The mayor of Homestead, Florida, was hauled away from his home Wednesday in handcuffs on corruption charges, including accepting illegal compensation, becoming the third mayor of a Miami-Dade County city to be arrested in the past month.
Steven C. Bateman, 58, was allegedly being paid a consultancy fee of $125 per hour by a health care company seeking city and county approval for a sewer connection so it could build a clinic in Homestead. Bateman lobbied his own city officials and County Mayor Carlos Gimenez without disclosing his financial arrangement with Community Health Care of South Florida Inc., a non-profit firm known as CHI, said said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle.
Bateman allegedly ran afoul by not telling the government officials he was lobbying for the clinic that he was being paid by the health care company. "It's another very sad day for the people of Miami-Dade County," Fernandez Rundle told reporters. "At no time did Bateman disclose that these contacts were done for a private employer. That should have been done."
The politician was paid $3,625 by CHI for his work, although the company had authorized as much as $120,000 in payments for a year of work, according to an arrest affidavit. He was charged on "two felony counts of unlawful compensation or reward for official behavior," in addition to two misdemeanor violations of "the Miami-Dade Conflict of Interest and Code of Ethics Ordinance for exploitation of an official position, acquiring a financial interest, and unregistered lobbying."
His attorney, Ben Kuehne, said Bateman was "shocked by his sudden and unexpected arrest." "He looks forward to his vindication. He has served the community for many years in an honest, dependable manner," Kuehne added in an email. "He has honestly earned every dollar he received through hard work and dedication to the public."
At a press conference held by the city of Homestead, vice mayor John Burgess revealed he was taking over the mayoralty as Bateman was dismissed from his duties. "Because of the hard work of the state attorney and the Ethics Commission, that individual [former mayor Bateman] has been removed from our government... I'm proud to be a part of this government and I assure you this council will safeguard the integrity of our government and of all the citizens of Homestead."
The former mayor was allowed to post a $21,500 bond with his wife's money and some of her property pledged as collateral. He was released after 7 p.m. and his wife zipped him off in a Mercedes.
The president and chief executive officer at CHI, Brodes Hartley Jr., told investigators in a sworn statement he knew Bateman would represent his firm and he never indicated there could be a conflict of interest.
This case, comes after Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi and Sweetwater Mayor Manuel Marono, along with two lobbyists, were arrested earlier this month on federal corruption charges in an FBI sting operation. Those arrests followed tax evasion charges in May against former Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina and his wife, Raizi, who are accused of failing to report income on high-interest loans and other business interests. All of the aforementioned have pleaded innocent.
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