Florida Mayor Joy Cooper arrested on felony corruption charges following FBI sting
The Mayor of Hallandale Beach, Florida, has been arrested and is now facing multiple felony corruption charges. Mayor Joy Cooper, 57, turned herself in to police on January 25 following an FBI sting operation that began back in 2012. Cooper, a Democrat, was charged with money laundering, official misconduct and exceeding campaign contribution limits, according to the Sun Sentinel.
In addition to the three felonies, Cooper is also charged with soliciting contributions in a government building, which is a first-degree misdemeanor, according to ABC News affiliate Local 10 News in Florida.
Hallandale Beach is located just north of Miami. Following her arrest and being charged, Cooper was released on a $12,000 bond and now awaits trial. Cooper has served as the mayor of Hallandale Beach since 2005, according to Fox News. Prior to being elected mayor, she served on the city council beginning in 1999.
Before surrendering herself to authorities at the Main Jail in Fort Lauderdale, Cooper reportedly cleaned out her mayoral office. The day following her arrest, Florida Governor Rick Scott issued an executive order suspending Cooper of her duties. The Sun Sentinel shared a portion of a statement released by Cooper where she states, “I can assure you that I will vigorously fight these allegations in court.”
The FBI sting on Cooper dates back to a summer day in 2012 when she met “in her City Hall office with two men she thought were wealthy landowners from California as well as a close acquaintance, South Florida attorney and lobbyist Alan Koslow,” according to The Tampa Bay Times. Turns out though, the wealthy landowners Cooper thought she was meeting with were actually undercover FBI agents.
Cooper reportedly met with those agents on several occasions. Her plan was to have the wealthy landowners finance her mayoral re-election campaign. In return, she’d be green-lighting the landowners’ construction project through the city council. Cooper won her 2012 re-election bid “after soliciting and receiving thousands of dollars that state prosecutors now say were illegal campaign contributions.”
Court documents show that Koslow was given a Dunkin’ Donuts bag filled with $8,000 in cash by undercover agents August 2012. He allegedly told undercover agents he had influence with the city commission and “had the vote of the mayor.” ~ per The Tampa Bay Times
Larry Davis, lawyer for Joy Cooper, says that the mayor plans to plead not guilty to all charges. If she’s found guilty though, those felonies would carry maximum prison sentences of five years. For more on the story, see the video accompanying this article.
~ Written by: Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Connect with Richard on Facebook and Twitter
