Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis suspended North Miami Beach Democrat Mayor Anthony DeFillipo from office on Monday after he was arrested and charged with multiple felonies for allegedly voting illegally in an election multiple times.
DeFillipo was charged last week with three counts of Election-Unqualified Voter, each a third-degree felony. Each count carries up to 5 years in prison, if convicted.
“Anthony F. DeFillipo II is suspended from the public office, which he now holds, to wit: Mayor of the City of North Miami Beach,” DeSantis said in an executive order.
The executive order also prohibits him from “performing any official act, duty, or function of public office; from receiving any pay or allowance; and from being entitled to any of the emoluments or privileges of public office during the period of this suspension, which period shall be from today until a further Executive Order is issued or as otherwise provided by law.”
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, a Democrat, said during a press conference last week that “we believe the evidence shows [DeFillipo] voted illegally three times.”
Fernandez Rundle said that DeFillipo had moved out of North Miami Beach to Davie yet he allegedly returned and voted three times in the district that he no longer lived in. She said that cellphone data was used to track where he was on the days that the votes were cast.
CBS News reported that he says that he owns two homes in Davie but that none of those homes are his permanent residence.
“I totally forgot, it was an oversight and I had it fixed immediately when I noticed,” DeFillipo told NBC6. “We’re human, we make mistakes.”
A resident and a commissioner’s former campaign worker filed a complaint against DeFillipo late last year alleging that he lived in Davie with his wife and not in North Miami Beach, the report said.
At the heart of the issue is how he voted three times in 2022 from an address that he sold in 2021, according to Florida Politics.
This report has been updated to include additional information.