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Corruption Information by
Individual States in
FL:
SUSPENDED MIAMI COMMISSIONER CHARGED IN PUBLIC CORRUPTION
CASE. Suspended Miami City Commissioner
Arthur Teele, Jr. surrendered to face public corruption charges relating to his
direction of the Community Redevelopment Agency. He faces 10 counts of unlawful compensation. Teele has been accused of accepting
kickbacks for various projects in excess of $135,000. The CRA had become notorious for spending millions with minimal
to no results and engaging in overall mismanagement. Teele maintains his innocence.
(
19 Accused of
stealing jet fuel and fraud at Miami Airport. It was reported
that eleven people have been arrested in a racketeering and corruption
investigation at
More
than 150 government workers in state face corruption counts. Authorities have said that more than
150 government employees throughout
ESCAMBIA PROBE INTO CORRUPTION SNAGS CAR DEALER. A
well-connected
Corruption jurors report illegal contacts. The judge in the corruption trial of 11 police officers temporarily closed his courtroom saying that someone claiming to be a journalist was calling the jurors at their homes during deliberations. U.S. District Judge Alan Gold said he had received a number of notes of complaint from the jurors. After reopening the court, the judge said that he would not change procedures or sequester the jury, but warned he might close the court to all spectators if the complaints continued. The Miami officers are accused of planting guns on unarmed suspects after four police shootings from 1995 to 1997. The shootings left three men dead and one wounded. (Associated Press Apr 03 2003 summary by Sherldine Tomlinson).
BRIBE-TAKING EX-MIAMI-DADE COMMISSIONER LOSES APPEAL.. Former Miami-Dade County Commissioner James Burkes is a step closer to prison for taking a bribe after a federal appeals court ruled a disagreement with his attorney during jury deliberations did not merit a new trial. Burke was sentenced to 2 ¼ years in federal prison after his jury appeared to be deadlocked on bribery and money laundering charges in 1999. (AP State & Local wire, July 23, 2001, summary by Barbara Gray).
Fort Pierce. CONFLICT OF INTEREST?
Deaths of some 1,000 birds, at Florida’s Lake Apopka in 1998, were due to
agricultural pollutants as DDT and toxaphene. Initially farmers were liable for
such cleanups. But Rick Minton, a House Democrat from Fort Pierce, a rural town
amended an agricultural bill to have the state’s taxpayers and not the farmers
pick up the tab for similar pesticide cleanups. Minton is himself, a
sixth-generation citrus farmer, owns more than $150,000 in stock in Triple M
Investment, citrus growing and packing company; a stockholder in the citrus and
cattle production company Longino Ranch, Inc. He was a partner in Brothers 4, a
citrus-growing venture. He is also a real-estate agent and gets campaign
contributions from agricultural interests. (The Center for Public Integrity http://www.public-i.org,
FT. LAUDERDALE. NIGERIAN LETTER MAKING SENDERS RICH. The Nigerian
corruption is well known and has allowed a letter to become the scam dujour.
You get a letter or e-mail from a person who claims to be an important figure
in Nigeria. Due to some trouble they need someone's bank account to
temporarily hold vast sums of money. In exchange you are told you will
get a percentage that amounts to a multimillion-dollar payday. At some
point they ask for your bank account and an up-front fee. Holly Anderson
of the National Consumers League, which runs the National Fraud Information
Center, states the center's survey of complaints, shows the Nigerian scam
ranking seventh among Internet frauds and 11th on the telemarketing fraud list.
The average monetary loss per victim is $3,000. (Sun Sentinel, Mitch Lipka
commentary, February 15, 2001, summary by B. Gray).
Manatee County
Christopher M. Wilson, the last of six former County Sheriff’s deputies
implicated in the Delta Task Force’s corruption case, pleased guilty to
conspiracy to violate civil rights, deprivation of civil rights, and conspiracy
to distribute and possess crack cocaine.
Wilson faces a maximum of $1 million in fines and 71 years in federal
prison. (Miami Herald, Nov. 18, 2000, summary by Marg Reynolds).
Orlando (USA) – A federal investigation into a kickback scheme at Lockheed Martin Corp.`s former space services division in Cape Canaveral has implicated a local paint-and-body shop owner. Roy A. Johnson pleaded guilty today of giving $7000 in kickbacks to a now-defunct Lockheed unit in exchange for work orders related to NASA`s shuttle missions. (Orlando Sentinel, Summary by Fabian Camacho, Nov 23,2000).
CANDIDATES OUTLINE ANTI-CORRUPTION PLANS
FOR MIAMI-DADE COUNTY In a debate among six of the ten candidates for mayor,
Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas and his main challenger, Commissioner Miguel Diaz
de la Portilla, outlined rival proposals to curb corruption at County Hall by
boosting commission salaries and changing how contracts are awarded. The debate
was once again dominated by talk of mismanagement and influence-peddling. An
"anyone-but-Penelas" sentiment seemed predominant among the mayor´s
challengers. Penelas said he would attempt to set term limits for commissioners
and renew an effort, which failed earlier this year, to reduce commission power
to award contracts, which would be evaluated by a committee of business people.
Penelas would also bar sitting commissioners from lobbying other government
bodies. He and Diaz de la Portilla would also increase commissioners´ pay, now
$6,000 a year, to the equivalent of a full-time job to attract better-qualified
candidates and allow them to devote their full attention to county business.
But Diaz de la Portilla derided the mayor´s other proposals, saying they would
do little to curb the activities of Penelas "cronies" who have
garnered millions of dollars in county contracts for clients. The commissioner
said he would seek to establish "checks and balances" in the county´s
governing structure, removing the mayor´s power to appoint the commission
chair, and establishing a legally enforceable code of conduct for lobbyists --
including a requirement that they lobby only in public forums or in writing.
Another candidate, Juan Antonio Montes, said the solution to corruption was
establishment of a strong mayor form of government, eliminating the county
manager´s job, to ensure accountability. Penelas contends he cannot be blamed
for contract scandals because he has no say in how they are drawn up or
awarded. Miami Herald, September 2, 2000 http://www.herald.com
SENTENCES HANDED DOWN IN TAMPA POLICE
CORRUPTION CASE Three former members of an elite drug unit were sentenced to
federal prison Monday for framing drug suspects, violating citizens´ civil
rights and lying to cover-up what became a brotherhood of corruption. Declaring
the scandal a "nightmare" that continues to plague the Manatee County
Sheriff´s Office and the credibility of the judicial system, U.S. District
Judge James Whittemore said he had to send the men to prison despite pleas for
leniency and their cooperation with investigators. He sentenced Paul D.
Maass to 5 years and three months; Wayne
V. Wyckoff to two years and three months and Thomas C. Wooten to a year.
Whittemore said he would recommend they be sent to a minimum- or
medium-security prison where they might be safer from other inmates. All were
deputies with the Delta drug squad. The scandal began to unfold in 1998 when a
man reported to the sheriff´s internal affairs unit that deputies searched his
motel room without a warrant and took $9,000 in cash. The complaint was a
pathway to a wide-range of allegations including that squad members twice beat
suspects and lied on reports to cover it up and took money from the
department´s confidential informant fund. The three pleaded guilty and have
been cooperating with the U.S. Attorney´s Office, the FBI and the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement in an investigation of corruption at the
sheriff´s office. Two other former deputies also have pleaded guilty.
Charges are pending against a sixth. The
scandal has forced the Manatee County state attorney´s office to drop charges
against more than 100 people accused of drug crimes by the Delta squad. The
judge was told of a largely unsupervised atmosphere where drug agents framed
suspects, stole their money and lied in arrest reports and on the witness
stand. In one case, Sara Smith lost custody of her 1-year-old daughter after
deputies planted crack cocaine in her home and then testified against her to
win a conviction. Smith, now 22 years old, settled her civil lawsuit with the
sheriff´s office Friday for $275,000 but her attorney said lawsuits against the
individual officers are pending. Daytona Beach News Journal, August 15, 2000
http://www.news-journalonline.com/
CORRUPT
DEPUTY LANDS TERM IN PRISON
http://support.casals.com/aaaflash1/busca.asp?ID_AAAControl=2964
The
Tampa Tribune,
http://www.tampatrib.com
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Last Update on February 8, 2007