Local buzz: Eggelletion in the clink
Suspended Broward County Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion surrendered to authorities Thursday. Source: Broward Sheriff's Office
Joe Eggelletion, the former Broward mayor, surrendered to authorities yesterday as still more charges were filed against him — this time, for allegedly taking cash benefits in exchange for favor. The SFL Times reports:
Suspended Broward County Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion Jr. turned himself in to prosecutors on Thursday on state corruption charges.
Eggelletion surrendered to authorities Thursday at the Broward Main Jail in Fort Lauderdale on one count of unlawful compensation, according to Ron Ishoy, a spokesman at the Broward State Attorney’s Office.
The charge is related to a $3,200 golf membership that Shawn Chait, an employee of Prestige Homes of South Florida, Inc. and the son of the company’s president, paid to the Parkland Golf & Country Club.
Prosecutors say the payment was in exchange for nearly three years of favorable treatment for Prestige Homes on business before the county commission.
Wow. Going down for a $3,200 golf membership. Talk about selling yourself cheap… (reportedly, Chait paid for the membership in cash, the same day Eggelletion cast a favorable vote on a Prestige Homes development.) Eggelletion is also facing federal money laundering charges. And funny how the Broward state attorney suddenly gets a fire under him, now that the feds have acted first. What say you, Cathy Rundle?
Oh, and if you enjoy irony? Eggelletion bonded out for … wait for it … $3,200. Maybe he should have just given the desk sergeant his golf clubs.
The Miami Herald reports that Prestige Homes may have tried to buy other officials, only they were offered a lot more than Joe:
Prestige Homes is the developer of a proposed community of 728 homes on two golf courses in Tamarac known as the Sabal Palm/Monterey development. And Chait is the son of Bruce Chait, the company president of Prestige Homes.
About $5 million worth of work has been done on the development, which is on hold because of the recession.
State and federal authorities are investigating the allegations regarding Eggelletion and Prestige Homes.
The proposed development was opposed by many Tamarac residents but won approval from the city and county governments.
Other allegations have also surfaced regarding Prestige Homes.
Former Tamarac Mayor Joe Schreiber alleged that Bruce Chait in 2006 tried to get Schreiber’s wife, Mae, whose opponent supported the development, to drop out of an election.
Schreiber said Bruce Chait offered the couple $200,000 if Mae Schreiber would agree, but the couple talked it over and rejected the offer the next day. They did not report it to authorities.
School Board Member Stephanie Kraft’s actions in relation to Prestige Homes have also been questioned by government ethics experts. Public records show Kraft pushed to get the developer’s request for a $500,000 break on school mitigation fees for the same project rushed onto the board’s July 2007 agenda.
Kraft’s husband, lawyer Mitchell Kraft, was working for Prestige at the time, district records show.
Stephanie Kraft left the room during the School Board vote but did not publicly disclose that her spouse was working for the company. The Krafts have denied any wrongdoing.v
The saddest thing about this is how it reveals the timidity of our state attorneys, who as elected officials, are reluctant to cross other electeds, unless the feds act first. Pathetic.
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