Florida ex-mayor gets 4+ years in prison for charity fraud

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The former mayor of Milton, whose legacy includes a community center named after him, pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to 20 counts of wire fraud and three counts of tax evasion.

"Yes, I did do it," former Mayor Guyland W. Thompson, 65, told the judge at the federal courthouse in Pensacola.

The charges were in connection to Thompson's role as the executive director of the former United Way of Santa Rosa County. In the wake of the scandal, that branch lost its right to operate under the United Way brand. Its assets are in the process of being sold.

Between at least 2011 and 2018, Thompson embezzled money belonging to the branch while he served as director, according to information from Lawrence Keefe, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.

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"Thompson devised a complex scheme where he kept a portion of money intended for use to pay (the branch's) regular bills and expenses by replacing it with other donation checks no one at (the branch) knew about," officials said in a news release. "By conducting a series of complicated financial transactions to cover his tracks, Thompson embezzled over $650,000 from (the branch)."

Officials said Thompson maintained his scheme by making fraudulent misrepresentations to United Way of Santa Rosa County's board members and employees, its parent nonprofit United Way Worldwide, and bank personnel. He also took steps to prevent internal or external audits of the local branch from occurring that would have uncovered his fraud, officials said.

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