Dwayne Taylor to be sentenced Nov. 16 for wire fraud

Just how weak are Florida Democrats in the state House?

Well, they’re coming out of a session where they had a 41-79 disadvantage to Republicans.

And that overwhelming disadvantage is apparently fine with their House leader, state Rep. Konne McGhee, who said he just wants to hang on to those 41 seats in the upcoming election. 

Don’t forget that they lost state Rep. Reggie Fullwood of Jacksonville, who pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of failure to file an income tax return in 2016. 

And in November, another former state representative, Dwayne Taylor, will be sentenced after pleading guilty for...you guessed it,...wire fraud. Federal prosecutors found that Taylor had falsely claimed thousands of dollars in campaign expenditures to conceal cash withdrawals and checks written to himself. 

Here’s the latest from News Service of Florida:

Former state Rep. Dwayne Taylor is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 16 after being convicted Thursday on wire-fraud charges stemming from allegations that he used money from political accounts to pay for personal expenses.

A jury in federal court in Orlando found Taylor, D-Daytona Beach, guilty of nine counts of wire fraud. U.S. District Judge Carlos E. Mendoza scheduled sentencing for Nov. 16, according to an online docket.

Taylor, who left the Legislature last year because of term limits, was indicted in March. The indictment alleged, in part, that Taylor “would withdraw cash from the Dwayne L. Taylor Campaign Accounts at automated teller machines (ATMs) ... and, within minutes or hours, deposit the same or a similar amount of cash into one of Taylor’s personal accounts.”

Under Florida law, campaign money may not be used to defray normal living expenses. Taylor was the second House member who faced similar charges of improperly using campaign cash for personal expenses.

In the other case, former Rep. Reggie Fullwood, D-Jacksonville, pleaded guilty last year to one count of wire fraud and one count of failure to file an income tax return. Fullwood had to resign his House seat.