Former campaign manager in jail after stealing almost $29,000 from commission candidate
Former Manatee County commissioner candidate Melton Little last year entrusted his campaign manager with one of his credit cards so he could pay for advertising, meals for volunteers and campaign-related items.
But Cesar Antonio Garcia, 26, instead helped himself to $28,865.81 between October and December 2018, according to court records.
Garcia ultimately pleaded no contest to one count of scheme to defraud and two counts of obtaining property in return for a worthless check and was sentenced on Sept. 18 to six months in the Manatee County jail and 10 years of probation.
During the first six months of his probation, Garcia will be under house arrest. Conditions of his probation also include that he complete 200 hours of community service, that he repay the $28,865.81 to Little and that any income tax refunds go towards his restitution. He also will have to disclose his criminal history to any potential future employers for any job that involves the handling of money.
Little, a Democrat who lost the 2018 race to GOP Commissioner Misty Servia, declined to comment about the case.
Garcia started working for Little at the onset of his campaign for the District 4 commission seat, which he filed for in May 2018.
“Throughout the campaign Melton entrusted Cesar with his credit card ... to make various purchases,” the investigating detective wrote in a criminal complaint.
At the time Garcia began managing Little’s campaign, Garcia had just finished serving a year of probation for a charge of uttering a forged check from 2016. Garcia had pleaded to no contest in that case as part of a negotiated plea deal in 2017.
Little is currently prohibited from practicing law after receiving an 18-month bar suspension for giving free baseball tickets to former Circuit Judge John Lakin, who was presiding over one of his cases. Servia beat Little in November 2018, taking 52 percent of the votes.
Little went to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office headquarters with his credit card statements to report the fraudulent activity after he failed to recover the money from Garcia. Little had received two checks from Garcia for the amounts of $13,804.31 and $20,100.00, but those checks were returned for a lack of funds.
Detectives later discovered that Garcia had written both checks, each which had “credit card expenses” written on the notes line, from a business account that had been closed with a negative balance and that never had that amount of funds available, according to the complaint.
Two campaign workers told detectives about the fraudulent purchases. When detectives interviewed Garcia, he confirmed having access to Little’s credit cards but that he only used them for campaign expenses, according to the complaint.
Pressed further about the funds in question, Garcia initially said they were mix-ups but as the questioning continued he got choked up, said he was uncomfortable and refused to answer anymore questions without an attorney present.
Garcia was working as a commercial truck driver at the time of his Feb. 14 arrest. His public defender and a prosecutor negotiated the terms of a plea agreement ahead of a June 12 hearing in which Garcia pleaded no contest.
Since Sept. 18, Garcia has been in custody at the Manatee County jail serving his jail sentence.
This story was originally published November 18, 2019 at 3:22 PM.
