Two Florida mayors have posted bail and been released from custody after being arrested by the FBI on public corruption charges on Tuesday. Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi, 51, and Sweetwater Mayor Manuel Maroño, 41, stand accused of accepting thousands of dollars in bribes in separate schemes, according to NBC Miami. The two had been the object of a two-year-long public corruption investigation undertaken by the FBI after they were tipped off on corrupt activity. Florida Governor Rick Scott suspended both Pizzi, who is in his second term in Miami Lakes, and Maroño, in his third term, from their posts as mayor by way of an executive order. The vice mayors of each town will take over as interim mayors.
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"This is a sad day for South Florida, this betrayal of our public trust is intolerable," U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer said Tuesday afternoon at a press conference held after the arrests were made. "Our democracy suffers in these cases when elected officials use their power and political influence for personal gain instead of the public good."
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On Wednesday, Maroño posted $250,000 bond and Pizzi $50,000. Pizzi's lawyer, Amanda Maxwell called him "a man of integrity", adding that "today begins his fight for vindication."
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Maroño's attorney, Armando Rosquette, said he and his client "really have no comment at this time, other than to say that we want to let the process work its way forward. And anything that we will be saying on behalf of Mayor Marono will be said in court."
The Sweetwater mayor is said to have received more than $40,000 in bribes since 2002, while Pizzi got $6,750. Working on a tip, the FBI created a fake federal grant program through AmeriCorps, and undercover agents went through Richard Candia and Jorge Forte - two lobbyists also arrested in connection to the case -- to propose a scheme to Maroño by which the money for the grant program would be appropriated for their own personal use. Maroño and Forte received $40,000, while Candia made at least $5,000 in kickbacks.
Pizzi also had a hand in the scheme, making a $1,000 kickback - along with other things of value, according to NBC Miami -- for backdating a document endorsing the undercover agents' company and lying to another undercover agent posing as a grant auditor about the destination of the money and the performance of the grantee. Pizzi also got another $5,000 for his work getting a Miami Lakes resolution passed which would authorize the fake company to seek grant money for the city.
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