Orlando Commissioner Regina Hill pleads not guilty to numerous charges, and a judge hears motions in Trump Georgia case.

Orlando Commissioner Regina Hill pleads not guilty to elderly exploitation and fraud charges

Orlando Commissioner Regina Hill pleaded not guilty Thursday in her first appearance before a judge after being indicted by a grand jury in connection with an elderly exploitation and fraud investigation.

Hill, who represents District 5, was booked into the Orange County Jail on seven charges:

• Three counts of exploitation of an elderly person
• One county of enacting a scheme to defraud someone of more than $50,000
• One count of fraudulently using someone's personal identifying information to make a purchase of more than $100,000 in services
• One count of fraudulently using personal identification information of a parent/guardian/custodian
• One count of mortgage fraud

She was released on a $40,000 bond. 

Hill, 63, is accused of manipulating a 96-year-old woman to gain power of attorney and using more than $100,000 of the woman's own money for Hill's benefit.

Hill has denied the allegations.

In a statement regarding the charges, Hill said:

"It’s unfortunate that I have been thrust into these circumstances with these allegations. Unfortunate not just for me, but for (the 96-year-old woman) whom I've loved and cared for like my own family. I understand that there is a process to go through with these allegations; however, I trust God above all. After 10 years of service for the City of Orlando, I've Illustrated my love and compassion for my constituents, my city and my family, and I consider (the 96-year-old woman) family. I know the truth, I know I'm entitled to due process in which I trust, and I will await my day in court to prove my innocence."

The investigation, which remains active, has been underway since February 2023, according to Florida Department of Law Enforcement officials at a Thursday news conference.

They said it was initiated after the Florida Attorney General's Office contacted FDLE following a criminal complaint filed about a 96-year-old woman living alone in a home in disrepair.

FDLE special agent John Vecchio said Hill learned about the alleged victim because of her role as a city commissioner and initially provided some benefit services to her in that role. However, the alleged actions that prompted the charges against Hill were made as an individual citizen, Vecchio said.

FDLE investigators found that Hill allegedly used her influence over the victim to fraudulently obtain the power of attorney and access to the woman's personal information and finances to purchase a home in the 96-year-old's name, Vecchio said.

Hill is also accused of repeatedly using the alleged victim's finances to pay for rental cars, hotel stays, personal luxury items, clothing and to personal bills, Vecchio said. The investigation found that Hill allegedly moved into a vacant home that the victim inherited from her family, and used the woman's personal finances to pay for renovations on that home, while the home where the 96-year-old lived remained in a state of disrepair, Vecchio said.

The 96-year-old woman was not aware of how much she had signed over to Hill, Vecchio said.

Investigators interviewed multiple people and conducted a review of several years of financial records and other documents to put together the case, Vecchio said.

A petition for temporary civil injunction filed previously by attorneys seeking protection for the 96-year-old woman alleges Hill held power of attorney over the Parramore resident.

The document alleges Hill fraudulently used the woman’s identity to purchase a home on Domino Drive in the Lake Mann community. A search of the Orange County appraiser website shows Hill listed as co-owner of the home with the 96-year-old woman.

Hill's attorneys previously had said the woman's vulnerable state and impairments left her in no state to change her power of attorney. 

A statement released by a spokesperson for Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer's office said: "We have been made aware that Commissioner Hill has been arrested and charged by FDLE.

"We do not have any authority to discipline an elected official, including suspending them from office, as that power lies with the Governor."

If Gov. Ron DeSantis suspends Hill, the city of Orlando's charter calls for a special election to temporarily fill the commission seat.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Orlando commissioner accused of exploiting an elderly woman out of $100K

Trump's team cites First Amendment in contesting charges in Georgia election interference case

A lawyer for former President Donald Trump pushed for a Georgia indictment to be dismissed as he argued Thursday that the charges against his client in the election interference case seek to criminalize political speech and advocacy conduct that the First Amendment protects.

The hearing before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee was on a filing from Trump and on two pretrial motions by co-defendant David Shafer, and centered on technical legal arguments. It marked something of a return to normalcy after the case was rocked by allegations that District Attorney Fani Willis improperly benefited from her romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor hired for the case who has since stepped down.

"There is nothing alleged factually against President Trump that is not political speech," Trump's lead lawyer, Steve Sadow, told the judge.

Sadow said a sitting president expressing concerns about an election is "the height of political speech" and that is protected even if what was said ended up being false.

Prosecutor Donald Wakeford countered that Trump's statements are not protected by the First Amendment because they were integral to criminal activity.

"It's not just that they were false. It's not that the defendant has been hauled into a courtroom because the prosecution doesn't like what he said," Wakeford said, adding that Trump is free to express his opinion and make legitimate protests. "What he is not allowed to do is to employ his speech and his expression and his statements as part of a criminal conspiracy to violate Georgia's RICO statute, to impersonate public officers, to file false documents, to make false statements to the government."

Wakeford pointed out that similar arguments were raised and rejected in the federal election interference case against Trump brought by Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan wrote in a December ruling that "it is well established that the First Amendment does not protect speech that is used as an instrument of a crime."

"Defendant is not being prosecuted simply for making false statements ... but rather for knowingly making false statements in furtherance of a criminal conspiracy and obstructing the electoral process," Chutkan wrote.

Willis used Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law, an expansive anti-racketeering statute, to charge Trump and 18 others with allegedly participating in a wide-ranging conspiracy to overturn the state's 2020 election results.

Most of the charges against Shafer, a former state Republican Party chairman, have to do with his involvement in the casting of Electoral College votes for Trump by a group of Georgia Republicans even though the state's election had been certified in favor of Democrat Joe Biden. The charges against Shafer include impersonating a public officer, forgery, false statements and writings, and attempting to file false documents.

His lawyer, Craig Gillen, argued that the activity Shafer engaged in was lawful at the time and that Schafer was acting in accordance with requirements of the Electoral Count Act. Because a legal challenge to the presidential election results was pending on Dec. 14, 2020, when it came time for electors to meet to cast Georgia's electoral votes, Gillen said it was up to Congress to determine whether a Democratic or Republican slate of electors should be counted for the state. He said that means Shafer and the other Republicans who met to cast electoral votes were acting properly.

Gillen said the accusation that Shafer and others were impersonating a public officer, namely a presidential elector, does not hold water because electors are not considered public officers. Prosecutor Will Wooten argued that a presidential elector is clearly an office created by law and that Shafer and others were charged because they falsely presented themselves as the state's official presidential electors.

Gillen also asked that three phrases be struck from the indictment: "duly elected and qualified presidential electors," "false Electoral College votes" and "lawful electoral votes." He said those phrases are used to assert that the Democratic slate of electors was valid and the Republican slate was not. He said those are "prejudicial legal conclusions" about issues that should be decided by the judge or by the jury at trial.

Wooten opposed the move, saying "every allegation in an indictment is a legal conclusion."

Trump and the others were indicted last year, accused of participating in a scheme to try to illegally overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, which the Republican incumbent narrowly lost to Biden.

All the defendants were charged with violating the anti-racketeering law, along with other alleged crimes. Four people charged in the case have pleaded guilty after reaching deals with prosecutors. Trump and the others have pleaded not guilty. No trial date has been set. Willis has asked that the trial begin in August.

The allegations that Willis engaged in an improper relationship were explored over several days in an evidentiary hearing last month that delved into intimate details of Willis' and Wade's personal lives. The judge rejected defense efforts to remove Willis and her office as long as Wade stepped aside. But McAfee did give the defendants permission to seek a review of his decision from the state Court of Appeals.

Also this month, the judge dismissed six of the 41 counts in the indictment, including three against Trump, finding that prosecutors failed to provide enough detail about the alleged crimes.

Bill requiring Florida HOAs to provide residents with its rules unanimously passed

The state House and Senate have each unanimously approved a House Bill 1203 related to Homeowners’ Associations in Florida.

The legislation would require HOAs in the state to give each resident its rules and covenants and require them to let each person know of any updates to those documents.

Amidst the ponds and newly constructed homes, Jill Hagler, the president of the Willow Bend Homeowners’ Association of Manatee County, loves walking around her neighborhood in Parrish.

“I’m really proud that we’ve made a lot of progress since construction,” she said.

She bought her home with her husband in the Willow Bend community during the pandemic while still living in the Miami area.

“We actually bought thinking that, that was going to be our future retirement home,” Hagler said. “And things changed and now we live here full time.”

After spending some time in her new community, she wanted to get more involved.

As a result, Hagler ran to be president of HOA and won.

“I just have a real passion and I care about our neighborhood,” she said.

Rather than sitting on the sidelines, she’s now forming pool committees, landscaping committees and proactively working to improve her neighborhood.

“This is a new community and so we’re all here coming together, wanting to have the most beautiful neighborhood that we can have,” Hagler said.

She says in order to do that, there needs to be clear communication and transparency in Willow Bend’s HOA.

So, when she learned about the bill approved by the state legislature requiring HOAs to give every resident its covenants and rules, or CCR’s; she says they’re already doing that under her watch in Willow Bend.

“Our CCRs are already on the portal,” she said. “And we’ve been doing a lot of education with neighbors and how to access, how to create an account, how to opt in for emails.”

But she says that isn’t necessarily done by every HOA in Florida, so putting something like this on the books will help other neighborhoods in the state.

“It’s an educational process,” said Hagler. “It’s an educational process.”

Currently, there are about 270 residents in Willow Bend and nearly 50,000 HOAs in the state, which is the second most in the country behind California.

So, having things like pools, ponds and trees is what residents appreciate but, to Hagler, perhaps the best thing for places like Willow Bend is that dedication to transparency and community.

After unanimous approval by both the House and Senate, the bill now awaits the governor’s signature.

If it’s signed, it would go into effect on July 1.