Former Mayor and Tallahassee City Commissioner Scott Maddox, who once ran the Florida Democratic Party, was sentenced to five years in prison by federal Judge Robert Hinkle after pleading guilty to public corruption charges.
In 2019, Scott Maddox pled guilty to wire fraud, mail fraud, and conspiracy to commit tax fraud.
Maddox’s sentence was postponed while he and co-defendant Paige Carter-Smith assisted detectives in the prosecution of a local developer.
According to U.S. District Court Judge Robert Hinkle, cooperation had a role in the sentence being less than the federal guidelines of five years, ten months to seven years, three months in prison.
Paige Carter-Smith, Maddox’s long-term companion, pled guilty to the same crimes and was sentenced to two years in prison.
Prosecutors said that after returning to the city commissionership in 2012, Maddox would bring clients to Carter-lobbying Smith’s company, and she would then pay Maddox for his influence.
Maddox was elected to the commission in 1990 and then served as the mayor of Tallahassee until 2003.
He has run for governor, attorney general, and agricultural commissioner as a Democrat from 2002 until 2005, he was the chairman of the Florida Democratic Party.
Maddox was ordered to pay the IRS $76,763, while Carter-Smith was ordered to pay the IRS $115,619.
Each was sentenced to pay the federal government $70,000 in restitution.
The court determined that in exchange for influence, the couple took $30,000 from the ride-hailing and delivery company Uber and $40,000 from undercover officers masquerading as developers.
When the duo pled guilty, an Uber spokesman stated that the business did not bribe Maddox, but rather was a victim of extortion.
For two years, undercover FBI agents investigated Maddox, including a booze-fueled excursion to Las Vegas, when the investigators brought Maddox to a strip club.
Maddox described his response to hearing himself on FBI audio as “drunk and slurring” and bragging about how big he was to Hinkle.
Several supporters pleaded with Hinkle for mercy, claiming Maddox had done a lot to improve Tallahassee, from fixing roads to establishing a dog adoption program.
They recalled how he provided individuals personalized assistance not for the sake of recognition, but to do what was right.
However, federal prosecutor Peter Nothstein stated that whether an elected official accomplishes good or evil, the crimes committed by Maddox were detrimental.
“That corruption shook this community to its core,” he added.
