ORLANDO, Fla. — In urging a judge for a light prison sentence for Joel Greenberg, his attorney Fritz Scheller blasted the U.S. Department of Justice for not criminally charging other individuals, despite the evidence and collaboration provided to prosecutors by the disgraced Seminole County tax collector.
“If the government is so concerned with general deterrence, then why hasn’t it prosecuted the other individuals, including public figures, who were also involved in Greenberg’s offenses?” Scheller stated in a Monday court filing. “Indeed, Greenberg’s plea agreement refers to the involvement of multiple co-conspirators, including individuals involved in his sex offense.”
Greenberg even identified to federal investigators who the “potential co-conspirators” are and their identification “also has been collaborated by other witnesses and records,” Scheller noted. Yet, many of them have still not been held accountable, he said.
“Perhaps the DOJ is like Nero, fiddling away as Rome burns,” Scheller stated.
The filing does not name U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, Greenberg’s former friend and Republican ally, nor other individuals. Reports have indicated that federal prosecutors were investigating whether Gaetz had sex with the same girl that Greenberg pleaded guilty to trafficking.
Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing. The Washington Post reported in September that longtime prosecutors with the U.S. Justice Department had recommended against charging Gaetz, pointing out concerns regarding credibility among witnesses that would testify against him.
Reports have said the probe into Gaetz and others was being led by a team of prosecutors at the Department of Justice in Washington. In his filing, Scheller suggested the case could be turned over to the “capable hands” of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida, which has brought cases against several of Greenberg’s associates based in part on his cooperation.
Scheller’s filing comes a little over a week after prosecutors at that office filed a motion that asked a judge to sentence Greenberg to a more lenient sentence for the sex trafficking charge he faces, which carries a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years in prison. They cited Greenberg providing “truthful” and “substantial” cooperation.
Greenberg’s sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 1 before U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell in the Federal Courthouse in downtown Orlando.
According to Scheller’s filing, under federal sentencing guidelines, Greenberg could face between 262 months (nearly 21 years) and 327 months (just over 27 years) in federal prison. Under the DOJ’s request for a more lenient sentence, Greenberg could face between 87 months (a little over seven years) and 108 months (nine years), along with an additional two years that are mandatory for the identity theft charge.
Greenberg has been held at the Orange County Jail since March 4, 2021.
In his motion, Scheller urges the judge to sentence Greenberg to no more than two years of imprisonment because of his cooperation with federal prosecutors; his “long-standing history of mental illness” that led to his crimes; and that the girl Greenberg is accused of trafficking “was on the brink of turning 18″ and posted a profile on the escort website “Seeking Arrangements” claiming she was an adult.
“She certainly appeared that she was over 18,” Scheller wrote. “While Greenberg is certainly guilty, his conduct does not depict the type of the offender that the statute is designed to reach, that is the offender that knowingly preys on children.”
Federal prosecutors in court filings said that beginning in December 2016 and continuing for two years, while Greenberg was in office, the former tax collector paid over $70,000 in more than 150 separate transactions “to engage in commercial sex with women.” He used his own money and a credit card from the Tax Collector’s Office to pay for the sex, prosecutors said.
“Greenberg engaged in commercial sex acts with the minor at least seven times while she was a minor,” prosecutors said in a recent court motion.
Prosecutors said Greenberg used his elected position and public office to benefit himself in other ways.
“During his (time) when he was Tax Collector, Joel Micah Greenberg repeatedly used his position to engage in a bold, brazen, and nearly undeterrable crime spree consisting of sex trafficking of a child, illegally producing false identification document, aggravated identity theft, wire fraud, stalking and conspiracy to defraud the government,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Harrington wrote in the filing.
Scheller noted that Greenberg recently agreed to pay Seminole County more than $1.3 million in restitution for his misuse of county funds and other resources within the Tax Collector’s Office while he was in office from January 2017 until he resigned in June 2020.
Scheller said that prosecutors have stated that several people with ties to Greenberg have already been charged because of Greenberg’s cooperation.
Those include: Michael Shirley, a former Republican operative and campaign consultant, who has pleaded not guilty to allegations that he paid Greenberg thousands of dollars in bribes and kickbacks; Joseph Ellicott, a former Greenberg friend currently serving 15 months in a federal prison in South Carolina, who pleaded guilty to acting as a middle man between Shirley and Greenberg; and Keith Ingersoll, who pleaded guilty last month to taking part in a scheme that defrauded an investor of millions of dollars.
Scheller noted that Greenberg was diagnosed with attention deficit, hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, at 7 years old. He also has long suffered from panic attacks, depression and anxiety disorders. And that he was under psychiatric treatment “during the time of his pervasive criminal conduct.”
Scheller provides testimony in his filing from a psychiatrist who recently evaluated Greenberg and stated that the former tax collector suffered from “severe mental illness, bipolar disorder, with symptoms of mania interfering with his judgment, reasoning, and impulse control” while in office.
“At the time of these incidents, Mr. Greenberg, through his prism of his manic mindset, was able to rationalize and justify what he was doing, thinking he could explain it away and others would eventually agree with him, while focusing on the pleasure and the immediate gratification of the moment,” Dr. Jeffrey Danziger wrote.
Scheller noted that Greenberg is now receiving better psychiatric care and is a much calmer individual. Locking Greenberg in federal prison will not benefit Greenberg or be an appropriate punishment, Scheller said.
“While the Government paints Greenberg as sinner suddenly embarking in uncontrollable and brazen crime spree, it fails to appreciate that Greenberg was sinner because of the mental illness he suffered,” Scheller wrote. “Since his indictment, Greenberg has embarked on a difficult path toward rehabilitation, if not redemption. Although he has stumbled along the way, he stands before this court a different person than he was some two years ago. He is on the right and appropriate medication.”
———
