marijuana grow house back in 2017. He said, instead of Katz putting the bell into evidence, it was hung inside the police department. Daniel Rodriguez: “It was taken from a house, and it was placed in the police department as a trophy. I would compare it to an officer conducting a traffic stop, arresting the driver, and then taking some loose change from the car. It’s minute, it’s petty, but it’s wrong.” Lt. Katz is now the head of internal affairs at the Sunrise Police Department, and the man Rodriguez allegedly threatened. Michael Gottlieb: “You’re talking about the integrity of the officer who’s running your integrity unit, your internal affairs unit. So it’s a huge problem, and one that I think that they wanted to bury, which is why they investigated it themselves.” Rodriguez admits to sending several menacing text messages about Katz to a friend. One read: “Just saw Katz running on Griffin. I thought about stopping and shooting him. I want to kill him.” Daniel Rodriguez: “I did send it. It was a low point in my life where everything was stripped away from me, and I was talking to a friend, venting. And I had no intent to do anything.” Prosecutors dropped the charges against Rodriguez because “the messages were not sent directly to Katz,” and, “The state is unable to show that the messages were sent with actual malice.” Daniel Rodriguez: “A relief, a relief.” Rodriguez says the private messages were discovered with a search warrant after he reported Katz. Daniel Rodriguez: “It’s retaliatory. It’s people in positions that are abusing their power and position to conduct a cover-up, to cover up the bell because the bell is embarrassing to the department.” Sunrise Police calls Rodriguez’s claim of retaliation “false,”  saying an investigation into his behavior began in 2023. The department believes the sergeant reported Katz in an attempt to stop the investigation into his own conduct. Rodriguez was being investigated for a number of department violations, including having sex on duty. He was cleared of that, but was found in violation of others, including sending fellow officers the autopsy photo of a person Rodriguez shot and killed in a 2020 officer-involved shooting. He admits texting the photo but says he did it for training purposes. Late last month, Rodriguez was fired. Katz was also investigated. The department found he failed to make sure the bell was placed into evidence. His discipline is verbal counseling. Meanwhile, Rodriguez says he’s not giving up. Daniel Rodriguez: “They’re trying to stain my name. They’re trying to throw me out. Block me out. Forget about me. Erase me. And it’s not going to happen.” He now plans to fight to get his job back. Heather Walker, 7News. CONTACT 7 INVESTIGATES:[email protected]