MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A longtime Miami-Dade traffic court clerk faced three felony charges Friday after prosecutors accused him of taking traffic fine payments — meant to go to the county — for himself.
Scott Kessler, 57, employed by the office of the Miami-Dade County Clerk of the Courts for more than a decade, was working at the North Dade Justice Center at 15555 Biscayne Blvd. before his arrest.
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Prosecutors said his official responsibilities included “assisting individuals seeking to pay for traffic infractions and other court and mandated payments.”
According to the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, the investigation into Kessler began after five people, all of whom had paid their fines in cash, began to receive notices of failure to complete a payment plan, leading them to notify the clerk’s office of the discrepancy.
Miami-Dade police then set up an undercover sting, prosecutors said, using video surveillance and undercover officers paying fines with marked bills directly to Kessler.
Prosecutors said police later found Kessler in possession of the marked bills. He’s believed to have stolen anywhere from $4,000 to $5,000.
While being arrested at the North Dade Justice Center Thursday morning, Kessler told an officer “I messed up,” according to a police report obtained by Local 10 News.
“I am always saddened to hear when anyone violates their position of trust and authority,” Miami-Dade Clerk of the Courts Ad Interim Luis G. Montaldo said, in part, in a news release Friday. “The public trust is crucial to the function of the Clerk’s office, and anyone who erodes that trust by stealing must answer to law enforcement.”
State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said her office, plus police and that of the clerk’s, “continue to be committed to the of elimination of any such potential activity in our court system or any other part of governmental activity.”
Kessler, who lives in Hollywood, was charged with conspiracy to commit organized scheme to defraud, official misconduct and grand theft.