Former county commissioner avoids tax fraud charge after statute of limitations runs out

Former County Commissioner Bryan Lober evaded tax fraud charges stemming from an investigation into his use of his county-issued charge card during the COVID-19 pandemic, after the statute of limitations on the alleged crime ran out earlier this year, the state attorney's office said Monday.

Prosecutors declined to file two additional potential felony charges stemming from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement probe due to lack of evidence, they said.

The announcement brings to a close an investigation nearly two years in the making, which began in November 2022 after irregularities in Lober's office were discovered during a county-wide audit led by Brevard County Clerk of Courts and Comptroller Rachel Sadoff.

FDLE investigators produced sufficient evidence to charge Lober with a fraudulent tax exemption claim, the office of State Attorney Phil Archer said in a press release, after they accused Lober of using the county's tax exemption certificate to avoid sales tax on supplies for his re-election campaign.

However, the statute of limitations on the third-degree felony charge expired this April, over a month before FDLE investigators delivered their results to prosecutors, according to a disposition letter posted by Archer's office.

"Were it not for the unfortunate expiration of the statute of limitations Mr. Lober would have faced criminal prosecution for the felony crime of Fraudulent Claim of Tax Exemption, a charge both appropriate and warranted by the evidence uncovered in this investigation," Archer said in a statement .

Lober said Monday afternoon he would not comment on the results of the investigation until he had a chance to review the press release and case files.

Prosecutors declined to file additional charges of grand theft and scheme to defraud cited by the FDLE due to insufficient evidence, according to the release. The decision was due in part to a lack of rules for commissioners on their use of their county-issued purchasing cards at the time of the alleged offenses, the release said.

The Brevard County Commission issued new rules for the cards in the wake of the allegations against Lober.

"This investigation found clear evidence that Mr. Lober failed to maintain the ethical standard of conduct expected of an elected official representing the interests of our community," Archer said in his statement. "The apparent lack of specific policies to prevent improper use of taxpayer funds and support criminal prosecution does not excuse Mr. Lober from his sworn obligation to act in the best interest of the public, and not his own."

Sadoff began her audit at the commission's request in February 2022 following an anonymous memo sent to commissioners questioning Lober's use of his county-issued purchasing card. The memo included records showing Lober had purchased about $40,000 worth of technology and office equipment with federal pandemic relief funds that were intended to assist those affected by COVID-19.

The former District 2 commissioner resigned amid the scandal in April 2022, citing the death of a family member.

Statute of limitations expires on tax exemption fraud charge

FDLE investigators filed evidence to charge Lober with tax exemption fraud after they said he used the county's tax exemption certificate to avoid a $125 sales tax on a purchase from a woodworking and hardware company in March 2021, the disposition letter from Assistant State Attorney Stacey Salmons said.

The purchase, which did not involve the county charge card, was nevertheless picked up in the probe. Lober used the tax exemption certificate, meant for county-related purposes, despite paying for the purchase out of his re-election campaign funds, the letter said.

A records request with the Brevard Supervisor of Elections showed the purchase of $1,717 was for "sign-building tools and supplies/fasteners," the FDLE said in an investigation report.

Prosecutors were unable to file the charge after the three-year statue of limitations ran out on April 1 of this year. The state attorney's office did not receive the results of the FDLE investigation until May 20, when the statute had already run out, according to the disposition letter.

Prosecutors pass on other charges

Investigators determined about $33,000 worth of supplies purchased by Lober had been returned to the county or accounted for by the audit. An additional 108 items worth about $9,125, however, remained unaccounted for.

The missing items included a $444 waterproof camera and thousands of dollars of computer parts and accessories, including a $450 storage drive. Investigators found Lober had subsequently replaced a missing $750 office chair — which had become a public symbol of the case — with his own money.

The report concluded Lober had "knowingly and unlawfully purchased" the items with his county purchasing card, and "in doing so permanently deprived Brevard County government of the items and the funds used for purchase," the case report said.

Prosecutors cited a number of problems in their decision not to charge Lober with grand theft and scheme to defraud over the missing items, including the fact that multiple county employees would have had access to the items, making it difficult to prove who may have taken them. Further, many of the items returned to the county were never inventoried, raising the possibility that the missing items were returned but then lost in the shuffle.

Commissioners were also given broad leeway to spend the federal CARES Act funds, prosecutors said, and none of the items listed as missing by the FDLE were "obviously personal in nature."

"It could be argued that they were all for the professional operation of the District 2 office or technological purchases," Salmons wrote. "What one individual may review in hindsight as a questionable purchase, a grand theft charge does not make."

Eric Rogers is a watchdog reporter for FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Rogers at 321-242-3717 or esrogers@floridatoday.com

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Former county commissioner avoids tax fraud charge after statute of limitations runs out