Suspended Deerfield Beach Commissioner Sentenced
FT. LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – Suspended Deerfield Beach commissioner Sylvia Poitier was sentenced to one year on probation and a $1,000 fine Wednesday for corruption charges.
The 75-year old Poitier was convicted in November 2011 on four public corruption charges.
The charges stem from information submitted on conflict of interest forms filed with the city in 2009 concerning her vote for a $30,000 grant to the Westside Deerfield Businessman Association.
According to investigators, the association owed Poitier's brother, Lionel Ferguson, $46,000 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 prosecutors, Poitier failed to properly disclose that a financial relationship existed between the WDBA and her brother.
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.
