Governor Suspends North Miami Beach Mayor in Wake of Voting Misconduct Arrest UPDATED

Update published 6/5/2023 7:30 p.m.: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has suspended North Miami Beach Mayor Anthony DeFillipo via an executive order five days after the city leader was arrested for voting in the wrong precinct three times last year.

"It is in the best interests of the residents of the City of North Miami Beach, and the citizens of the State of Florida, that Anthony F. DeFillipo II be immediately suspended from the public office," the June 5 order states.

The order prohibits DeFillipo from performing any duties as mayor and bars him from receiving "any pay or allowance" from the City of North Miami Beach.

The city released a statement to its residents, saying "the circumstances surrounding the former mayor" are "not a reflection of the city staff or the rest of the city commission, who work tirelessly day in and day out to make [North Miami Beach] a wonderful place to live, work, and play."

The original story follows below.

North Miami Beach Mayor Anthony DeFillipo has been charged with three counts of voting misconduct after months of scrutiny over his residency changes and whether he used a false address to vote in elections in North Miami Beach.

Prosecutors say DeFillipo violated Florida election law by failing to update his address in county records before submitting ballots in 2022. He sold his family's longtime homestead residence near Greynolds Park Elementary in 2021, yet he proceeded to vote in three elections under that address – the primary, general, and North Miami Beach runoff elections in 2022.

DeFillipo did not provide an updated address to the county until nearly a year after he sold the family home, prosecutors say.

County records indicate DeFillipo was booked into Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on the morning of May 31. He posted bond and by early afternoon, was no longer listed as an inmate at the jail.

The charges he faces are third-degree felonies under Florida statute 104.15, which carry a maximum five-year prison term.

The City of North Miami Beach issued a statement saying it will "watch closely as the legal process runs its course."

"To rebuild trust in this community is no small feat, however, we are focused on earning your confidence back. [North Miami Beach] is a resilient community, and together we will emerge stronger from this. We thank you for your continued support as we work towards a more transparent and accountable city government," the statement reads.

The mayor has been under close scrutiny since late 2022 when an ethics complaint was filed against him alleging he did not live in North Miami Beach, but rather in a new $1.2 million house in Davie, in violation of the city charter requiring the mayor to reside within the city limits. New Times was the first to report on the controversy on December 21, 2022.

DeFillipo sold the family homestead residence in December 2021, then bought the sprawling house in the Sierra Ranches neighborhood of Davie seven months later. In a recent deposition, he maintained that he was living in a small Bayview Point South apartment in North Miami Beach and that he had been dealing with marital problems that led his wife to move into the Davie house without him.

A January 2023 legal opinion requested by city officials suggested that DeFillipo was ineligible to retain his position as mayor in light of evidence he no longer lived in North Miami Beach.

DeFillipo's attorney, Michael Pizzi, called the allegations "politically contrived nonsense."

The legal opinion also raised the separate matter of DeFillipo's use of that outdated address on his voter registration — the issue at the heart of the criminal charges. At the time, the January opinion said that it would be "wholly premature" to conclude that the mayor willfully declined to change his address in violation of election law.

"If sufficient evidence existed that DeFillipo willfully committed a violation of the election laws — such that it led to a charge or a conviction — the consequences of that violation could ultimately lead to his removal by the governor," the January document stated.

According to the arrest warrant affidavit, DeFillipo's purported residences in 2022 at the Bayview Point South apartment complex and at his mother's home are in precinct 124 in North Miami Beach, but he voted in precinct 115 under his old address. The two precincts' ballots had key differences. For instance, because DeFillipo used the wrong address, his ballot included a state senate race that he was ineligible to vote on, the affidavit alleges.

The affidavit states that DeFillipo's cellphone "made routine and consistent cell site connections" in Davie in the overnight hours in 2022, at a townhouse he bought and flipped, and later in the year, at the Sierra Ranches property. The findings may have implications for the inquiry into whether DeFillipo was living outside North Miami Beach while serving as its mayor.

DeFillipo has claimed he's in the business of reselling investment properties, and that the work calls for him to spend time at homes across South Florida.

"This is my livelihood. It’s what I live from... I buy, sell, and invest," the mayor said at a December 2022 commission meeting, during which the issue of his residency came up.

The debate over DeFillipo's residency has spawned disarray on the North Miami Beach commission, as some commissioners refused to acknowledge DeFillipo as mayor and declined to participate in meetings beginning in December 2022. The resulting stalemate in city business sparked a legal battle when DeFillipo filed a lawsuit over the conflict in Miami-Dade County court, which culminated in a judge ordering commissioners to attend municipal proceedings.

DeFillipo, who leads the roughly 5.3-square mile, 44,000-resident city in northeast Miami-Dade, is a former local business owner and a property management director at a local realty group, according to his professional profile. He was elected mayor in 2018 after his predecessor, George Vallejo, resigned while facing charges of violating state campaign-finance laws. DeFillipo was re-elected in 2020.