NORTH BAY VILLAGE, Fla. – North Bay Village Commissioner Julianna Clare Strout has been convicted of lying to get into the Krome Service Processing Center in order to see her lover who was being held there, prosecutors announced Thursday.
According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, Strout, 36, pled guilty to attempting to enter, and entering, a federal facility using fraud and false pretenses.
Prosecutors said the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center had temporarily suspended social visits in October 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Because legal visits were still permitted, Strout told ICE officials that she was a paralegal with a law firm and needed to visit a detainee to have legal documents signed, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said she even went as far as to present officials with a letter on the law firm’s letterhead.
“In fact, the law firm never authorized Strout to use its letterhead or visit Krome on its behalf,” the news release stated. “Strout had never worked for the law firm. Instead, she was romantically involved with the detainee.”
Prosecutors said Strout was denied entry on one occasion, so she presented officers with her North Bay Village Commissioner badge and asked to enter the facility as a public official.
Local 10 News reporter Cody Weddle spoke to Strout Thursday night. She said the inmate she was visiting was her husband and that she is over eight months pregnant.
According to her social media profiles, Strout is married to former professional baseball player Brayan Villarreal, who is from Venezuela.
After submitting her guilty plea, Strout was sentenced to one-year probation and 50 hours of community service.
Strout has been a commissioner for North Bay Village since 2018. Her term expires next month.