Embattled Miami State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle needed to claim a political scalp in order to improve her image for her next election.

Despite her own shady dealings with absentee ballot fraud and campaign funds (see here, here, here, and here), and her illegal prosecution of a whistleblower, she finally brought down North Miami Beach Mayor George Vallejo for two misdemeanors of “Violating Campaign Finance Law.”

Yes, you read that correctly.

Not two counts of unlawful compensation, grand theft 3rd degree, or issuing a worthless check, all felonies which got former North Miami Beach mayor Myron Rosner arrested in 2012 and convicted in 2016.

Nor the felonies of securities fraud, sale of an unregistered security, sale of security by an unregistered dealer, or yet another grand theft 3rd degree, for which Myron was arrested a second time in 2017 while he was still on probation.

Then again, George Vallejo isn’t married to CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE SARAH ZABEL, who colluded with her husband, Myron Rosner, but managed to escape an indictment.

George also didn’t steal $2,500.00 from a church, which would be a felony grand theft 3rd degree charge, which is the crime committed by ousted Faux Commissioner Frantz Pierre, but for which he has yet to be arrested.

The Mayor also didn’t commit absentee ballot fraud, which is also a felony, and which crime North Miami Beach’s other Faux Commissioner Phyllis Smith admitted to in a Consent Final Order.

George also never engaged in “absentee ballot fraud, nursing home violations which resulted in a rape and four deaths, and medicaid fraud … slapped with $145,000.00 in federal tax liens, has had ten foreclosures … or prone to grossly inappropriate behavior, both on the House floor and when dealing with the media.”  Those are the proud “accomplishments” of local State Senator Daphne Campbell.

Nor did Mayor Vallejo engage in unregistered lobbying, which is also against the law.

And don’t even get us started on all the corruption in North Miami, including its newly appointed chief of police, Larry Juriga, who lied under oath and actually conspired to frame a fellow police officer.

It’s still business as usual for all seven of these actual criminals (including the aiding and abetting Circuit Court Judge), but George Vallejo will now be serving 18 months probation, including three months of house arrest (with exceptions for work, medical and child care matters).  As the Miami Herald reported, “Under his agreement, Vallejo was granted a withhold of adjudication that will allow him to erase his criminal record when his probation is done.”

The State Attorney’s Office opened its investigation on Mayor Vallejo based on an unverified tip of widespread corruption.  After an exhaustive two-year investigation, during which George Vallejo’s entire family, including his minor children, were under an intense microscope of suspicion, Katherine Fernandez Rundle finally got her man … on two campaign finance law misdemeanors.

In the real world, the Florida Elections Commission, has jurisdiction over campaign finance violations.  If probable cause is found, the Florida Statutes authorize the Commission “to impose a fine not to exceed $1,000 per violation.”  From 1993, the first year the Commission posted its Final Orders online, through 2015, it has successfully adjudicated nearly 5,000 complaints against public officials and entities, and imposed fines on those found guilty.  The approximate 200 Final Orders signed by the FEC since 2015 have not yet been posted.

In the real world, a low-life thug like Frantz Pierre would have already been behind bars.  So far, he’s been able to avoid being investigated, arrested and prosecuted for:

• Filing a bogus restraining order against an opponent
• Committing perjury under oath
• Violating city code
• Intimidating and fighting with a city employee
• Making false accusations against a city employee
• Attempting to coerce a city employee to lie for him
• Stealing city property, including water
• Falsely accusing a city employee of rigging a bid
• Installing a carpetbagger from MIRAMAR to run against one of his colleagues
• Lying to recuse himself from a vote
• Falsely accusing the son of an elected official of deliberately causing his car accident
• Going postal on a city employee who was attempting to do her job
• Falsely accusing the MAYOR of interfering with the bidding process (for which he was beautifully bitch slapped!)
• Conspiring to steal FDLE funds from the city for a bogus non-profit
• “Winning” elections by absentee ballot fraud
• And, yes, committing grand theft 3rd degree for stealing $2,500.00 from the Haitian Evangelical Baptist Church.

But, in Katherine Fernandez Rundle’s world, the real criminals go free, and those who blow the whistle get harassed, doxxed and threatened.

In it’s rush to sell newspapers, the Miami Herald initially ran this story with the headline, “North Miami Beach Mayor George Vallejo resigns his office in wake of corruption investigation.”

After being contacted by Mayor Vallejo’s lawyers, Ben Kuehne and former U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Sloman, who had to school the Herald editor in how to read a press release, the Herald was forced to report the actual truth and correct its headline to read, “North Miami Beach mayor quits office, gets house arrest in campaign finance case.”

Unfortunately, Channel 10 has yet to correct its headline, despite already being notified to make this correction.

In the final analysis, George Vallejo and his wife, Sandy, who was never once interviewed by the SAO during the two year ordeal despite being implicated, made the smart decision to accept a plea deal and get on with their lives.

The Mayor stated, “I take full responsibility for my actions and apologize to the citizens of North Miami Beach and look forward to putting this matter behind me.”

Meanwhile, the real corrupt public officials in South Florida – Myron Rosner, Sarah Zabel, Frantz Pierre, Phyllis Smith, Daphne Campbell, and Larry Juriga, to name a few – have never taken responsibility for their actions.

Nor have they ever served time for their crimes.

Apparently, their scalps aren’t big enough for Katherine Fernandez Rundle to claim.

Stephanie