A Broward judge set Lauderhill officer Brian Louis Sguros's bond at $25,000 in the case accusing him of taking Dennis West's home.

Wednesday's figure is $25,000 on five charges, and WSVN reported he posted it and was expected out the same day. Tuesday's figure, in WPBF and TMZ, was no bail. CBS12 and WPBF printed the same five felonies from the sheriff's office. NBC 6's Wednesday story named three of them. TMZ used a different set of labels. WPBF and TMZ say West was 71. WSVN adds a middle name, Ionis, that CBS12 and WPBF do not use.

Brian Louis Sguros, a Lauderhill police officer, appeared Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, before Broward County Circuit Court Judge Allison Gilman, WSVN reported. The station said he is 35, that he stood before the judge in shackles, and that his attorney told the court an agreement with the assistant state attorney set bond at $25,000 total. WSVN reported the bond covered five charges, that Sguros posted it, and that he was expected to be released sometime Wednesday. The station also reported the judge ordered him not to return to the home in the case, and that he has been placed on administrative leave without pay. NBC 6 South Florida also reported a Wednesday appearance, that Sguros is 35, and that a judge set bond at $25,000. NBC 6 did not name the judge. The day before, the custody line was different. WPBF reported the Broward Sheriff's Office announced the Tuesday arrest and that he was being held in the Broward County jail without bail. TMZ reported he was booked without bail. A bond set at first appearance is the Wednesday custody status. The no-bail line is what Tuesday's accounts said about the booking.

The counts are not printed the same way. CBS12 and WPBF, both citing the sheriff's office, reported five felonies: official misconduct, criminal use of a deceased person's identification, criminal use of personal identification information, an offense against a computer user, and unlawful use of a two-way communication device. WPBF's wording was "criminal use of deceased personal identification" and "offense against computer user." CBS12's was "criminal use of a deceased person's identification" and "an offense against a computer user." NBC 6's Wednesday story named criminal use of a deceased person's personal identification information, criminal use of personal identification information, and an offense against users of computers. It did not repeat official misconduct or the two-way-device count. TMZ's labels were fraud, falsifying official documents, computer crimes to fraudulently obtain property, and using two-way communications to facilitate a felony. WSVN said the $25,000 bond was on five charges and did not print the five titles. Five sheriff's-office counts and TMZ's four labels are two descriptions of the arrest, not one document.

CBS12 and WPBF reported the sheriff's account of the welfare check that starts the allegation. On July 11, 2022, Sguros was a backup officer at 4551 N.W. 12th Street in Lauderhill. Officers found the resident, Dennis West, dead inside. WPBF reported West was 71. CBS12 did not print an age. Both reported the death was determined to be from natural causes. TMZ reported the same age and the same date, and reported the natural-cause finding was cardiovascular disease. CBS12 and WPBF did not name a disease. WSVN spelled him Dennis Ionis West and did not give an age. Investigators allege that after the death, Sguros presented himself to the Broward County Medical Examiner's Office as West's friend and said West had no living relatives. The sheriff's office said there was no indication Sguros knew West, and that the claim of no living family was not true, CBS12 and WPBF reported. Both reported he is accused of paying the property taxes and utility bills in West's name, using West's identification to get Lauderhill to issue a repair permit, forging West's signature on that permit, using access to law-enforcement databases to obtain information on West, and filing paperwork with the Broward County Property Appraiser's Office in February 2025 that said his possession of the property dated to August 2022, weeks after the death. That is the sheriff's allegation. It is not an admission in court.

NBC 6 added an investigation date and a job status the Tuesday stories did not have. Citing Lauderhill police, the station reported the inquiry opened on May 27 after a complaint, and that the arrest affidavit ties the conduct to the July 2022 welfare check. NBC 6 reported the affidavit says he used a notary's name and seal on a City of Lauderhill building-permit application, used his cellphone to send those documents, and used police computers without authorization to look up the dead resident. CBS12's account of the forged permit did not mention a notary. NBC 6 reported that on July 22 he was relieved of duty and placed on administrative leave with pay, and that after the arrest the leave was without pay. WSVN aired a neighbor it identified only as Naomi, who said she called 911 because West had not come back from unloading groceries, that officers found his body at the front door, and that Sguros later told her West was a friend who had given him the house. What she told WSVN is her account of those conversations. It is not the affidavit. CBS12 reported the investigation is still open. The $25,000 bond is a release condition set on the charges. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.