By Tessa Stuart
Brian Beute (click here) had been a teacher for almost two and half decades when he got the idea in his head to run for local office. A week after Beute filed his paperwork to run for tax collector of Seminole County, Florida, the school where he’d worked for 17 years received an anonymous letter falsely accusing him of an improper relationship with a student. Soon, sock-puppet accounts appeared online parroting the same lie. Beute went on administrative leave, and two weeks later, an investigation by the Seminole County Sheriff’s Department cleared his name.
Beute went back to work, and kept campaigning. It would take almost eight months before local police, and later federal investigators, would unravel the scheme and ultimately arrest the man responsible for spreading those lies: Joel Greenberg, the Seminole County tax collector Beute sought to unseat. In addition to attempting to smear Beute as a pervert and a racist, Greenberg was later accused of a host of other crimes — 33 in total — including using drivers licenses confiscated by his office, embezzling and diverting nearly half a million taxpayer dollars to purchase cryptocurrency and sports memorabilia, and defrauding a Covid relief program. It was many months before Beute realized the investigation that started with Greenberg’s false accusations against him would ultimately threaten to take down a sitting congressman and one of former President Trump’s closest allies on Capitol Hill, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz....
By Emilee Speck
The Seminole County Republican previously entered a not guilty plea to stalking, unlawful use of means to identify another person, production of identification and false identification documents, aggravated identity theft, sex trafficking of a child and violating the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act.
A notice filed Thursday shows he plans to change his plea during a hearing at 10 a.m. Monday. Federal Judge Leslie Hoffman will oversee the change of plea hearing....
According to the plea agreement, Greenberg will plead guilty to sex trafficking of a child, production of a false document, aggravated identity theft, wire fraud, stalking and conspiracy to commit an offense against the U.S....
When we last checked in with Representative Matt Gaetz (click here) and the Justice Department investigation into accusations that he paid women for sex and, separately, slept with a minor and transported her across state lines, things were not looking great for the Florida congressman, whose wingman Joel Greenberg had reportedly written a “confession” letter detailing their many alleged sex crimes. And almost two weeks later, things…continue to not look good!
CNN reports that federal investigators are seeking the cooperation of a former Capitol Hill intern who also once dated the Republican lawmaker, according to sources familiar with the matter. (That, of course, is on top of the formal cooperation they could secure from Greenberg, CNN notes. Greenberg is negotiating a plea deal over 33 charges, including sex trafficking of a minor, bribery, stalking, and defrauding the Paycheck Protection Program, and is facing a deadline this week to cut the plea deal with prosecutors.) Investigators are reportedly interested in the assistance of the former girlfriend, who was reportedly on a 2018 Bahamas trip with Gaetz that has come under scrutiny for potentially violating the Mann Act, which makes it a felony to transport people across state lines to engage in prostitution. The ex-girlfriend is believed to “have knowledge of drug use and arrangements with women,” sources told CNN....
