There's a reason we picked Daphne Campbell as the worst candidate on the August 14 Primary ballot. Even though she got reelected, Campbell can't escape scandals. The latest involves one of her former employees swindling Haitian American constituents who went to Campbell's Miami Shores district office seeking assistance. Today, Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents arrested 49-year-old Janice Shackelford for one count of organized fraud, five counts of unlawful compensation and three counts of official misconduct.
Shackelford worked as a secretary in the Miami Shores office since June of last year.
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The probe began in 2012 after FDLE investigators received complaints from several victims that Shackelford pretended to assist them with mortgage issues, immigration concerns, and traffic violation summonses. Shackelford charged the victims a fee, sometimes as much as $1,110 per person.
She provided them with paperwork with fictitious court dates. When they subsequently showed up at the court house, they would find out that no hearing was scheduled on their matters. The investigators identified 10 victims whom Shackelford stole approximately $5,400 from.
Campbell told the FDLE investigators that she had no knowledge of Shackelford's scam until she got complaints from some of her victims. The representative insisted that no one in her office has permission to accept money from constituents.
Her husband Hubert Campbell has a felony conviction for mortgage fraud and two former business partners allege the couple used their identities to defraud the department of elderly affairs of hundreds of thousands of dollars in Medicare payments, which is the subject of a separate FDLE probe into Campbell's business affairs.&
In May of last year, her 28-year-old son Gregory was charged with Medicare fraud for allegedly billing the government for $299,000 worth of services he did not provide through separate adult group homes.
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