TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA – A widening federal probe has ensnared a third defendant in a brazen racketeering conspiracy allegedly operating at the heart of Tallahassee city government. A superseding indictment unsealed today accuses suspended Tallahassee City Commissioner Scott Charles Maddox, 51, political consultant Janice Paige Carter-Smith, 54, and newcomer John Thomas Burnette, 42, all of Tallahassee, Florida, of running a criminal enterprise built on bribery, extortion, and outright fraud.
Federal prosecutors, led by Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski and U.S. Attorney Lawrence Keefe of the Northern District of Florida, announced the expanded charges, backed by the investigative muscle of the FBI’s Jacksonville Field Office (Special Agent in Charge Rachel Rojas) and the IRS Criminal Investigation (CI) Tampa Field Office (Special Agent in Charge Mary Hammond). The initial indictment in December 2018 already painted a grim picture of Maddox and Carter-Smith allegedly conspiring to operate a racketeering enterprise. Today’s development adds Burnette to the mix, alleging his deep involvement in the scheme.
The original forty-four count indictment detailed allegations of bank fraud, extortion, honest-services fraud, and bribery. Maddox and Carter-Smith were accused of using companies – Governance Inc. and Governance Services LLC, collectively known as “Governance” – to shake down clients. The prosecution alleges Governance functioned as a conduit for bribes and extortion payments, leveraging Maddox’s position as City Commissioner to threaten economic harm to those who didn’t comply. The superseding indictment now alleges Burnette was a key player in facilitating this extortion. Specifically, it claims Burnette participated in pressuring a development company seeking projects in Tallahassee to funnel $10,000 monthly payments to Maddox through Governance.
The indictment details a pattern of brazen behavior, including arranging logistics for the bribe payments and directing the development company to deal exclusively with Burnette. Prosecutors claim Maddox and Burnette traveled to Las Vegas with representatives of the company, using their expenses as a platform to boast about Maddox’s ability to ruin a former client’s business dealings. When the company representatives questioned the ongoing payments, Burnette allegedly doubled down on the threats, outlining the economic damage Maddox would inflict if the money stopped flowing. The charges against Burnette include participation in the racketeering conspiracy, extortion, honest services mail fraud, the use of interstate facilities to facilitate bribery, and making false statements to federal officers.
Burnette is scheduled to make his initial appearance in federal court in Tallahassee today at 3:00 p.m. EST. The trial, already scheduled for November 4, 2019, promises to be a messy affair, potentially exposing a network of corruption that reached into the highest levels of Tallahassee’s local government. The indictment alleges Maddox and Carter-Smith defrauded a bank of over $250,000 through fraudulent short sales of real property, further compounding the severity of the charges. They are also accused of lying to federal agents and violating federal tax laws by conspiring to interfere with the IRS and filing false tax returns.
The Grimy Times will continue to follow this developing story, digging into the details of this alleged scheme and exposing the rot at the heart of Tallahassee. This case serves as a stark reminder that public office is often a target for those seeking to exploit the system for personal gain, and that federal authorities are actively working to dismantle these criminal enterprises, no matter how deeply entrenched they may be.
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Key Facts
- State: Florida
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Public Corruption
- Source: Official Source ↗
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