Former state Rep. Carolina Amesty is accused of stealing from the federal government’s COVID-19 pandemic relief efforts, U.S. Department of Justice officials said Friday.
The 30-year-old Windermere Republican is accused of stealing $122,000 by fraudulently applying for pandemic relief funds in the name of two businesses, according to a criminal complaint.
She faces two counts of theft of government property, each of which carries a maximum of 10 years in federal prison, officials said.
Last month, outgoing Orange-Osceola State Attorney Andrew Bain dropped four forgery-related state charges filed against Amesty upon her completion of community service and a financial crimes course.
Amesty was indicted by a state grand jury in August following an investigation by Florida Department of Law Enforcement that concluded she had improperly notarized — and likely had forged — a man’s signature on a licensing form for a small Orlando-area private college run by her family. The investigation came in the wake of investigative reporting by the Orlando Sentinel into Amesty’s conduct.
Amesty, elected to the Florida House in 2022, narrowly lost her reelection bid in November to Democrat Leonard Spencer, a former Disney executive. She was the only sitting GOP legislator to lose their race.
She did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Friday.
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