ORLANDO, Fla. — Joel Greenberg — Seminole County’s former tax collector who pleaded guilty to sex trafficking and other federal crimes more than a year ago — is scheduled for a sentencing hearing on Dec. 1, according to federal judge’s order signed Friday.
Greenberg, who has been incarcerated at the Orange County Jail since March 2021, faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 12 years in federal prison.
The December sentencing hearing is scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. before U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell at the federal courthouse at 401 W. Central Blvd. in downtown Orlando.
Greenberg pleaded guilty in May 2021 to committing six felonies while serving as tax collector, including sex trafficking of a child, identity theft, stalking, wire fraud and conspiracy to bribe a public official.
In all, Greenberg faced 33 federal charges. But prosecutors dropped the 27 other counts against him. Federal authorities said that Greenberg has been cooperating with them on other criminal investigations, as was required by the plea agreement.
In a recent court filing, Greenberg’s attorney Fritz Scheller wrote that his client had been working with federal prosecutors with the U.S. attorney’s office in Florida and with the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., “as well as in other jurisdictions.”
It has been widely reported that Greenberg is cooperating in an investigation into his former friend U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, which centers on whether the Panhandle congressman paid for sex with a 17-year-old girl who Greenberg has confessed to trafficking.
Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing.
Greenberg admitted in his plea agreement that he paid out more than $70,000 to women for sex he met on websites over a two-year period. Some of those payments were made with an American Express card from the Tax Collector’s Office. One of those Greenberg paid for sex was 17 years old, according to the plea agreement.
Greenberg also admitted to using the Tax Collector’s Office to grant himself personal loans with public money and then use the funds to trade in cryptocurrency markets.
As tax collector and even before he took office, Greenberg accessed a private state database known as DAVID to obtain personal information of individuals and then create fake driver’s licenses, according to the plea agreement.
Greenberg also launched a smear campaign against a teacher who had filed to run against Greenberg for tax collector by sending anonymous letters to the school falsely alleging that the teacher had sexually abused a student, according to authorities. Greenberg also established a social media profile in the teacher’s name that falsely portrayed him as a white supremacist.
Several filings in Greenberg’s case, including a recent one by his defense attorney asking to set a date for his sentencing, have been sealed by Presnell to protect the ongoing investigations. Prosecutors have said they may recommend a lighter sentence for Greenberg if his cooperation is valuable.
Greenberg resigned from office in June 2020, shortly after he was first arrested and while campaigning for a second term.
As of the last public hearing in the case, Greenberg was expected to be sentenced in August. Friday’s order by Presnell does not indicate why Greenberg’s sentencing has been moved to the December date.
———
