ORLANDO, Fla. — A day before Joel Greenberg is slated to face sentencing, a federal judge was struggling to determine an appropriate penalty for the disgraced former elected official due to the breadth of his offenses — ranging from sex trafficking to stalking and bribery.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys told U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell in a presentencing hearing Wednesday that federal sentencing guidelines, based on Greenberg’s plea agreement and subsequent cooperation with investigators, would call for him to be sentenced to between 9.25 and 11 years in prison.
The judge seemed to feel that was too lenient, saying “there is no precedent” for Greenberg’s yearslong crime spree.
However, Greenberg’s attorney, Fritz Scheller, noted the former Seminole County tax collector has given testimony against 24 people — including 10 he said were involved in election corruption related to “ghost” candidates.
Scheller also said he anticipated two more people would be indicted next month, in addition to the four who federal investigators have already brought charges against, without saying who or for what crimes.
Other people who Scheller said Greenberg has cooperated with investigators against include seven allegedly involved in a scheme to defraud the U.S. Small Business Administration of COVID-19 relief funds and eight people he has implicated in sex crimes.
Greenberg’s cooperation spans from Washington, D.C., to Orlando and Seminole County, his defense lawyer said.
Greenberg was present for the hearing before Presnell at the federal courthouse in downtown Orlando, wearing a blue jumpsuit and ankle shackles, but did not speak. He will learn his fate at a sentencing hearing Thursday morning.
Although Greenberg faces a mandatory 12-year prison term for sex trafficking of a minor, producing fake IDs and other charges, government attorneys this month asked for a more lenient sentence citing his “truthful and timely information” in developing cases against some of his former associates.
Scheller, countered last week with a separate court filing urging the judge to sentence Greenberg to no more than two years of imprisonment because of his “long-standing history of mental illness,” along with his cooperation with federal investigators.
Greenberg has been detained at the Orange County Jail since March 4, 2021, after violating the terms of his bond release by traveling outside of the Central Florida region. The time he’s already served in jail will be deducted from his sentence.
Scheller also stated in his motion that the girl Greenberg is accused of having sex with “was on the brink of turning 18″ and posted a profile on an escort website claiming she was an adult.
Federal prosecutors have said in court filings that beginning in December 2016 and continuing for two years, while Greenberg was in office, the former tax collector paid more than $70,000 in more than 150 separate transactions “to engage in commercial sex with women.” Greenberg used his own money and a credit card belonging to the Seminole Tax Collector’s Office to pay for the transactions, prosecutors said.
Scheller noted that Greenberg had recently agreed to pay Seminole County more than $1.3 million in restitution for his misuse of county funds and other resources from the public office while he served from January 2017 until he resigned in June 2020 shortly after his first arrest and indictment.
Greenberg pleaded guilty to six felonies in May 2021 that also included identity theft, stalking, wire fraud and conspiracy to bribe a public official. In all, he faced 33 federal charges. But prosecutors dropped the other 27 counts after he agreed to cooperate with them on other investigations.
Since then, Greenberg has met with a variety of federal and state investigators from several agencies to help build cases against other individuals.
The former Greenberg associates charged include: Michael Shirley, a former Republican operative and campaign consultant, who pleaded not guilty to allegations that he paid Greenberg thousands of dollars in bribes and kickbacks; Joseph Ellicot, Greenberg’s former friend, who is currently serving 15 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to acting as a middle man between Shirley and Greenberg; and Keith Ingersoll, who pleaded not guilty last month to taking part in a scheme that defrauded an investor of millions of dollars.
Regarding the mental illness, Scheller also noted that Greenberg was diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, as a child. He also has long suffered from panic attacks, depression and anxiety disorders. And that he did not receive adequate psychiatric treatment and medication “during the time of his pervasive criminal conduct.”
Federal prosecutors in court filings have stated that Greenberg was elected to public office and committed most of his crimes while serving as a government official under the public’s trust.
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