Page 4 - Florida Sentinel 4-26-16 Edition

State News
Governor Appoints Three To State Emergency Response Commission
Last Friday, Governor Rick Scott appointed three individuals to serve on the State Emergency Response Commission.
The appointees are: Tay- lor Abel, 44, of Tampa, is a Senior Manager of Environ- mental Health and Safety with Mosaic. He fills a va- cant seat and is appointed for a term beginning April 21, 2016, and ending at the pleasure of the Governor.
Harvey Jones, 56, of Tallahassee, is an Opera- tions Review Specialist with
the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. He fills a vacant seat and is appointed for a term beginning April 21, 2016, and ending at the pleasure of the Governor.
Kevin Peters, 38, of Tallahassee, is the Emer- gency Management Director for the Leon County Sheriff’s Office Division of Emer- gency Management. He fills a vacant seat and is ap- pointed for a term beginning April 21, 2016, and ending at the pleasure of the Gover- nor.
State Rep. Indicted For Embezzling Campaign Funds And Failure To File Tax Returns
Last week, an indictment was unsealed by the U. S. At- torney’s Office. The indict- ment charged Reginald Fullwood (41, Jacksonville) with 10 counts of wire fraud and 4 counts of failure to file federal income tax returns.
If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison for each wire fraud offense, and a year of imprisonment for each failure to file charge.
The indictment also noti- fies Fullwood that the United States is seeking a money judgment in the amount of $65,445, the proceeds of the criminal conduct charged in counts one through ten.
According to the indict- ment, while Fullwood was seeking election to the Florida House of Representatives, as well as during re-election cam- paigns, he caused numerous electronic funds transfers from the “Reggie Fullwood Campaign” bank account to a bank account of an entity owned by Fullwood, Rhino Harbor, LLC.
Fullwood then used
REP. REGINALD FULLWOOD
those funds, approximately $65,000 in financial contribu- tions, for personal expendi- tures including restaurants, grocery stores, retail stores, jewelry stores, florists, gas sta- tions and liquor stores.
The indictment also alleges that in order to conceal his fraudulent embezzlement of campaign funds, Fullwood submitted or caused to be sub- mitted false and fraudulent campaign expenditure reports to the State of Florida, which included inflated and/or non- existent campaign expenses.
As set forth in the indict- ment, in the State of Florida, a candidate or the spouse of a candidate may not use funds on deposit in a campaign ac- count to defray normal living expenses for the candidate or the candidate’s family, other than expenses actually in- curred for transportation, meals, and lodging during travel in the course of the cam- paign.
Fullwood’s term ended in 2014.
Fullwood is also charged with four counts of willful fail- ure to file personal federal in- come tax returns for calendar years 2010 through 2013.
“Public officials, whether elected or appointed, hold po- sitions of trust in the eyes of the public. That trust is broken when these officials commit crimes,” said Special Agent in Charge Kim Lappin, IRS- Tampa Field Office. “No pub- lic official gets a free pass to ignore the tax laws, and IRS- CI works to ensure that every- one pays their fair share.”
Company Chosen To Develop New Statewide Emergency Notification System
TALLAHASSEE --- Last week, the Florida Division of Emergency Management an- nounced the selection of Everbridge as the service provider for the development and implementation of AlertFlorida, a landmark initiative which will provide statewide emergency alert and notification services to all Florida residents, businesses and visitors.
AlertFlorida services are currently being imple- mented in several counties during an initial phase, with additional deployment phases continuing through- out 2016. Each participating jurisdiction will be able to customize the categories of alerts available in their com- munity through a local opt-in portal. The system also pro- vides automated notifications of flash floods, tornadoes,
and other watches & warn- ings issued by the National Weather Service.
AlertFlorida will be the most comprehensive and co- ordinated statewide emer- gency notification program in the country. Users will select their preferred language and methods for receiving alerts, including SMS text messag- ing, e-mail, voice calls, TDD/TTY messaging, and mobile device apps for An- droidTM, Apple®, and Win- dows® mobile devices.
The system will also post alerts to social media chan- nels and will interface di- rectly with existing broadcast-based alerting sys- tems.
For additional informa- tion about the Florida Divi- sion of Emergency Management, visit Flori- dadisaster.org.
PAGE 4 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016