HIALEAH, Fla. – The Hialeah mayor's standoff with the Miami-Dade County Commission on Ethics and Public Trust took another turn Friday over thousands of dollars in now-delinquent fines.
Local10 News has learned the Commission is considering legal action against Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernandez, who failed to pay a fine for lying to the public about his high-interest loans to a convicted Ponzi schemer.
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By telephone Friday, Hernandez described a typo in the Commission's final notice as an excuse for the confusion.
"They are so incompetent that when they sent me the notice, they put a date without a year, so I don't know what year it's due," Hernandez said.
READ: Hernandez's letter of reprimand
The last line of the final order against him, time-stamped with the court clerk July 7, 2015, ends with "... all fines and costs to be paid on or before August 7, 201_," with the last digit missing from the date.
Hernandez was ordered to pay the civil fine for violating Miami-Dade County's "Truth in Government" provision of the Citizens' Bill of Rights. Payment was due last Wednesday, 30 days after being officially noticed, according to the Commission.
"Someone who had more respect for this agency would have paid by now," Commission Executive Director Joseph Centorino said at Wednesday's monthly meeting.
Last July, the Commission found that Hernandez knowingly lied twice, in English and in Spanish, during a news conference about loans he had made to former Hialeah jeweler and convicted Ponzi schemer Luis Felipe Perez. Hernandez was issued a letter of reprimand and fined $3,000, plus $1,000 for investigative costs.
Perez had testified at the ethics hearing that he paid Hernandez 36 percent interest on $180,000 in loans.
Hernandez did not appear at the quasi-judicial hearing or offer a defense. At the time, he told Local10 News senior political reporter Michael Putney that he considered the hearing a "kangaroo court" with a "political agenda."
"This shows again this is a circus," Hernandez said Friday about the unpaid fine.
The Commission's court action for the mayor's $4,000 fine arrears will likely be filed next week.
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