MIAMI.- Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, suspended Hialeah councilwoman Angélica Pacheco, accused of fraud against the Health System. Last week, Pacheco turned himself in to the FBI and is currently at her home, awaiting trial.
“This afternoon, our City Attorney’s Office was notified by the Governor’s Executive Office that Ron DeSantis has suspended Angelica Pacheco from the Hialeah City Council,” Mayor Esteban Bovo said in a press release on Tuesday, June 25.
“This decision comes after Ms. Pacheco was indicted and arrested on federal charges alleging that she fraudulently billed private insurance companies for millions of dollars for medical services not performed through an addiction treatment center,” the document details.
“I reiterate my disappointment in Ms. Pacheco’s actions and look forward to putting this dark chapter behind us for the city.”
The suspended councilwoman is a certified nurse and owns two clinics.
On June 20, the former Hialeah councilwoman turned herself in to the FBI to face fraud charges and, after being charged, returned home to await trial.
Last September, DeSantis suspended Miami Commissioner Alejandro Alex Diaz de la Portilla from office following his arrest on charges of money laundering, bribery and criminal conspiracy.
Similarly, the agency took a similar action last April against an Orlando city commissioner arrested for alleged exploitation of the elderly.
Former councilor Pacheco’s entourage assures that she is innocent and that everything is based on a settling of accounts by Esteban Bovo, something that she will have the opportunity to demonstrate at her trial.
Now the city’s legislative body must elect a person to fill Pacheco’s vacant seat.
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