Most of us grow up believing that the righteous get rewarded and the bad guys get punished.  Our youthful idealism fades rather quickly as we’re confronted by the reality that bad things happen to good people, justice is not always served, and sometimes the devil really does walk among us.

The story you are about to read is true.  The names have not  been changed to protect the innocent.  The innocent need no protection, except perhaps from the guilty.

The real problem is that the guilty are protected by a political system that is so fraught with fraud and corruption, it’s a miracle that any lawbreaker is ever brought to justice.

You’ll probably recognize the cast of characters appearing in this bizarre and outrageous tale.  None of the names should come as a surprise.  This is South Florida, after all.  It’s Kathy Rundle’s world.  We only live in it.

Earlier this week I posted a blog about Chief Lenny’s sketchy request for funding from the North Miami Police Department’s Law Enforcement Trust Fund (LETF).  I gently reminded the city council to tread carefully when approving such requests.  The North Miami Mayor and Council should heed this advice, especially considering what happened in North Miami Beach not too long ago when LETF donations fell into the wrong hands.

In 2010, former NMB Mayor Myron Rosner and his colleagues on the Council approved LETF funding requests from two “non-profit” organizations without confirming their credentials.  It eventually came to light that “Councilman” Frantz Pierre was connected to several individuals involved with those now defunct “non-profit” companies.  Not only did Pierre engineer the funding of those LETF donation requests, but he also illegally  voted to approve them.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself.  It’s best we start at the beginning.

This twisted tale of corruption began innocuously enough on July 30, 2009 when Linda Mathieu, Florence P. Thony and Marie E. Elegzaro formed a non-profit corporation called Center for Family Empowerment, Inc.

Three months later on October 29, 2009, Maxo Sinal (of North Miami Circle of Corruption fame) stepped in, filed an Articles of Amendment, removed Marie E. Elegzaro as Chairman/President, and replaced her with Marie Eleazard.

Then all hell broke loose.

You may recall that in early 2012, I discovered that Pembroke Pines resident Marie Eleazard was one of nine individuals who claimed to be registered voters living in the home of North Miami Beach “Councilman” Frantz Pierre, all of whom cast ballots in the city council election in May of 2011.  This discovery led to the filing of several complaints.

I conjectured that if, in fact, all of those folks had actually lived in his house, Frantz was violating the city’s land use code for exceeding the maximum allowable residents residing in his home.  If they did not actually live there, but only used his address for the purpose of voting in North Miami Beach, he and his “house-mates” were committing voter fraud.  I set out to prove he was guilty of one or the other.

On March 22, 2012, I filed complaints with the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and the Florida Elections Commission regarding the alleged  voter fraud being committed by Marie Eleazard, who lived in Pembroke Pines yet was registered to vote in Miami-Dade County.  Both agencies opened investigations into these allegations.

Ironically, while the voter fraud investigations went absolutely nowhere, the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics (COE) opened an entirely separate investigation of both Frantz Pierre and Marie Eleazard on alleged  conflict of interest charges.  Well, this certainly was an interesting turn of events.

This reminded me of the FBI’s desperate but futile attempts to indict Al Capone for his alleged  crimes of racketeering, theft, larceny and murder.  And yet, Capone eventually went to prison for … tax evasion.

Frantz Pierre has thus far been able to avoid prosecution on charges of alleged  perjury, abuse of position, theft and voter fraud.  But, if all they can nail him for is a conflict of interest, we’ll take it.

The conflict of interest investigation by the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust was initiated on March 28, 2012, after I discovered (and blogged) that the North Miami Beach Police Department made two donations to two “non-profit” organizations, both of which had ties to Frantz Pierre.

The first donation, requested by Frantzie “house-mate” Marie Eleazard, was in the amount of $10,000.00 and was given to Center for Family Empowerment, Inc. (referred to here as CFEI).

The second donation for $4,000.00 was given to Social Harmony Club, which was run by Frantzie Crony, Pradel Vilme.

While CFEI was legitimately recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, Pradel’s Social Harmony Club never filed for non-profit status.

At the August 17, 2010 city council meeting, Frantz Pierre voted to approve both requests.

Since Marie Eleazard claimed to be living in Pierre’s house at the time of his vote, according to the COE Investigative Report dated November 25, 2014 “an investigation was initiated to determine the relationship between Pierre and CFEI, and whether the LETF funds appropriated by NMB were properly used for the intended purpose by CFEI.”

Here’s where it really gets wild.

The Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics conducted a thorough and exhausting investigation, interviewed fifteen individuals involved in the case, met with three Assistant State Attorneys and three agents from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, took sworn statements, and subpoenaed bank records.

This is how the investigation unfolded.

At the center of this investigation was none other than Marie Eleazard.  The Commission’s investigators tried in vain to reach her at her Pembroke Pines home, and left a message for Eleazard with Dominique Serg Maglorie, the owner of the home.  Eleazard contacted COE and told them that she had no records for the company, Center for Family Empowerment, Inc.  She then told investigators that she would consult with her attorney and get back to them.  She never did.

After making another attempt to contact Marie Eleazard, she told investigators that her attorney, Joseph Geller, Esq., would be in touch.

Considering her relationship with corruptocrat politician Frantz Pierre, it’s not surprising that Marie Eleazard hired Joe Geller to defend her.

Even less of a surprise is that corruptocrat lawyer Joe Geller completely ignored the COE investigators’ request to speak with them.

As an aside, the COE Investigative Report noted that Eleazard was also under a separate investigation by Katherine Fernandez Rundle’s State Attorney’s Office for alleged  voter fraud.  Eleazard actually lived in Broward County, but was registered to vote – and did vote – in Miami-Dade County.  Even though she NEVER lived in Miami-Dade, Eleazard claimed that this was merely an oversight, and that she forgot to notify the Elections Department that she moved to Broward.   The SAO completely swallowed her lie and closed the investigation on June 9, 2013.

During the course of the COE investigation, former North Miami Beach City Manager Kelvin Baker told the Commission that Frantz Pierre arranged a meeting between him and Marie Eleazard to discuss a donation to her organization, but then he left the city and knew nothing else.  Baker referred investigators to the Police Chief, who at the time was Rafael Hernandez.

Chief Hernandez also told the COE that Frantzie Pierre brought Marie Eleazard to him to discuss “the merits of CFEI and the not-for-profit’s plans to help the community.”  Chief Hernandez submitted his approval to the city council with the stipulation that the “non-profit” provide a report of how the money was spent.  Chief Hernandez also left the city a short time later, and he had no idea if a report was ever submitted.  He referred investigators to Assistant City Manager Mac Serda for more information.

The Commission interviewed Serda, who only remembered “the request for funding and speaking to representatives of CFEI,” but claims he never met with any of them.

When the Commission contacted former Interim City Manager (and Frantzie apologist) Roslyn Weisblum, she only recalled the approval of the funding but nothing else, and referred the investigators to the Chief of Police Larry Gomer.

In a telephone interview, former City Manager Lyndon Bonner told the Commission that he was contacted by, and met with, Pierre to discuss the LETF donation.  Bonner told investigators that he directed Chief Gomer to meet with Pierre.

When interviewed by COE, Chief Gomer denied any involvement in the 2010 LETF donation, since he had not yet been promoted to police chief at the time.  However, he advised investigators that in 2011, City Manager Lyndon Bonner “directed him to meet with Pierre and representatives of CFEI, to discuss a [second] donation” to Eleazard’s “non-profit” organization.  Chief Gomer denied her request.

Interestingly, Chief Gomer recommended that the Commission on Ethics open an investigation into the other LETF donation (also mentioned above) to Pradel Vilme’s “non-proft” corporation, Social Harmony Club.  To my knowledge, the COE never followed through.

Pradel Vilme was then interviewed at his office building located at 1733 NE 162 Street, North Miami Beach, FL, a/k/a Frantzie’s and Pradel’s “House of Non-Profits,” the same address listed for both Center for Family Empowerment AND Social Harmony Club.  Vilme told COE investigators that he had absolutely nothing to do with CFEI, but only that they used his office address to receive mail.  He explained that “when mail was delivered, he would contact Frannix Jean-Mary,” who was by this time the president of Center for Family Empowerment, Inc.  Vilme claimed he knew nothing else about the company, but he did volunteer Jean-Mary’s phone number to the investigators.

Frannix Jean-Mary, you may recall, is the husband of North Miami Beach carpetbagger and Frantzie crony, Yvenoline Dargenson, who ran unsuccessfully against Beth Spiegel in the 2013 city council election.  Jean-Mary agreed to be interviewed at Pradel Vilme’s “House of Non-Profits.”   He told investigators that “he recently took over as president of CFEI” and that “he does not know how the 2010 LETF donation was used.”  He advised investigators to contact the treasurer of the company, Remus Caesar.

As an interesting aside, the investigative report notes, “During the interview, Jean-Mary became loud and abrasive.  He believed that the investigation was racially motivated and instigated by the local media to bring attention to his wife … who was a candidate for office in NMB at the time.”

Because holding people accountable for their actions is ALWAYS  racially motivated, right?  But, of course!

SMH!

After he calmed down, Frannix Jean-Mary confirmed that he signed three company checks (more on that in Part II) for allegedly  questionable expenses, but stated that the company “had not held any activities since he took office as President.”

COE investigators contacted Frannix Jean-Mary again, advising him that subpoenas had been issued for his testimony and “for any financial records he had in his position.”  Even though Jean-Mary agreed to meet with the investigators a second time, he never showed up nor did he return any more phone calls.

Investigators also interviewed the company’s treasurer, Remus Caesar, by telephone.  Caesar told investigators that he and Frannix Jean-Mary had contacted an attorney, whose name he conveniently forgot.  According to Caesar, this attorney told him that he had spoken with COE investigators and that the case was closed.

The investigators told Caesar that the case was, indeed, still open.  They then asked him for “an accounting of all expenditures made from the LETF funds.”  Caesar agreed to cooperate through his attorney, but no attorney ever contacted the Commission.

Once Remus Caesar was served with a subpoena, however, he was ready to sing.

Er, I mean, make an official statement.

He told investigators that he was involved in the formation of Center for Family Empowerment, Inc., as well as the application for the company’s non-profit 501(c)(3) status, but that “he did not maintain any receipts or other financial documents” for the company.

Interestingly, Caesar told investigators that only reason the company even applied for non-profit status with the IRS was “because NMB would only give money to 501(c)(3) that was a registered Florida not-for-profit.”

This admission alone implies, at least to me, that this company was only  formed for the purpose of milking the North Miami Beach Police Department’s Law Enforcement Trust Found for a donation.  It also suspiciously reeks of scheme that only a city “insider”  (Frantz Pierre, perhaps?) would cook up in order to pilfer public money for private use.  How else would anyone associated with this or any other “non-profit” even know about LETF money?

Just saying, of course.

And although Caesar initially told investigators that only Florence Thony and Marie Eleazard were responsible for keeping the financial records of the company, he later acknowledged that “he was aware of all the expenditures reflected” in the bank records.  According to the investigative report, Caesar told COE that the “Corporate Directors” voted to approve all CFEI expenditures, but conveniently, “there were no minutes taken of the corporate meetings, where expenditures were approved.”

Obviously the principals of the “non-profit” organization Center for Family Empowerment, Inc. either deliberately avoided or perhaps destroyed any paper trail concerning the Law Enforcement Trust Fund donation.

But bank records are forever.

In Part II of Frantzie Watch: Crime Pays, I will disclose exactly who profited from this so called “non-profit” organization, and who, if anyone, got their just deserts.

Stay tuned.

Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”