The ink was barely dry on North Miami Beach City Manager Arthur “Duke” Sorey’s Employment Agreement when he started abusing his taxpayer-funded Procurement Card (P Card).

From his very first Bank of America P Card statement ending June 4, 2021, not a month went by that he didn’t charge something, and that something was usually travel or food.

Or both at once.

In fact, Duke and his inner circle of Friends & Family employees buy lots and lots of food, courtesy of North Miami Beach taxpayers.

Let’s take a closer look at the feeding frenzy on the fourth floor of City Hall.

Two days after returning from a May 24, 2021 trip to Orlando for unknown reasons, during which he charged two $368.00 hotel rooms at the Signia by Hilton Bonnet Creek, Duke bought $191.42 worth of grub from his favorite cafe, Panera Bread.

There was no Commission Meeting on that night, so the food wasn’t for the elected officials.

The very next month, Duke charged a total of $655.65.  He spent $380.65 at his favorite North Miami pizza joint, 1000 Degrees, on Friday, June 4, 2021.  Again, there was no Commission Meeting held that night, so who was he feeding?

And on Wednesday, June 16, 2021, Duke whipped out his taxpayer funded P Card and charged $275.00 at another one of his top picks, Olive Garden in Aventura.

And, yep, you guessed it.  There was no Commission Meeting on that night.

In July of 2021, Duke really went to town with your money, as evidenced by $916.49 racked up on the P Card statement ending August 4, 2021.

Check it out!

• Wednesday, July 7, 2021, P.F. Chang’s for $52.50.  Did he take a friend or co-worker out to lunch on YOUR dime?
• Thursday, July 8, 2021, Panera Bread again for $202.36.
• Wednesday, July 14, 2021, 1000 Degrees again for $134.25.
• Friday, July 16, 2021, P.F. Chang’s again for $101.17.
• Wednesday, July 21, 2021, Olive Garden for $275.00.
• Monday, August 2, 2021, Duke grabbed a quick a light meal at Miami Squeeze for $151.21 the day before dashing off on a taxpayer-funded vacation to Las Vegas.

No Commission Meetings were held on any of these days.

Duke stepped up his food orgy well into the dog days of summer, when he charged $1,275.70 worth of comestibles on his P Card statement ending September 4, 2021, to-wit:

• Tuesday, August 17, 2021, Boston Market for $204.28.  Finally, there was a Commission Meeting that night, so he had an excuse.  Sort of.
• Wednesday, August 25, 2021, Panera Bread for $296.27.
• Monday, August 30, 2021, 1000 Degrees for $134.25.
• Tuesday, August 31, 2021, Panera Bread again, this time for $138.27.
• Wednesday , September 1, 2021, Panera Bread once again for $197.36.

Seriously, who is eating all this food?

By August of 2021, Duke’s accomplice Assistant Manager, Gedel “Beelzebub” Merzius, got his hands on a taxpayer-funded P Card, and proceeded to charge up a storm.

As evidenced by his P Card statement ending September 4, 2021, after jetting off to Las Vegas on your dime, Beelzebub charged $1,000.00 at House of Mac in Overtown on Wednesday, September 1, 2021, to complement Duke’s spread from Panera Bread.

Without missing a beat, Duke blew up his taxpayer-funded P Card at six (6) eating establishments to the tune of $2,356.25, per his P Card statement ending October 4, 2021, as follows:

• Thursday, September 9, 2021, $1,150.00 at Mzs Mini Donuts & More! LLC, for a food truck most likely for a City event.
• Tuesday, September 14, 2021, $296.27 at, you guessed it, Panera Bread.
• Tuesday, September 21, 2021, $275.00 at Olive Garden.  There was a Commission Meeting that night.
• Friday, September 24, 2021, Panera Bread again for $316.27.
• Thursday, September 30, 2021, Panera Bread once again for $166.00.
• Thursday, September 30, 2021, Abuela’s Kitchen for $157.50.

Also on September 21, 2021, ostensibly for the Commission Meeting, Duke’s then-$103K “Senior Advisor to City Manager” Francisco Medranda began his first foray into the catering business with a $147.65 pizza party from Domino’s and a  $606.95 buffet from Pastry is Art.

Were these purchases meant to round off the $275.00 Olive Garden meal for the Mayor and Commissioners?

Duke’s “Senior Management Analyst,” a/k/a Catering Director, got her feet wet with a $278.45 food purchase at Abuela’s Kitchen on Thursday, October 28, 2021, as noted on her P Card Statement ending November 4, 2021.

Duke wasn’t around much during the month of October 2021 since he was busy traveling to Ft. Myers and Portland, Oregon.  He did, however, manage to find enough time between trips to spend $420.95 at Olive Garden for the Commission Meeting held on Tuesday, October 19, 2021, as noted on his P Card Statement ending November 4, 2021.

The next month, Duke spent $360.00 at House of Mac on Thursday, November 11, 2022 for the heck of it, and another $455.00 at Grio 305 in North Miami on Tuesday, November 16, 2021, most likely for the Commission Meeting.

When he wasn’t restaurant hopping in November, Duke was shopping online at Walmart ($438.60 on November 8, 2021) and taking his City-owned SUV to the first of his monthly $96.29 “full-service package” visits to Prestige Auto Spa in North Miami for … a car wash.

Considering that Duke receives a “monthly expense allowance of $900.00 per month [sic],” according to the First Amendment to his Employment Agreement, we’re unclear as to why his monthly car wash is not included in this $10,800.00 annual stipend.

But, that’s just us.

And in the twelfth month of 2021, Duke took a much needed break from spending your money on food for his cronies on the fourth floor of City Hall.

Athalie Edwards, however, picked up the slack with a $1,000.00 charge on Monday, December 6, 2021, and $1,900.00 charge on Wednesday, December 8, 2021 at Healthy Movez LLC in Miami Gardens.

Also on December 8, 2021, she charged another $2,899.23 charge for the Mzs Mini Donuts food truck.

Before the month was over, Athalie spent $624.69 at Fat Boyz Barbecue in Fort Lauderdale on Monday, December 13, 2021, for a grand total of $6,423.92 worth of holiday cheer at the fourth floor Christmas party!

And not one of Athalie’s food purchases were for a Commission Meeting.

An even more curious charge of $3,008.00 was made on Athlie’s P Card Statement ending January 4, 2022 to Target Corporate and Bulk Gift Cards on Friday, December 17, 2021.

Four days later on Tuesday, 21, 2021, Francisco Medranda made five purchases for $1,000.00 each at Target for a total of $5,000.00.  We must assume these were also for gift cards.

Aside from the fact that the purchase of these gift cards is a direct violation of the City’s Procurement Card Policy, which specifically prohibits the use of P Cards for “Cash advances of any kind,” we’d love to know who received all those NMB taxpayer-funded Target gift cards in their Christmas stockings.

In just the last half of 2021 alone, Duke and his close-knit gang of big spenders of other people’s money, blew through $19,319.06 worth of food on their taxpayer-funded P Cards without even breaking a sweat.

Folks, the City of North Miami Beach is not some Fortune 500 corporation, where high-paid executives are expected to keep a well-stocked bar in their offices, and wine and dine wealthy clients at five-star restaurants.

North Miami Beach is a taxpayer-funded government agency, the public officials of which are entrusted with fiscal responsibility and are supposed to be held accountable for their expenditures.

Duke Sorey doesn’t know the difference, and he certainly doesn’t care.

In P Card Madness, Part 5: Duke & The Gang’s Taxpayer-Funded Food Orgy, 2022 Edition, we’ll show you how Duke & The Gang didn’t even miss a beat when they proceeded to charge a whopping $30,304.79 in food purchases on their taxpayer-funded P Cards just through December 4, 2022.

Stay tuned …

Stephanie