On Tuesday, Local 10 News reported that Joe Martinez, a Republican commissioner of Miami-Dade County in Florida, turned himself into authorities and was arrested on bribery charges.
"The longtime elected official faces two felony counts: unlawful compensation and conspiracy to commit unlawful compensation. Investigators say Martinez received money from a Miami-Dade business owner in exchange for crafting legislation that would have helped that business avoid several code violations," said the report. "According to an arrest affidavit, the allegations date back to when Martinez was re-elected to the county commission back in 2016, following a four-year hiatus."
"Martinez 'knowingly and intentionally accepted money from Jorge Negrin, the owner and operator of Extra Supermarket… in consideration for Martinez using his official position and office to assist with code enforcement fines and fees,' investigators wrote," the report continued. "Those fees related to several storage containers that were illegally being kept on the supermarket’s property, according to investigators. Martinez later proposed legislation that would have allowed those containers to remain there, but ultimately it never passed."
According to The Daily Beast, Martinez is accused of accepting $15,000 as part of this illegal deal — but per the Local 10 report, he is denying all wrongdoing.
"Through his attorney, Martinez, a former county police officer, has dismissed the charges as politically-motivated, claiming that Democratic State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle is targeting him because he is seen as a Republican frontrunner for the newly-created position of Miami-Dade sheriff in 2024," said the report. "'For now, Commissioner Martinez makes clear that he is innocent of any wrongdoing and intends to aggressively work to clear his name,' Attorney Ben Kuehne said."
“The prospect of a public official soliciting funds to benefit himself or his business associates is both illegal and offensive,” said Rundle in a press conference. “There are a lot of good hardworking people in government who respect and honor the public’s trust.”
