Former Sweetwater Mayor Manuel L. Maroño was sentenced to 40 months in prison and two years of supervised release for conspiring to commit honest services wire fraud involving a scheme to personally benefit himself through the use of his elected position as Mayor of Sweetwater.
According to U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer, the judge correctly likened political corruption to cancer, and today’s sentence sends a message to public officials: selling the public’s trust will put you in federal prison.
Manuel L. Maroño, the former Mayor of Sweetwater, was convicted of conspiring to commit honest services wire fraud, a scheme to personally benefit himself through the use of his elected position as Mayor of Sweetwater. In late November 2011, Maroño and his co-conspirator, Jorge Forte, agreed to aid a company known as Sunshine Universal to obtain federal grant funds for the stated reason of preparing an economic development study for Sweetwater, all in exchange for cash kickbacks to Maroño and Forte.
The scheme involved Maroño causing the passage of a resolution in Sweetwater that authorized the undercover agents’ company to apply for federal grant moneys using the authority of the City of Sweetwater. After the resolution was passed, Maroño and Forte personally met and negotiated with the undercover agents and accepted a series of cash payments in exchange for Maroño’s official actions in support of the grant scheme.
In total, Maroño and Forte received $45,000 for their corrupt actions. Maroño also participated in what he believed to be audit telephone calls from the federal government to confirm the grantees’ performance on the grant. During two separate audit calls, both of which were recorded, Maroño lied to and misled the auditor, who was in fact an undercover FBI agent, about the actual use of the grant money and the grantee’s performance.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jared E. Dwyer and Robert K. Senior. The investigative efforts of the FBI are commended by Mr. Ferrer. The sentence received by Manuel L. Maroño today was not only for violating the law, but also for undermining the public’s trust in their elected official.
Key Facts
- State: Florida
- Category: Public Corruption
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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