Hassett Criminal Defense has sent you the following story:
Posted on Wednesday, Dec. 09, 2009
Trial begins for Miami pastor accused of stealing county funds
By DAVID OVALLE
The case, prosecutors say, involves outright theft: The Rev. Gaston Smith — tasked with helping the poor of Liberty City — misused $10,000 in county grant money on himself, including $500 at a Las Vegas martini bar.
“This was supposed to be seed money to an organization; it was never meant to be seed money for Pastor Smith himself,” Miami-Dade prosecutor Richard Scruggs told jurors at the start of Smith’s trial Tuesday. He added: “Follow the money, follow the money, follow the money.”
Nonsense, Smith’s defense attorneys responded. The investigation was a vindictive campaign really aimed at bringing down Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones, but which ensnared a “decent man” and community “visionary.”
