The media has tried to destroy a good mans reputation, he said of Mr. Trump, and in destroying that, they would destroy that which he represents: the ideas that you and I hold dear in our hearts, that we know is right and true., By June 2017, Mr. Gaetz floated the idea to a Tampa radio station that Mr. Greenberg could run for Congress. The world he built quickly fell apart when he was first indicted in June. Image by Alex Wong/Getty Images. So Greenberg has made plenty of headlines considering his sole public role has been tax collector for Seminole County from 2017 until last year, when he resigned because of the indictments. Burning down the house in order to save it is not working and total bullshit. (Sample: Editorial: Good riddance to Joel Greenberg, Central Floridas worst politician.). ORLANDO, Fla. Joel Greenberg and his estranged wife, Abby Greenberg, are now officially divorced after a circuit judge on Monday finalized the couple's break up, according to court documents . At his sentencing on Thursday before U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell, Greenberg apologized to Seminole County taxpayers and his ex-wife, Spectrum News in Central Florida reported. His wife left the house for at least some time after the arrest. Joel Greenberg pleaded guilty to multiple crimes in a case that led to a sex trafficking investigation of Trump ally Rep. Matt Gaetz. In the end, Mr. Greenberg went from being an outsider elected on an anticorruption platform to, prosecutors say, becoming corrupted himself. Among an array of charges, Greenberg has been indicted for. Gaetz represents the Panhandle in northwest Florida, while Greenbergs Seminole County is in the states center. The same day, Greenberg posted a photo of Gaetz, Trump and first lady Melania Trump with Gaetz holding Greenbergs daughter. Greenbergs mother-in-law. Greenberg broke parole this month when he figured out his wife had decamped from their home to her mothers house 2 1/2 hours away. Records and interviews detailed a litany of accusations: Mr. Greenberg strutted into work with a pistol on his hip in a state that does not allow guns to be openly carried. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Gaetz gave $1,000 to Greenbergs reelection campaign last year. He was also photographed with Roger Stone, a former Trump adviser accused of crimes but later pardoned by the president. Scott Maxwell, a columnist for the Orlando Sentinel, said on Twitter after The Times story broke that Greenberg has kept the paper busy, posting a long list of headlines related to his escapades alleged and otherwise. Rachel Maddow revisits local reporting, including by the Orlando Sentinel, of the peculiar reign of Joel Greenberg as Seminole County, Florida tax collector, and the federal investigation into . Greenberg's father is Jewish. The same day, Greenberg posted a photo of Gaetz, Trump and first lady Melania Trump with Gaetz holding Greenbergs daughter. The second indictment against Greenberg alleges that he trafficked a minor female aged between 14 and 18, and used state databases to illegally obtain information about her and others. I dont go out there to be a demagogue against anyone else. The other, from 2019, is at the White House with Chris Dorworth, a former Florida state representative. In 2020, Greenberg was arrested and charged with multiple federal offenses. [3][8], Greenberg resigned from his office on June 24, 2020. Greenberg attended Rollins College, a liberal arts college in Florida, but did not graduate. Former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg talks to the Orlando Sentinel in September 2019, . In August of 2018, Greenberg posted a gratuitous anti-Muslim remark on his Facebook page: Name just ONE society in the developed world that has benefited in ANY WAY from the introduction of more Muslims. He spent $90,000 of agency money to set up cryptocurrency mining devices, and $15,000 on a sprinkler system that was calibrated to drive away petitioners. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Gaetz. Another selfie he, is with Milo Yiannopoulos, the far-right activist. No valid reason was given to Plaintiff regarding her termination.. The special counsel is also investigating Mr. Trumps handling of sensitive government documentsafter he left office. Mr. Greenberg attended Rollins College right before making the move to try out a lifelong dream of broadcasting. Enough already. She said he had yelled at her for supposedly cutting him off and driving like a bat out of hell, according to a complaint she filed to the sheriffs office. The page has promoted among others the Proud Boys, a far-right group also associated with Stone. Just one. Audits show that Greenberg used public funds to pay for $384,000 in body armor, unspecified weapons, ammunition, as well as a drone with thermal imaging capabilities, News13, a local broadcaster, reported. The investigation, anonymous officials told The New York Times, stemmed from a federal probe of Greenberg, a friend and political ally of Gaetz. Why didnt his obituaries say so? Joel Greenberg in jail photo Courtesy of wftv.com, By Mark I. Pinsky Among an array of charges, Greenberg has been indicted for stalking a political rival, sex trafficking of a child, illegally obtaining information from Florida state databases and identity theft. [8], Over the course of Greenberg's employment as a tax collector, he was reported to have spent over $1 million on contracts and other purchases. Greenbergs actions are an embarrassment to the office he holds, and his attitude reflects poorly on the people who elected him and pay his $150,000 per year salary, the Jewish leader said. Mr. Greenberg attended evening classes at Rollins College between 2005 and 2012 but never graduated, according to the school. He solicited help to hack critics on the county commission. Joel Greenberg, who is facing child sex trafficking charges, unsurprisingly, also has ties to Roger Stone. According to the television station, he was also accused of creating fake drivers licenses to to produce a false identification document to facilitate his efforts to engage in commercial sex acts. He was accused of soliciting a minor between the ages of 14 and 17 in 2017. Later, there was a monarch caterpillar that I foolishly . Mr. Greenbergs parents sent him to the Florida Air Academy in Melbourne for military-style discipline, but I guess it just didnt sink in, young Joel told The Sentinel. It also alleges that he produced a fake drivers license. Far-right Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich to speak to US-based Israel Bonds group on his first US trip as minister, David Friedman, Trumps ambassador to Israel, criticizes Netanyahus plans for judicial reform. [20][21] As part of the plea agreement, Greenberg must register as a sex offender. : In 2016 he filed a report accusing Valdes of assault, but the prosecutor said Engels was only seeking a confrontation. . By Patricia Mazzei,Michael S. Schmidt and Katie Benner. A few months into office, Mr. Greenberg was, according to an employee and others in his orbit, already bored. Joel Greenberg is a millionaire, mostly because of his stake in the dental practice. His wife Lauren Greenberg is a realtor, according to her Facebook page. Greenberg got support in both his campaigns from a Facebook page, Central Florida Post, founded by Jacob Engels, who has been named as an associate of Roger Stone. [25] On February 14, 2022, Presnell granted a third delay, this time to May 2022, saying it appeared to be "in the interest of justice". And indications in court last week that he plans to plead guilty, suggesting he will cooperate with prosecutors, further prompted former friends to abandon him. Heres what that means. Another selfie he posted in 2017 is with Milo Yiannopoulos, the far-right activist infamous for a long article in Breitbart whitewashing white supremacists. The Gaetz investigation apparently grew out of an earlier investigation of Greenberg, according to the New York Times. [13], During the reelection campaign in 2019, he is also alleged to have created fake Facebook accounts and sent falsified letters making claims of sexual misconduct against an opponent,[8] and impersonated a law enforcement officer on two separate occasions, to stop a woman while driving, and to try to evade a speeding ticket himself. [17], Greenberg was formerly a friend, associate, and ally of Gaetz; after being arrested in 2020, Greenberg began to cooperate with federal investigators probing Gaetz,[5] who was also implicated in the sex trafficking scandal, although he has not been charged with a crime. He spent at least $2.65 million on a security force and for consultants; staffers could not say what the consultants did. She reviewed surveillance video and saw Mr. Greenberg with another man by that desk. My understanding is that he had one Jewish parent, but that he grew up Christian. [11], Federal agents arrested Greenberg at his home on June 23, 2020; he resigned the following day after being released on bail. Mr. Gaetz has broadly denied allegations against him, including paying for sex or having sex with a minor. That same year, the Republican Jewish Coalition called on Gaetz to acknowledge his gaffe in inviting a Holocaust denier to attend Trumps State of the Union address. Here is a look at the criminal cases confronting Mr. Trump: Georgia election interference. Days after Mr. Greenberg was first indicted last year, a woman crashed her car into a tree a few hundred yards from his home early one morning, according to a crash report. Emmy Award-winning investigative reporter Mike DeForest has been covering Central Florida news for more than two decades. One of my best friends is Muslim, and I have a Black brother, Greenberg told the Orlando Weekly. Hes not ours.. The government has had a lot of time to conclude those investigations, Presnell said, according to CNN. In 2016, then 31, Greenberg used his own money to, run a successful Republican primary challenge. Time to disobey the orders and stand up for our civil liberties being shit on, the site quoted him as saying on social media of COVID-19 lockdowns. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Gaetz gave $1,000 to Greenbergs reelection campaign last year. @mattgaetz and @ChrisDorworth duckface and all. He was accused of discrimination in a 2018 lawsuit by a Muslim woman he fired, and another employee accused Greenberg of firing him for supporting another Republican in a primary. His name appeared on a burglary incident report when he was 18 and on an involuntary psychiatric commitment report when he was 21, but both reports were sealed, according to records unearthed in 2016 by WFTV, a local news station. Abby Greenberg, who is a real estate agent, would receive a commission from the sale from the home that is necessary to support the couples two children since Joel Greenberg is not paying any child support or alimony, according to the court filing. Last year, the page posted an attack on Greenbergs primary opponent itled Creepy Brian Beute. (Facebook has taken down the page.). Everyone thinks that with a name like Joel Micah Greenberg that hes a member of the Tribe, but hes not, said Dictor, a liberal Democrat who launched her challenge to Greenberg before his arrest forced him out of the race. [18] In April 2021, Greenberg's attorney announced that his client planned to plead guilty as part of a plea agreement with the government to avoid a possible life sentence. Joel Greenberg pleads guilty to sex trafficking, will cooperate in other investigations. His Twitter page reads, Daddy to Madison and Micah. Greenberg drew fire in 2018 when he peddled Islamophobia on Facebook. Mr. Greenberg had little record to run on. Sheriffs deputies were called to the house in November after a verbal dispute between the couple, records show. To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. We need to open the damn economy. As an adult, Greenberg has identified himself as being Jewish. In the last few days, Greenberg has entered the national spotlight in connection with an investigation of sex trafficking of a 17-year-old girl reported against U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), a prominent backer of President Donald Trump. What could go wrong?. But then, Greenberg knows the risks of keeping controversial company. Joel Greenberg's family owns a successful dental practice, , with over 75+ locations placed across Florida. As part of a plea deal, he agreed to cooperate with the U.S. Department of Justice in an ongoing investigation, and will serve a 12-year sentence, the minimum sentence allowed by law. I am frequently called on to speak on behalf of the Jewish community, Friedman wrote in a Sentinel op-ed. Their inquiry culminated in 33 federal charges against Mr. Greenberg, 36, including sex trafficking of a minor, bribery, fraud and stalking and led to a mushrooming political scandal that burst into national news in recent days and ensnared Mr. Gaetz, who is a close ally of President Donald J. Trump, and other influential Florida Republicans, with the investigation continuing. An illustrated edition of an anonymous Yiddish poem about the Purim story. In 2018, he posed with Gaetz and a Florida GOP political operative at the annual AIPAC conference. [22][23] By early October, a lawyer for Greenberg had asked for another delay, this time to March 2022. Justice Department examination into Mr. Gaetz, handling of sensitive government documents. Greenberg got support in both his campaigns from a Facebook page, Central Florida Post, founded by Jacob Engels, who has been named as an associate of Roger Stone. Greenbergs crimes carried a sentence of up to 27 years, but prosecutors agreed in a pre-sentencing hearing on Wednesday to a reduced sentence since he aided them in other sex-trafficking investigations. ORLANDO, Fla. - Wearing a black corrections shirt and a mask, disgraced former Seminole County Tax . [7] He also participated in a mentorship program run by then-Orlando Magic basketball player John Amaechi. The investigation into Gaetz became public knowledge last year, and reports emerged that Greenberg was cooperating, but the probe has stalled and charges are unlikely, multiple outlets have reported (Gaetz has denied the allegations). GOP Rep. Gaetz Investigated Over Sexual Relationship With 17-year-old, GOP Split? According to the Times, Greenberg was a political ally of Gaetz. Greenberg was raised in a Christian family and attended a Christian church. Greenberg has posted at least three selfies on Twitter with Gaetz. The parties have no joint debts.. Joel Greenbergs divorce attorney, Kenneth J. Cotter, filed a brief answer to the divorce petition Monday that denies Abby Greenbergs allegations about the couples joint assets and debts. The Greenberg affair, outlandish as it was, might have never made waves outside of Central Florida if not for the ties investigators found to other Republicans the Seminole County Republican mafia, Mr. Bear called it and Mr. Gaetz. The first indictment was handed down in June 2020. A former Florida tax collector and close associate of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) is facing a 45-page federal indictment alleging wire fraud, sex trafficking, and a litany of other offenses connected to the alleged abuse of his office and other crimes. [26] A fourth delay was granted in May, with sentencing likely in August. His bond was revoked on March 3, 2021, and a federal judge denied Greenberg a new bail, ordering him into custody for the remainder of the case. April 15, 2021. Classified documents. 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