Latest news with #LeonCounty
Fox News
13 hours ago
- Fox News
Florida A&M athletic director turns herself in to police over $24K theft allegations from previous job
Florida A&M's athletic director has been arrested for allegedly stealing more than $24,000 from her former employer. Angela Suggs turned herself in at the Leon County Jail on Monday and faces several charges, including felony grand theft and felony scheme to defraud. Suggs, who was later released on bond, is also facing four counts of false claims on travel vouchers, all of which are misdemeanors in Florida. Suggs is accused of using a corporate credit card for personal use, making wire transfers, cash withdrawals and making personal purchases at casinos during work trips during her time as the CEO of the Florida Sports Foundation. Last fall, an investigation was launched by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement after receiving a criminal referral from the Florida Department of Commerce's Inspector General. Suggs' business credit-card purchases were audited, and it showed that she allegedly falsified travel vouchers by filing them as meals or claimed they were done by accident. Suggs also allegedly never repaid the Florida Sports Foundation for personal expenses. Suggs, 55, was hired by Florida A&M, from which she graduated, around the same time the investigation was launched. She has been CEO of the Florida Sports Foundation for the past seven years. "Florida A&M University is aware of the allegations involving our athletics director, Angela Suggs, while she was working with a former employer," interim Florida A&M President Timothy Beard said in a statement to WTXL. "While the matter is unrelated to her duties as an employee at FAMU, we are monitoring the situation and will respond in the future as appropriate." Suggs had already made a big hire in her new role as former NBA player Charlie Ward was brought on as the school's next head basketball coach. He comes hoping to bring the Rattlers to the NCAA Tournament, a place they have not been in almost 20 years. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Reuters
15 hours ago
- Reuters
FAMU AD arrested, accused of stealing $24K from former job
June 10 - Florida A&M athletic director Angela Suggs was arrested Monday on two felony counts related to putting $24,000 in personal expenses on a corporate credit card at her previous job. Suggs, 55, is charged with grand theft and scheme to defraud, as well as four misdemeanor counts of false claims on travel vouchers. She turned herself in to authorities Monday at the Leon County (Fla.) Detention Facility. Suggs posted a $13,500 bond and was released Monday afternoon. Florida A&M hired Suggs as its new athletic director on a three-year, $750,000 contract just nine months ago. "While the matter is unrelated to her duties as an employee at FAMU, we are monitoring the situation and will respond in the future as appropriate," FAMU interim president Timothy Beard said in a statement. Prior to FAMU, Suggs worked as the president and CEO of the Florida Sports Foundation (FSF). An investigation began in November 2024 following an audit of Suggs' business credit card purchases, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. "The investigation revealed Suggs misused her FSF-issued credit card to make wire transfers and cash withdraws and personal purchases at casinos during business trips, totaling more than $24,000," the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said in a statement. "She then falsified travel vouchers, coding the unauthorized charges as meals. "When asked about the unauthorized charges, Suggs claimed some were for business meals and others were accidentally charged to the business card. She failed to fully repay (the foundation) for her personal expenditures." --Field Level Media
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
DeSantis calls state attorney's Hope Florida probe ‘political'
Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday there was 'no basis' for local prosecutors to open an investigation related to the state's Hope Florida Foundation and called the Republican lawmaker who provided documents to the state attorney's office a 'jackass.' In his most substantive remarks since the Herald/Times broke the news Tuesday that Leon County prosecutors had an open criminal investigation into the state-run charity overseen by his administration, DeSantis said he was more committed to Hope Florida than ever. He lashed out in particular at Rep. Alex Andrade, the Pensacola Republican who led a House committee probe into Hope Florida and its charity arm, the Hope Florida Foundation. The program and the charity were envisioned by first lady Casey DeSantis to move Floridians off state welfare by connecting them to churches and nonprofits that can offer them help. Last month, Andrade turned over records to the Department of Justice and the 2nd Judicial Circuit State Attorney's office, a decision DeSantis said was 'political.' 'He took documents and he dropped them in a prosecutor's office,' DeSantis said. 'That is not an organic investigation, that's a manufactured political operation.' 'There is no basis to do an investigation on these facts,' he added. 'Everybody knows it.' Andrade stood by his decision. 'Calling me names won't change the fact that his chief of staff engaged in money laundering and wire fraud,' Andrade told the Herald/Times. 'The man is spiraling and I feel bad for him.' Over the last two months, Andrade and news reporters have been digging into the DeSantis administration's decision to steer $10 million from a settlement with a Medicaid contractor to the Hope Florida Foundation. The foundation, within days, gave it away to two nonprofits, which then sent at least $8.5 million to a political committee controlled by DeSantis' then-chief of staff, James Uthmeier. The committee was created to defeat last year's ballot initiative legalizing recreational marijuana. State Attorney Jack Campbell— whose office serves six counties including Leon, where Tallahassee is — told the Herald/Times last month that lawmakers were free to give his office evidence of a crime, noting that some of them were 'great lawyers' and former prosecutors. 'I'm confident if they feel they have evidence of a crime, they know how to find me,' Campbell said at the time. 'That's kind of where I am.' When the Herald/Times requested any records that prosecutors received from Andrade, Campbell's office said Tuesday it was 'part of an open, on-going investigation.' Campbell, a Democrat, has declined to comment on the investigation, and it's not known who is leading it. Andrade has accused Uthmeier, who is now Florida's attorney general, and a lawyer working for the foundation of committing 'conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud' and misusing $10 million in Medicaid dollars by spending it on political advertising. Four former federal prosecutors interviewed by the Herald/Times said Andrade could be on strong legal ground. They identified eight potential federal crimes that could have been violated, including theft of government funds and money laundering. DeSantis has denied that the money was Medicaid-related damages and said the investigation is a political operation intended to damage the first lady, who is rumored to be considering running to replace her term-limited husband. 'You have one jackass in the Legislature — I'm sorry, it's true — who's trying to smear her,' DeSantis said. 'I'm more committed to Hope Florida than I've ever been,' he added. Herald/Times Tallahassee bureau reporter Alexandra Glorioso contributed to this report.
Washington Post
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Nonprofit linked to Casey DeSantis's Hope Florida under investigation
Florida prosecutors have opened an investigation into a nonprofit supporting an initiative led by Casey DeSantis — and championed by her husband, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) — following questions over a $10 million payment it received as part of a state Medicaid settlement. The Hope Florida Foundation is facing 'an open, on-going investigation,' the office of Leon County State Attorney Jack Campbell confirmed on Tuesday. Lori Abbey, a public records custodian in Campbell's office, declined to comment on the nature of the investigation, which was first reported by the Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times.
Fox News
13-05-2025
- Fox News
FSU mass shooting suspect Phoenix Ikner denied bond day after hospital release
The man suspected of killing two and injuring six others after opening fire on the Florida State University campus April 17 was denied bond during a court appearance Tuesday. Phoenix Ikner, 20, appeared in a Leon County, Florida, court, where he was found to be indigent by Circuit Court Judge Monique Richardson. He was appointed a public defender, Randall Harper. Fox News Digital reached out to Harper. Ikner has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and seven counts of attempted first-degree murder with a gun. Along with requesting Ikner be held without bond, the state also asked the court to order him not to have contact with the victims' families or any potential witnesses to the alleged crime. Richardson granted both of the state's requests after Harper waived an argument against those requests for the time being. On Monday, Ikner's mugshot was released for the first time since the shooting. He spent several weeks in the hospital recovering from multiple surgeries to treat a jaw injury after being shot in the face by responding officers the day of the mass shooting. After he was booked, Ikner was transferred to the Wakulla County Detention Facility, which Tallahassee Chief of Police Lawrence Revell said was standard policy, given that Ikner's stepmother is a sheriff's deputy with the Leon County Sheriff's Department. "In any case, especially one of this magnitude, the Tallahassee Police Department has the highest commitment to justice, transparency and the safety of our community," Revell said in a news release. "We are grateful for the work of our detectives, officers, medical personnel and partner agencies who helped bring us to this point." Ikner's checkered past has been a subject of interest since the shooting. He was allegedly kidnapped by his biological mother in violation of a custody agreement in 2015, when he was 11, and taken to Norway, according to court records.
