I can’t even count the number of people who have whispered to me that Frantz Pierre has directly or indirectly threatened them with bodily harm or worse.  As laughable as it may seem, this buffoon of a man, who stands all of five feet tall in elevator shoes, somehow has the power to cast fear in full grown men.  Just like the tyrant who raised him, L’il Frantzie P surrounds himself with beefy brutes who serve as his henchmen, not to mention a shrew of a wife who scares jackals into hiding.

The bizarre saga of Franzie and The Church, which just got even stranger, proves yet again that this despicable creature is a menace to society.

Sadly, most of his victims are members of the Haitian community.  Frantz Pierre knows that many Haitians have an inherent fear of police officers, public officials and politicians because of the oppressive government from which they escaped in their native country.  He takes full advantage of the fact that they’re terrified to ever speak out against him.

Fortunately, a few of his victims are now bravely fighting back and standing up to the bully in their midst.

The damning evidence now in the hands of the State Attorney should be strong enough for Katherine Fernandez Rundle to finally and seriously consider the fact that Frantz Pierre must be made to answer for his crimes.

The Charges

An accusation of grand theft 3rd degree has now been added to the lesser, but still egregious, allegations of perjury, coercion, intimidation, embezzlement of public funds, absentee ballot fraud, and abuse of position.

In addition to those criminal charges, Kathy Rundle also now has irrefutable proof that Frantz coerced two North Miami Beach businesses and a lobbyist into “donating” money, most of which ended up in his own pocket.

She can also add the charge of money laundering to the growing list of crimes perpetrated by this corrupt public official.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself.  Let’s start at the beginning.

The Church Story

As I reported last month, North Miami Beach “Councilman” Frantz Pierre inserted himself into a battle for leadership at the Haitian Evangelical Baptist Church, Inc., a Florida non-profit corporation to which he has never been elected or appointed, either as an officer or director.

This non-profit organization was originally formed in 1997 by Jean C. Moise, Jonathan Hyppolite and several other individuals, all of whom remained principles of the organization for the next seven years.

According to the Annual Report filed for 2004, Rev. Frantz Eugene was removed as Secretary/Director and appointed as Registered Agent, Director Carol A. Darius was removed and replaced by Michael Paul Jean, and two new officers, Moise Sultana and Benito Raymonvil, were added.

By 2005, however, the two new officers had been removed, but were welcomed back in 2006, along with new officer, Germide Blemur.

Nothing changed until 2011, when Sultana and Raymonvil were removed again and replaced by Edouard Legros and Gerard Mama.

The status quo remained through the filing of the 2014 Annual Report, but major changes took place the following year.

According to the 2015 Annual Report filed on April 29, 2015, founding member Jean C. Moise was removed as President and replaced by Joseph Elize.

On October 25, 2015 an Amended Annual Report was filed, removing Mr. Blemur as Chairman and Director, and replacing him with Mr. Jean Mary Alexis.

Only six days later, on October 31, 2015 a second Amended Annual Report was filed.  This time, Rev. Frantz Eugene was removed as Registered Agent and replaced by former officer Benito Raymonvil.  No further changes were made on the Annual Report filed for 2016.

Throughout its entire 19 year history, founding member Jonathan Hyppolite has been a director and officer of the Haitian Evangelical Baptist Church, along with Jean C. Moise, until he was removed last year.

Less than one month after the two Amended Annual Reports were filed, Frantz Pierre did what he does best – wreak havoc.

The Ethics Complaint

Per the Probable Cause Memorandum issued by the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics, Haitian Evangelical Baptist Church Vice President Hyppolite had filed a complaint against Pierre.  Mr. Hyppolite accused Pierre of strong-arming and intimidated church members by bringing two off-duty police officers to church meetings on two occasions.  According to the complaint, Pierre ordered the officers to physically remove the President, Joseph Elize, and another church member from the premises.  Mr. Hyppolite stated that Pierre has abused his position as an elected official and had no authority to act on behalf of the church.

As we already know, the Ethics Commission ruled “Nothing to See Here, Folks, Move Along.”

Even though he was “exonerated,” that wasn’t enough for Frantz Pierre.  He immediately caused all hell to break loose at the church, and then commandeered a lawsuit to “fix” the problems he purposely created.

The Lawsuit

Franzie urged founding member and former president Jean C. Moise (a/k/a Jean-Claude Moise) to call in his (and Phyllis Smith’s) personal pet bulldog, the uber corrupt Joseph S. Geller, to file a lawsuit against the newly elected president Joseph Elize, founding member Jonathan Hyppolite, as well as the rest of the officers and directors of the Haitian Evangelical Baptist Church (HBEC), in an attempt to take over the church.

The Plaintiffs – through their spokesmouth Geller – made ludicrous claims that the defendants were never duly elected to their positions.  This is a blatant lie.  Annual Reports were filed with the Secretary of State since the church was first incorporated in 1997, and no one has ever challenged its leadership.

Until Frantz bullied his way through the church doors.

The lawsuit frivolously claims that:

• Founding member and vice president Jonathan Hyppolite, a director and officer since 1997, was “never re-elected or re-appointed” to the board after 2010;
• Treasurer Edouard Legros, an officer since 2011, was “never re-elected or re-appointed” to the board;
• Vice treasurer Gerard Mama, an officer since 2011, was “never re-elected or re-appointed” to the board;
• Chairman/director Jean-Mary Alexis, who was appointed by Amended Annual Report, was “never appointed” to the board; and
• Registered Agent Benito Raymonvil, a former officer from 2004 to 2011, was “NEVER elected or appointed to ANY position by the Church.”

Here’s the thing.

If Mr. Hyppolite was “never re-elected or re-appointed” to the board after 2010, why has no one filed any objection to his re-election and/or re-appointment FOR THE PAST SIX YEARS?

If Messieurs Legros and Mama were “never re-elected or re-appointed” to the board, why has no one filed any objection to their re-election and/or re-appointment FOR THE PAST FIVE YEARS?

If Mr. Raymonvil was “NEVER elected or appointed to ANY position by the Church,” how do the Plaintiffs plan to explain away the UNDISPUTED FACT that Mr. Raymonvil was named as an officer on EACH AND EVERY ANNUAL REPORT FILED FOR THE SIX YEARS from 2004 through 2010?

Regardless of those ridiculous claims, merely alleging  that there have been no “legal” board elections of the corporation since 2005 does not mean it’s true.

For example, Plaintiff Jean C. Moise, who held an elected position on the board FOR SEVENTEEN YEARS from 1997 through and including 2014, and who was removed from office in 2015, is ONLY NOW  coming forward to claim that there have been no “legal” board elections since 2005.  What about the NINE YEARS SINCE 2005 DURING WHICH HE HELD OFFICE?   Was he “illegally” holding office all that time, too?

Talk about sour grapes!

But, here’s where it gets even more interesting.

The Grand Theft

The Haitian Evangelical Baptist Church ran quite smoothly for nearly 19 years from its inception until the Sociocopath of NMB decided that he wanted a piece of the action.

In addition to the complaint against Frantz Pierre filed by Mr. Hyppolite on November 13, 2015 with the Ethics Commission, there was a police report filed on December 1, 2015 against Frantz by Mr. Harold Calixte, president of Memorial Highway Community Cultural Center, Inc. (MHCCC).  This is a non-profit organization affiliated with the fundraising activities of the Haitian Evangelical Baptist Church.

According to this police report, Frantz Pierre committed Grand Theft 3rd Degree in violation of Florida Statute 812.014(2)(c).  Dedicated Frantzie Watchers are not surprised.  We already know that Frantzie is a liar and a bully, and he will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

Which is usually other people’s money.

It seems that in 2013, Frantz Pierre conned a North Miami Beach business into donating money for his “turkey giveaway.”  A company by the name of Platinum South, Inc., doing business as a North Miami Beach strip club by the name of DEAN’S GOLD, gave him a check in the amount of $2,500.00 for the church.

In typical Frantzie fashion, when he turned over the Dean’s Gold check to the Haitian Evangelical Baptist Church, he demanded a $2,500.00 check “in exchange” so that he could “pick up an order of turkeys for Thanksgiving.”

In typical Frantzie fashion, he “never returned with the items.”

And in typical Frantzie fashion, he claimed he “purchased turkeys for the homeless,” but couldn’t come up with any receipts for them.

How shocking.

This is but another version of similar money laundering schemes perpetrated by Frantz Pierre time and time again.

Here’s how this one went down:

Included in the exhibit are copies of four checks.

The first is a check dated November 24, 2013 in the amount of $2,500.00 issued by the Haitian Evangelical Baptist Church, Inc. to Frantz Pierre.

The next is a $2,500.00 check dated November 19, 2013 issued by Platinum South, LLC to the Memorial Highway Community Cultural Center, Inc. (MHCCC).

The third is a $500.00 check to MHCCC issued on November 18, 2013 by Intercan Consultants USA Corp., (which name was changed in 2014 to The Plaza Group Limited Corporation), the developer of the Marina Palms in North Miami Beach.

And finally, there is a $250.00 check to MHCCC dated November 22, 2013 from lobbyist Ron Book.

The three checks from the businesses and the lobbyist were donated to MHCCC for the purposes of supplying turkeys for needy church members and others in the community.

The check payable to Frantz Pierre was written “in exchange” for the donation from Dean’s Gold to MHCCC so that he can allegedly  purchase the turkeys from Wal-Mart.

Except for the inconvenient fact that Frantz never produced the turkeys, nor any receipts for the $2,500.00 that he absconded with from the church.

The Money Laundering

Frantz put this scheme into motion by first squeezing a $2,500.00 “donation” from Dean’s Gold under the guise of a “Thanksgiving turkey giveaway.”

Since Frantz turned the check over to the Haitian Evangelical Baptist Church, which is a 501(c)(3) corporation, Dean’s Gold did, in fact, receive a legitimate tax write-off for its intended donation.

Mr. Calixte, who had no idea at the time that Frantz was a con artist, exchanged the Dean’s Gold check for one from the church so that Frantz could purchase turkeys.

Those turkeys, however, never materialized, and the $2,500.00 ended up lining the pockets of one of Frantzie’s oversized zoot suits.

For two years, Frantz kept promising to produce receipts for the turkeys, until Mr. Calixte finally lost patience and filed a complaint with the Miami-Dade Police Department.  The case was then turned over to the State Attorney.

This is only one of many illegal ways Frantz is able to enrich himself with other people’s money.

According to multiple sources who have confided in me over the years, Frantz has also been ripping off many of his campaign workers in a similar fashion.

First, pays his worker with a campaign check, then drives that person to the bank to cash the check, and then insists that the individual give him the cash right there on the spot.  After being threatened and held hostage in a car, the worker eventually relents after Frantz promises repay the money.

And just like the Thanksgiving turkeys he promised to the church, the campaign worker’s repayment never materializes.

But, unlike the unreported theft from his campaign workers, the grand theft charges against Frantz alleged by the Haitian Evangelical Baptist Church is now in the hands of the State Attorney.

And we all know that Katherine Fernandez-Rundle is going to vigorously prosecute those charges to the fullest extent of the law!

Stop laughing.  You’ll hurt yourself.

Now that we’re all composed, read on.  It gets even better.

The “Clarification”

Here’s where it gets really shady.

Nearly a year after he scammed the church out of $2,500.00, church “Brother Frantz Pierre” wrote a letter on September 26, 2014 to the MHCCC Board in an attempt to “clarify the turkey issue of November 2013.”

In this letter, he claimed he “approved” the October 2013 turkey donation request from MHCCC “through the City of North Miami Beach.”

Not only are there no records of such “approval,” his insane statement doesn’t even make any sense.  Frantz Pierre does not have the sole power to “approve” anything at all, much less donations made to or on behalf of the City of North Miami Beach or any of its vendors.

Frantz then claims that because MHCCC did not have a “vendor number” from the City of North Miami Beach, he took it upon himself to “remedy the situation” by “rerouting” this donation through his own BOGUS NON-PROFIT called “Center for Family Emplowerment,” which Frantz claimed “already has a vendor number.”

NEWS FLASH:  These “turkey donations” had NOTHING AT ALL to do with the City of North Miami Beach, nor did they have any bearing on whether or not MHCCC had a vendor number with the city.  This statement by Frantz Pierre was a complete fabrication.

At the time Mr. Calixte agreed to exchange checks with “Brother Frantz Pierre,” he had no way of knowing that Frantzie was a pathological liar.  Regular readers of this blog, however, will immediately recognize Center for Family Empowerment as one of Frantzie’s many bogus organizations based in that now infamous “House of Non-Profits” located at 1733 NE 162 Street, North Miami Beach.

Center for Family Empowerment, which is no longer in existence, was one of two Frantz Pierre-connected organizations which conned $10,000.00 from the North Miami Beach Police Department’s Law Enforcement Trust Fund (LETF) in 2010.  That money has never been accounted for.  (His other organization, Social Harmony Club, scammed the LETF for $4,000.00.)

In his “clarification” letter, Frantz continued to explain that he had “reserved for MHCCC 200 turkeys from Wal-Mart (for a total of $2,500),” but by the time he received that money from the church, Wal-Mart had already sold those turkeys.

He then claimed that he had to “chase turkeys wherever we could find them.”

OMIGOD, did he really write that?  Just picture this in your mind:

FRANTZIE.  CHASING.  TURKEYS!

I don’t know about you, but I’ll never be able to unsee that image.

Frantz Pierre’s final excuse explanation is that instead of the 200 turkeys from Wal-Mart, he purchased “132 turkeys from at least six different supermarkets in Dade and in Broward.”

According to his “clarification” letter, 80 of those turkeys were “donated” to the BOGUS non-profit, Center for Family Empowerment, and 53 of them went to “the Church.”

Considering that no one at Haitian Evangelical Baptist Church ever saw even one of those turkeys, it’s anyone’s guess which “Church” he was referring to.

And, finally, according to his letter, since Frantz was given $2,500 for 200 turkeys, but only allegedly  purchased 132 of them, he claims he asked Center for Family Empowerment “to return any unused portion of the cash.”  According to Frantzie, “they did produce two checks for a total of $750,” which he gave to Mr. Calixte of the Memorial Highway Community Cultural Center as a refund of its donation.

He produced those checks, alright.  But that money was NOT returned by Frantzie’s BOGUS non-profit, Center for Family Empowerment.

The Smoking Gun

The $750.00 that Frantz claimed came from Center for Family Empowerment (CFE), was the total of the two checks that he conned from Marina Palms and Ron Book!

But here’s the thing.  (I hope you’re paying attention, Madam State Attorney!)

Frantz Pierre’s “clarification” is a complete fiction, and here’s the proof:

1. Dean’s Gold gave Frantz the $2,500.00 check on November 19, 2013.
2. Haitian Evangelical Baptist Church gave Frantz the $2,500.00 exchange check on November 24, 2013.
3. Frantz claims that AFTER he allegedly  purchased 132 turkeys, he asked CFE to refund the unused money.
4. The “refund” checks from Marina Palms and Ron Book were dated November 18 and November 22, respectively, BEFORE Frantz even received the church’s money to allegedly  purchase turkeys.

Let that timeline sink in and follow the bouncing ball.

Frantz Pierre scammed North Miami Beach business Dean’s Gold on November 19, 2013 for the sum of $2,500.00, which was “donated” to Haitian Evangelical Baptist Church “in exchange” for a check dated November 24, 2013, so he could purchase turkeys that were never accounted for.  He then claims that his BOGUS non-profit “repaid” HEBC for the “unused” turkey money with checks totaling $750.00 from Marina Palms and Ron Book that FRANTZ ALREADY HAD IN HIS POSSESSION BEFORE HE EVEN TOOK THE CHURCH’S MONEY!

This scam netted Frantz Pierre an unreported cash “donation” to his own wallet.

WHAT A FREAKING RACKET!

With this knowledge in mind, one would hope that North Miami Beach business owners, vendors and lobbyists will stop falling for Frantz Pierre’s requests for “donations.”  If any of them are still  stupid enough to give even one penny to him, they deserved to be ripped off!

But, wait.  There’s MORE!

The Death Threats

The final document of this exhibit to the Grand Theft 3rd Degree charge includes a letter from the vice president of the Haitian Evangelical Baptist Church to the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust.

Read it and weep.

Read that last sentence again!

“Please come to our rescue before it is too late!”

Mr. Hyppolite begged the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust to put a stop to the reign of terror perpetrated by an individual who constantly abuses his position as an elected official to threaten, intimidate and silence anyone who stands in his way.

Both Mr. Hyppolite and Mr. Calixte are unbelievably courageous for finally speaking out against the thuggery perpetrated by Frantz Pierre.  I certainly hope the authorities are taking seriously the threats that have been made to the lives of these two individuals.

This is only one of the many criminal complaints against Frantz Pierre that has landed on the desk of the State Attorney.  I’m told that this latest one is also being investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

We can only hope that at least one of them will follow through.

We are also not holding our breath.

Epilogue: The Heretofore Untold Story

It will come as absolutely no surprise to many of us if Kathy drops the ball.

In 2011, my team and I hired a private investigator to uncover absentee ballot fraud in North Miami Beach.  In conjunction with the Miami-Dade Police Department’s Public Corruption Unit that was in place at the time, thousands of our personal and taxpayer dollars were spent on a sting operation designed to catch the known North Miami Beach ballot brokers.

Although Frantz Pierre was not the intended target, we hit pay dirt when he showed up and we caught him – ON VIDEO – attempting to sell five absentee ballots to our undercover “agent.”

Law enforcement officers were at the scene, ready to make an arrest, when Katherine Fernandez Rundle ordered them to stand down and declared that she was not going to prosecute for absentee ballots “under double digits.”

Kathy was obviously unclear on, or deliberately chose to ignore, the actual law.

Considering her own entanglement with absentee ballot fraud, I’m guessing it’s the latter.

Florida Statute 104.0616(2) clearly states, “Any person who provides or offers to provide, and any person who accepts, a pecuniary or other benefit in exchange for distributing, ordering, requesting, collecting, delivering, or otherwise physically possessing more than two absentee ballots per election in addition to his or her own ballot or a ballot belonging to an immediate family member, except as provided in ss. 101.6105-101.694, commits a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.”

If Rundle had truly wanted to stop absentee ballot fraud, she had her chance.  She chose to look the other way.

In addition to hours and hours of costly manpower spent on this operation, approximately $2,500.00 of taxpayer money that was used to “purchase” the absentee ballots was never recovered.

The videotape was turned over to the State Attorney, never to be seen again.

Shortly after that fiasco, the MDPD’s Public Corruption Unit was mysteriously disbanded.

At least one member of that elite unit soon retired from the Miami-Dade Police Department in disgust.

The State Attorney is now in possession of even more complaints against Frantz Pierre.  Unfortunately, this is an election year and she is campaigning yet again.  Rundle will do ANYTHING to win a SEVENTH TERM, including letting Frantz skate if she thinks it will help her get the Haitian vote.

Even if it’s by absentee ballot fraud.

Which is also how Frantz Pierre “won” his last three elections.

Until career politicians like Katherine Fernandez Rundle are voted out of office, Miami-Dade County will continue to be a cesspool of corruption.

And until criminals like Frantz Pierre are arrested, prosecuted and locked away, no one is safe.

Not the residents and employees of the City of North Miami Beach.

Not the members of the Haitian Evangelical Baptist Church.

Not the entire Haitian American community.

Not a single person who comes in contact with him.

Until enough people rise up in outrage, Frantz Pierre will be Livin’ the Thug Life at the expense of anyone who stands between him and their money.

Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”