S. Fla. Town Mayor Faces Probe Into Homestead Exemption Claim On Condo She Didn't Reside In; Prosecutors Mull Grand Theft, Scheme To Defraud Charges

In Miami, Florida, SunPost Weekly.com reports:

• North Bay Village Mayor Corina Esquijarosa is once again in trouble, this time via a criminal investigation started by Miami-Dade prosecutors. According to records, Esquijarosa claimed a homeowner’s tax break on a condominium where she did not reside.



• Prosecutors have filed a search warrant and are looking into charges of grand theft and scheme to defraud, but as of today, no charges have been filed.



• Esquijarosa’s problems stem from a 2009 and 2010 claim of a 50,000 homestead exemption for a condominium. She was however not living in the property in Miami, but was living in North Bay Village.



• Last week, her records were seized from the Miami-Dade property appraiser’s office and she was also hit with a $500 fine by Miami-Dade’s Commission on Ethics and Public Trust for not publicly disclosing her income on her campaign disclosure forms.(1)

For more, see Prosecutors Open Investigation on North Bay Village Mayor Corina Esquijarosa.

(1) I guess possibly from rental income from the condo she claimed as her homestead that she may have been renting out to a tenant.