Judge Enters Not Guilty Pleas For Poitier On Corruption Charges
FT. LAUDERDALE (CBS4) - Suspended Deerfield Beach Commissioner Sylvia Poitier remained silent in court as she was arraigned on five misdemeanor corruption charges.
Broward Circuit Judge Melinda Brown entered a not guilty plea for each of the charges after Poitier's attorney, Johnny McCray Jr., declined to enter a plea..
Poitier, 75, turned herself in to authorities last month after prosecutors alleged she failed to disclose a conflict of interest she had with a non-profit association that handles low income housing funds for the city.
The charges stem from information submitted on conflict of interest forms the 75-year old life long Deerfield Beach resident filed with the city in 2009 concerning her vote for a $30 thousand grant to the Westside Deerfield Businessman Association. According to investigators, the association owed Poitier's brother, Lionel Ferguson, $46 thousand plus interest on a loan he had made to the group at Poitier's request.
The grant was not awarded, but Poitier's vote was a potential conflict of interest. According to the arrest affidavit, Poitier failed to properly disclose to her fellow commissioner's and the public that a financial relationship existed between the WDBA and Lionel Ferguson. This disclosure should have taken place, and the proper paperwork filed, each time the WDBA was a topic to be voted on by the city of Deerfield Beach Commission.
Her five charges fall under Florida's "Falsifying Records" statute; each count is punishable by a $1,000 fine and up to a year in jail.
