Former Wakulla County Property Appraiser Brad Harvey pleaded no contest Wednesday to charges that he illegally padded his salary to a six-figure tune and spent thousands more in office funds on personal expenses.
Harvey, elected in 2016, was arrested in April 2020 on fraud charges after a lengthy investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. He was suspended from office by Gov. Ron DeSantis and opted not to seek re-election in 2020 amid the scandal.
Allegations against Harvey began to surface in 2019 after employees in the office discovered he had been writing himself checks and misusing funds. They alerted local officials, who in turn notified DeSantis and others of the allegations.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which conducted a lengthy investigation, learned that between 2016 and 2019, Harvey had paid himself $176,206 on top of his official salary, which was about $103,000 his first year of office.
FDLE learned that Harvey had taken control of the office’s payroll, including writing checks and making tax payments, and was acting as chief financial officer.
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In all, he wrote himself some 111 checks to illegally boost his pay. He also had racked up nearly $27,000 in charges on an office credit card for personal travel and car repairs.
Harvey was charged with one count of organized scheme to defraud over $50,000 and one count of organized scheme to defraud over $25,000. He faces up to 30 years in prison on the first count and up to 15 years on the second.
The State Attorney’s Office said in a news release that prosecutors and Harvey have no “agreed-upon” sentence. He will be sentenced during a hearing set for Sept. 7 at the Wakulla County Courthouse.
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com and follow @JeffBurlew on Twitter.