MEDLEY, Fla. – Medley Councilwoman Ana Lilia Stefano has been charged with two felony counts after she defrauded the food bank Feeding South Florida of an estimated $24,000 of food items, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday in a news release.
According to prosecutors and the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust, Stefano allegedly sold the food that was donated to the Santana Moss Foundation by Feeding South Florida to churches and charitable organizations instead of donating the items.
Stefano is the executive director of the foundation, which was created in 2001 by 14-year NFL wide receiver Santana Moss.
Prosecutors said Moss, who is a former student of Miami Carol City Senior High School and a former University of Miami football star, created the foundation to help the youth of Carol City by running sports clinics and other community programs.
But prosecutors said Stefano took advantage of her role as executive director, as her position allowed her to have exclusive control over all bank accounts, donations, vehicles, facilities and other assets belonging to the foundation.
“Allegedly defrauding a charity for one’s own personal benefit can never find acceptance in this community,” Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement. “Utilizing a leadership position of a nonprofit corporation made these alleged crimes possible but having an elected position should have made such actions ethically inconceivable.”
According to Stefano’s arrest warrant, Moss had no idea the alleged criminal activity was going on and was surprised the foundation still existed.
Stefano has been charged with one count of organized scheme to defraud over $50,000, which is a first-degree felony and one count of grand theft over $20,000, which is a second-degree felony.
She has been serving the Medley Town Council since March of this year.
“The Town of Medley has no official statement as, to our knowledge, the alleged crimes are not associated with Councilperson Stefano’s official elected position,” a statement from the town read.