BREAKING — Joseph Ellicott has been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison. He admits to delivering a $6,000 bribe to former Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg. #News6
Ellicott allegedly delivered the bribe money on behalf of Michael Shirley, a contractor accused of submitting inflated invoices to Greenberg’s office. Shirley has pleaded not guilty to fraud charges and is awaiting trial. #News6
Judge Gregory Presnell: “Mr. Ellicott participated in public official abuse, which really harms every citizen of Seminole County and beyond.” “When you facilitate a kickback to a constitutional tax collector, government abuse doesn’t really get worse than that.” #news6
Prosecutors originally sought a 27-33 month sentence for Ellicott but the judge gave him credit for providing “substantial cooperation that has been very helpful to the government.” Besides 15 month sentence, Ellicott must pay $115K restitution to Seminole County. #News6
Before learning his sentence, Joseph Ellicott said: “I failed the hundreds of thousands of taxpayers of Seminole County”. “All I can do is apologize for my actions and accept responsibility.” #News6
Donald Trump's newly filed motion seeking a special master related to the Mar-a-Lago search warrant contains some new information... including many admissions. Here's a 🧵
1. Trump acknowledges "movers" brought boxes from the White House to Mar-a-Lago in January 2021. Trump acknowledges giving 15 boxes back to the federal government one year later.
2. Trump acknowledges receiving a grand jury subpoena in May 2022. Trump acknowledges initiating a search for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Trump acknowledges finding such documents and turned them over 3 weeks later.
NEW: Some have asked how #News6 discovered the paper trail showing @GovRonDeSantis delayed releasing financial records of Matt Gaetz associate Halsey Beshears. Here’s a 🧵 with receipts. (1/21) #News6
Following a @Politico report linking Halsey Beshears to the Matt Gaetz investigation in April 2021, I submitted a public records request with the FL Dept of Business & Professional regulation seeking the former secretary's expense reports. (2/21) #News6
DBPR usually responds quickly to record requests for contractor complaints and such, so I was puzzled when my wait for Beshears’ records hit one month. I requested an appointment to view them in-person as Florida law allows. No response. (3/21) #News6
Matt Gaetz associate Dr. Jason Pirozzolo sold his million dollar Orlando area home last week, I just learned. #news6
Pirozzolo’s photo and bio were abruptly removed from his Orlando medical clinic’s website last month after @CBSNews reported that the doctor was tied to the @mattgaetz investigation. Pirozzolo’s patients received this message from the clinic. #news6
Pirozzolo — who has another home in Key West — was in Monroe County when he signed the deed selling his Orange County home, records show. #news6
BREAKING - Internet is down at the Osceola County Supervisor of Elections office. Precincts cannot upload Election Day results. Machine results are being manually driven to the SOE. Results expected to be delayed several hours #News6
.@VoteOsceola Elections Supervisor Mary Jane Arrington says she’s in contact with @Ask_Spectrum but has not been told why internet is down at SOE office. Canvassing board continues to process mail-in ballots received today as precinct machines are driven in. #news6#Florida
Important — The voting results and physical paper ballots remain safely in the voting machines. The internet is simply used to conveniently upload the data to the Osceola Elections Supervisor so the public can be informed of results. #news6
1/ UPDATE - The A. Max Brewer bridge in Titusville will be OPEN to pedestrians during this weekend’s #SpaceX launch attempt. This photo by @Florida_Today photographer Tim Shortt shows the crowds after Wednesday’s scrubbed launch attempt (cont.) #News6#LaunchAmerica
2/ Yesterday a @TitusvillePD lieutenant acknowledged spectators were not practicing social distancing. The agency indicated it was considering a proposal to keep pedestrians off the bridge this weekend. #News6
3/ Today @TitusvillePD announced the bridge would be closed to vehicles one hour after launch to “allow pedestrians to cross safely”. There was no mention of closing the bridge to spectators. #news6