First came the scathing article from the Miami New Times that Opa-locka Crime Is Up 403%, Report Says.

Reporter Jessica Lipscomb wrote:

Conditions at the Opa-locka Police Department are so bad the city can barely keep its officers employed. After a debilitating citywide budget cut of 20 percent, ten law-enforcement positions were eliminated and every officer on the payroll took a 10 percent salary reduction. As the Miami Herald reported in September, some cops are wearing ripped uniforms and driving donated cars with more than 100,000 miles on them. The police headquarters building is so rife with leaks and mold that officers have moved their operations to City Hall.

And:

Uniform crime reports released Monday by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement compare statistics from the first six months of 2017 to the same time period this year. Both violent and nonviolent crimes in Opa-locka appear to be increasing:

• The number of reported robberies rose from 10 to 52.
• Aggravated assaults increased from 21 to 140.
• Burglaries jumped from 16 to 80.
• Larcenies (which include pickpocketing, shoplifting, bicycle theft, smash-and-grab vehicle thefts, and some other property thefts) grew from 65 to 296.

Worse, more than 91% of the crimes remain unsolved.

Not including the ones committed against its own employees.

Yesterday, Opa-locka’s financial woes were exacerbated by a judge’s ruling in favor of Charmaine Parchment in a multi-million dollar whistleblower lawsuit against the city, as reported in the Miami Herald article, ‘Sometimes good guys finish first.’ Opa-locka whistleblower wins lawsuit against the city.

The trouble started in May 2016, when then-Finance Director Charmaine Parchment “sent an email to acting city manager Yvette Harrell on Sunday saying that the budget deficit is three times larger than what the city has revealed to taxpayers and demanded that her name be removed from a city recovery plan submitted to the state,” according to a May 23, 2016 Miami Herald article.

A month later Parchment confronted Harrell for illegally withdrawing approximately $600,000 from a restricted account to cover expenses.

On May 10, 2017, Harrell resigned, but not before running into legal and ethical issues over an undisclosed arrangement with the ethically-challenged City Attorney Vincent T. Brown.

Harrell was replaced in July 2017 by Eddie Brown, who, a month later, was accused of corruption by Charmaine Parchment, when she refused to sign “illegal checks” for him.  He responded by firing her.

On September 6, 2017, Parchment’s attorney, Michael Pizzi, filed a lawsuit against the City of Opa-locka and Eddie Brown personally.

Eddie Brown eventually got himself fired in April of this year for protecting a strip club operating illegally, and was replaced last month by none other than … Yvette Harrell, who may (or may not) be under investigation by the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust.

Saying that Opa-locka is one hot mess would be an understatement.

Less than two months after his victory over Opa-locka City Attorney Vincent T. Brown, who filed an unsuccessful lawsuit against two mayoral candidates, legal pitbull Michael Pizzi savored yet another hard fought win.

Pizzi told VotersOpinion, “It is my mission in life to make sure good always triumphs over evil.  Charmaine Parchment was wrongly fired for bravely speaking out against corruption in a city where corruption is the norm.  I will leave no stone unturned to obtain justice for honest people with integrity, and help the good guys destroy the bad guys.  Losing is not an option!”

We believe him.

Whether representing employees who are screwed over by the City of North Miami, going after ASFCME for committing a hate crime, and defending the Mayor of Mount Vernon, New York, against charges of corruption, attorney Michael Pizzi takes no prisoners.

If his latest victory in the court battle against the City of Opa-locka is any indication, anyone in his crosshairs should be afraid.

Very afraid.

Collecting from the nearly bankrupt (and overwhelmingly corrupt) City of Opa-locka is an entirely different story.

Just ask the beleaguered officers of the Opa-Locka Police Department.

Stephanie