Former Homestead Mayor Steve Bateman might have thought the worst was over, but today he faces additional charges of public corruption for misuse of campaign funds.
In August, Bateman was arrested on charges of unlawful compensation for using his position as mayor to secure a secret lobbying gig he never disclosed. Then he is suspended from office by Gov. Rick Scott. Then, Bateman lost his lucrative lobbying job with Community Health of South Florida. Then he lost his drastic dash to vindicate himself by pressing on with his re-election campaign only to come in a disgraced third place.
But on Friday, Bateman was busted down again another notch — charged with seven misdemeanor counts of election law violations that allege he misused campaign funds.
In a stark difference from the dawn raid on his home in August, where he was led out in handcuffs, Bateman voluntarily surrendered Friday morning and went before Miami-Dade Judge William Altfield at 8:45 a.m. He was released on his own recognizance. But he is still out on $21,500 bond for that other thing.
Miami-Dade State Attorney spokesoman Terry Gonzalez-Chavez said the charges Friday are separate, they stem from the original investigation. And documents filed in court Friday indicate that the charges are about the illegal disposal of campaign funds in the 2011 campaign, his first re-election bid.
Documents filed in court show that the seven expenditures in question happened on five dates, Nov. 6, Nov. 14, Dec. 2, Dec. 22 and Dec. 23. Ladra could only find one Dec. 23 expense of $400 for BJs Wholesale in Homestead and four expenditures on Nov. 14: $99 for a campaign event at Longhorn Steakhouse, $75 for a campaign event at Red Lobster, $190 in supplies and $100 to Karla Otero for campaign work. The other dates do not even appear on the campaign report’s expenditures.
But the financial reports do show that Bateman spent more than $40,000 of his $77K coffers after Oct. 28, 2011.
Remember, that is the race where Ernesto Perez, the CEO of Dade Medical College — which opened in Homestead in 2009, when the former council member first became mayor — contributed $7,500 in bundled maximum $500 checks.
Some suspect there was some quid pro quo there and the former mayor is reportedly under criminal investigation for allegations that he secretly lobbied (again!) the city to sell Perez 3.5 acres of city-owned property for roughly a third of its value — and getting his wife, Donna, to handle the juicy real estate deal.
Whatever the details are, this should seal the coffin on the 58-year-old Bateman’s future political career.
Steve Bateman’s headache grows with 7 new charges added by Ladra on
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