PLANTATION, Fla. – Former Plantation Mayor Lynn Stoner surrendered to authorities at the Broward County Jail Tuesday morning after she was criminally charged with misconduct that occurred during her time as an elected public servant, Broward State Attorney Harold F. Pryor announced in a news release.
Prosecutors, however, said Stoner experienced a “medical issue” as she was being booked into jail, so she was transported to the hospital.
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She was then booked into the jail after being medically cleared. She has since bonded out of jail.
According to Broward prosecutors, formal criminal charges were filed against Stoner following an investigation with the Broward Office of the Inspector General.
Stoner is charged with one count of official misconduct, a third-degree felony; one count of falsification of records, a first-degree misdemeanor; and two counts of influencing a building official, a first-degree misdemeanor.
“Between April and September of 2020, Stoner took a number of illegal actions to benefit a developer and his companies and projects in the city, the investigation found,” according to the news release. “Those actions included Stoner issuing a letter from the office of the Plantation mayor that falsely stated that Strata Group, LLC had successfully cleared up code violations and fines on one of its projects. This was false and the goal was to help the developer obtain a loan, according to court records. This action involved official misconduct and falsification of records by Stoner.”
Prosecutors said the two counts of influencing a building official relate to incidents in April 2020 and between July and September of 2020.
“In April 2020, Stoner ‘attempted to coerce, trick, persuade, or otherwise influence’ a Plantation building official to ‘do her a favor’ and write an official letter stating that Strata Group’s building code violations and fines had been resolved and/or to eliminate those violations,” the news release stated. “When the building official refused, Stoner issued the letter herself, resulting in the official misconduct charge.”
Prosecutors say Stoner also “threatened, coerced, tricked, persuaded, or otherwise influenced” the same city building official between July and September of that year to attempt to get him to allow the developer to do construction work without a proper permit on a project known as Pixl.
“Other allegations of misconduct by Stoner are still under review by prosecutors,” the news release stated.
If found guilty, Stoner faces a maximum possible sentence of eight years in state prison.