Former Ft. Lauderdale Vice Mayor Under Arrest
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) – Former Fort Lauderdale Vice Mayor Cindi Hutchinson has been arrested after turning herself in to police Friday.
Hutchinson, 53, faces 11 public-corruption charges stemming from alleged gifts that total $14,000 in value, according to the State Attorney's office.
Hutchinson, who lives with her mother, allegedly renovated the home built by her father built in the 1950s using developers who received zoning changes from the city while she was a commissioner.
Charges filed against Hutchinson include three counts of Unlawful Compensation, four counts of Official Misconduct, one count of Grand Theft, one count of Petit Theft, one count of Conspiracy to Commit Unlawful Compensation, as well as one count of Perjury following false statements she allegedly gave to BSO detectives.
According to the arrest warrant signed on January 25, 2011 by Broward Circuit Judge Jeffrey Levenson, Commissioner Hutchinson accepted fences, pavers, fence repair, air conditioning repairs and other work from subcontractors from the La Preserve and Georgian Oaks development projects at the direction of Steven Goldstrom.
This allegedly happened after Hutchinson voted on rezoning approval for the Georgian Oaks and La Preserve development projects, which were located in her district. She then failed to list the gifts and services totaling more than $14,000 on state-required gift-disclosure forms.
Goldstrom also is wanted in his connection to these charges.
Judge Levenson set Hutchinson's bond at $10,500. Goldstrom, 54, was scheduled to surrender at the jail Friday. His bond was set at $5,000.
