MIAMI – An employee of a City of Miami commissioner that was part of an official law enforcement investigation doesn’t believe she did anything wrong.
That alleged ghost employee is accused of doing personal work on city time for Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla.
That woman spoke exclusively with Local 10 News’ Glenna Milberg.
Jenny Nillo is still on staff for Diaz de la Portilla.
“I love the job that I do,” she said during the interview, which Local 10 News did not air until an investigation determined what was fact and what was not.
When she sat down with Local 10 News last summer, Nillo had already been videotaped drinking beer in the city vehicle she used and had already admitted to state agents she ran errands for her commissioner boss on city time.
“Did you ever do the commissioners personal bidding On city time in a city car? Yes or no?” Milberg asked. “That’s a very simple question.”
“I did not,” Nillo replied.
It is now clear that she was lying.
Nillo has admitted all to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, as agents investigating Diaz de la Portilla compiled a timeline of her movements, ending with her DUI stop in a city car, and her sworn testimony.
The FDLE started investigating at Miami’s Omni Community Redevelopment Agency office last year, where Diaz de la Portilla had forced Nillo’s hiring for a job she didn’t do.
One employee at the office told Local 10 News that for 11 months Nillo never showed up for work.
After she was fired from there, Nillo was immediately re-hired by Diaz de la Portilla.
The hiring came just in time, because in a dramatic commission meeting the next day, hiring convicts on probation for commission staff became illegal.
Nillo served time in federal prison for mortgage fraud and will remain on probation until November.
As for the investigation into Diaz de la Portilla, Miami-Dade State Attorney decided there was not enough evidence of crime to prosecute.
They referred the case to the Miami-Dade Ethics Commission.