Miami Beach - REDBROWARD

Tamarac Commissioner Marlon Bolton was charged with Felony Grand Theft (Third Degree) for using a forged check to withdraw $4,120 from his employer’s bank account. REDBROWARD obtained portions of the Miami Beach Police Report along with copies of his booking information and mugshot. REDBROWARD also obtained copies of an email Bolton sent to the victim two days after the crime.

According to a Miami Beach police report, on Thursday, February 25, 2010 Marlon Bolton presented a forged withdrawal slip at the Wachovia Bank on Lincoln Road. Bolton allegedly forged the signature of Steve Benz, the owner of No. 23 Model Management, on the slip. Bolton was an employee of No.23 Model Management.

Bolton was given $4,120 by a bank teller.

When he saw the transaction Benz, who lives in Tampa, immediately called the bank. Benz, “was told by a bank employee that Mr. Bolton had approached the counter in person, and was given the funds by a bank employee.”

On Friday, February 26, 2010 Benz called Miami Beach Police. The case was assigned to economic crimes division.

The police report states, “surveillance video available.”

“I WAS HEATED”

On Saturday, February 27, 2010, Marlon Bolton sent a rambling, self-serving apology filled with misspellings to the victim. Benz told REDBROWARD Bolton was unaware he had filed a police report when he sent the email. While he gives brief mention to the pain his action caused Benz and his wife, Bolton goes on to lament how his actions affected himself.

“On Friday, I was heated. Again self-absorbed, ready to fight a legal battle and be tough, alluded (sic) myself to think that I was right,” Bolton wrote.

Bolton continued, “This morning I got up and realized I was wrong. I know it’s a day late and a dollar short, and the damage has been done, but I believe that all is not lost. For this time, I thought of the many peopele (sic) before I think about myself.”

“It is funny how I made myself believe that I was doing myself justice, stamping my feet like a little child to get what I wanted, but nothing has happened but a child whom has run out of his father’s luck,” Bolton wrote. “I am not asking you to continue to invest, but asking for your forgiveness, I am asking for sometime to proove (sic) that I can actually bill (sic) and change the models lifes (sic), I am asking you for the time to use my knowledge of booking to generate income to pay you back.”

Then Bolton scolds Benz with, “Being heated and upset flashing your majic wand and changing telephone numbers to teach me a lesson will only further break me down devastate my life, but in the end you would still be out of money….”

“I am humbly asking that you and I be humble and come to some mutual understanding to make this work,” Bolton wrote. “I do not have the lump sum you asked for, but I am confident that we can come to some understanding where it is repaid over time. I am willing to try again.”

Three months later, Bolton was charged with felony grand theft and booked into a Miami-Dade jail on May 4, 2010.

On May 5, 2010 Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle’s office sent a form letter to the victim. The letter asked Benz to contact her office to provide information on the case.

Benz told REDBROWARD he was unhappy with the way the Miami Beach Police Department handled the investigation. He felt the investigation was not a priority for them. Benz said he made repeated phone calls to detectives about securing the bank surveillance tapes.

Weeks later, the Miami-Dade State Attorney informed Benz the case would be dropped because the bank surveillance tapes were not secured in time. The bank’s security system recorded over the Bolton incident.

The Bolton case files are not found on the Miami-Dade Clerk of Courts website. It is likely Bolton had records sealed and/or expunged.

Marlon Bolton did not respond to requests for comment.

But the Miami Beach PD and Miami-Dade State Attorney were not the only ones to drop the ball.

Both Benz and others told REDBROWARD the media, including the Sun-Sentinel, had this information in January 2020. Bolton faced re-election in November 2020 and the Sun-Sentinel never said a word?

Guess Tamarac voters did not deserve the truth, right.?

Campaign records show the company owned by Hallandale Beach Mayor Keith London received thousands of dollars in consulting fees from political action committees funded by Miami-Dade “mega developers.” In 2015, developer Sandor Sher spent $70 million buying a large parcel of land in North Miami Beach. The Miami New Times reported Sher planned “to build high-end retail shops, to renovate and expand an art deco hotel, and to demolish several oceanfront properties…all to make way for a 70-unit luxury condo tower, where properties will go for millions each.”

Sher’s plan to demolish historic buildings lead one preservationist to call the plan destruction of North Beach. “This is almost annihilation and total replacement,” Daniel Ciraldo, a preservationist with the Miami Design Preservation League, told The Miami Herald. “It’s like, ‘Bam, it’s done.’ It’s symptomatic of what’s going on in our city right now.”

But Sher had an even bigger problem. Laws called for Miami Beach voters to approve his massive project. His solution? Spend more money.

According to the Miami New Times, Sher “sunk $300,000 into the campaign, hiring one ex-mayor and [Mayor Phillip Levine’s] powerful campaign manager, blanketing doors and storefronts with slick ads and handbills, and wrangling the backing of the Beach’s top elected officials.”

The Miami Herald reported that Sher created the “A Better North Beach” political committee to push his massive development project.

In October 2015, campaign records show A Better North Beach paid Keith London, Inc. $10,000 for consulting services. State corporation records show Keith S. London is the president of Keith London Inc. According to State and local property records, this business is located at the home owned by Mayor Keith London.

Two years later, another political committee pushing development in Miami-Dade hired Keith London, Inc.

Campaign records for the “Building A Stronger Beach” paid Keith London, Inc twice in November 2017.

On November 3, 2017, Keith London, Inc. received a $456 payment for “parking, supplies and shipping.” One the same date, Keith London, Inc. received a $7,500 payment for “campaign consulting.”

The “Vote North Beach” Facebook page is filled with pictures of Hallandale Beach Mayor Keith London. While wearing a “Vote Yes On #82” shirt and hat, Hallandale Beach Mayor Keith London posed with voters and politicians.

The page even features well wishes from Mayor London’s wife as well as Vice Mayor Michele Lazarow wearing campaign shirts.

HALLANDALE BEACH: HAVEN FOR DEVELOPERS?

Keith London became mayor after the January 2018 arrest of then-Mayor Joy Cooper. An FBI sting caught Cooper “to have solicited and accepted $5,000 in political campaign contributions from them that were funneled to her” by a lawyer representing an alleged developer. Cooper was removed from office by Governor Rick Scott. Last week, Cooper pleaded not guilty to the corruption charges.

In 2016, REDBROWARD revealed Hallandale Beach candidates received contributions from shadowy political committees funding by gaming and casino interests.

According to April 2016 campaign treasurer reports, Vice Mayor Michele Lazarow received $3,000 from the Village At Gulfstream Park, Gulfstream Park and Orchid Concessions. In October 2016 , Michele Lazarow recorded large contributions from out of state gaming interests such as Xpress Bet, Oregon Racing, Amtote of Maryland, and Monarch Content Management.

Just days before the November election, Michele Lazarow received maximum contributions of $1,000 from political committees created by lobbyist Evan Ross.

On October 31, Lazarow received a $1,000 contribution from each of the following committees: Good Government, Public Service, and Progressive Principles.

Lazarow also received $1,000 each from the Ethics Matter political committee. This committee was funded by gambling interests.

Last week, REDBROWARD exposed one of Evan Ross’ political committees received money from a Hallandale Beach developer earmarked for Mayor Keith London’s re-election campaign.

In a telephone interview with REDBROWARD, Claudia Penas of CBV LLC said her company gave $5,000 to the “Good Government” Committee to help London.

When asked why they gave to Good Government, Penas said, “For Keith London’s campaign.” Penas became apprehensive when asked who requested the contribution. REDBROWARD asked if Keith London made the request.

“My attorney told us to make the contribution,” Penas said.

When asked for the name of her attorney, Penas said she did not feel comfortable discussing on the phone. She requested REDBROWARD come to her office before hanging up the phone.

Records show Evan Ross’ committee paid disgraced former Broward County Commissioner Scott Cowan $3,000 for consulting. Hallandale Beach records indicate Cowan is the registered lobbyist for Gold Coast Companies. One Hallandale Beach insider tells REDBROWARD that Cowan is a regular fixture at City Hall.

In November 2000, Scott Cowan plead guilty to misuse of campaign funds. The plea came just before Cowan’s trial was set to begin. According to the Sun-Sentinel, Cowan admitted to making phony campaign expenditures.

“[Cowan] pleaded guilty to three counts that he wrote $5,000 in campaign checks to Seymour Tobin, Bertram Nesky, John Hendrikson and Martin Harvatt — nonexistent campaign workers.”

For years, Keith London told supporters he wanted to clean up the corruption at Hallandale Beach City Hall. He criticized Mayor Joy Cooper for her cozy relationship with developers and their lobbyists like Judy Stern.

Now, even some longtime supporters of London have begun to question his behavior and motives.

Last week, David Smith of the Hallandale Beach Blog wrote, “[M]any longtime Hallandale Beach civic activists, friends of mine and past supporters of new Hallandale Beach Mayor Keith London and Comm. Michele Lazarow are DISMAYED and EMBARRASSED about what has been taking place at HB City Hall these days with them in the majority, where personal and political expediency seem to keep trumping common sense and rational public idiscourse regarding many different issues, large and small, including eliminating one of the city’s few common sense procedures.”

Why did Miami-Dade developers hire Keith London to push a pro-developer ballot measure? Does Keith London work for any other Miami-Dade developers? Was Vice Mayor Michele Lazarow compensated for her support of the North Beach ballot measure? Do these same developers have projects in Hallandale Beach?

Hallandale Beach voters deserve answers.