On Wednesday, it was announced that former North Miami Beach Commissioner Frantz Pierre has been sentenced to two years of community control with a GPS monitor followed by four years of probation for taking bribes from a strip club owner.
According to the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, he pleaded guilty to take taking $12,500 in bribes from the strip club owner for his city commission vote to allow extended after-hours liquor sales at the strip club.
Pierre was arrested in July 2018.
Investigators found that from December 2013 to September 2014, the owner of Dean’s Gold Strip club paid Pierre $12,500 in bribes to vote in his favor.
Prosecutors say that he also pleaded guilty to stealing $2,000 from the city through a fraudulent grant application.
State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement, “Every citizen rightfully expects their elected officials to work in the best interests of the community.” She added, “Former Commissioner Frantz Pierre’s crime was that he chose to make his elected office profitable for himself. Neither I nor the skilled investigators of my Public Corruption Task Force will ever allow that to happen.”
Prosecutors said Pierre pleaded guilty to all of the following charges:
· 1 count of bribery
· 1 count of unlawful compensation/reward for official behavior
· 1 count of organized scheme to defraud
· 1 count of grand theft
· 7 counts of money laundering/unlawful proceeds greater than $300 but less than $20,000.
Pierre has been asked to resign from his commission seat, and he was ordered to repay the stolen $2,000 to the city.
