A Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy who had served on the SWAT team was sentenced Tuesday to four months in prison after a Miami federal jury found her guilty of bilking tens of thousands of dollars in government loans meant to help businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alexandra Acosta, a 10-year BSO veteran, was also ordered to pay a $4,000 fine by U.S. District Judge Robert Scola.
Federal prosecutor Trevor Jones described Acosta as a police officer with a “good career” who cared for her family, but also said she deserved to be punished for stealing from the relief program and betraying the public’s trust.
“Acosta has lied multiple times before, during, and after her crime—including while under oath at trial,” Jones wrote in a sentencing memo recommending that she be imprisoned for 10 months.
But her defense attorney, Brian Silber, argued for less time, citing Acosta’s academic and athletic scholarships to college that led her on the path to law enforcement and community service. He described her as a “very brave deputy who assumed great personal risk to save others.”
Acosta, 38, of Tamarac, was convicted of using a real estate company with help from a tax preparer to obtain a $20,180 loan from the federal Paycheck Protection Program in 2021. Prosecutors said she falsified income, tax and other records to qualify for the loan guaranteed by the Small Business Administration, which ran the $900 million pandemic relief program approved by Congress as part of the CARES Act in 2000. The SBA would forgive the loans if businesses used them for payroll and other overhead expenses, but in Acosta’s case she spent the money on herself.
In June, the 12-person jury found Acosta guilty of conspiring to defraud the U.S. government, committing wire fraud and making false statements to the SBA.
Acosta was the last of 17 BSO deputies — all arrested last fall on PPP and other loan fraud charges — to go to trial or cut a plea deal.
Acosta’s co-defendant, Vilsaint St. Louis, the tax preparer, pleaded guilty to a single conspiracy charge in May. He was given a one-year probationary sentence in addition to 100 hours of community service by Scola at the recommendation of his defense attorney and federal prosecutors.
The only other BSO employee convicted of PPP loan fraud to be sent to prison: Stephanie D. Smith. The former BSO deputy school resource officer was found guilty in March of wire fraud charges for submitting falsified loan applications for two companies through the pandemic program. She collected tens of thousands of dollars that she spent on herself.
READ MORE: First Broward deputy sent to prison for COVID loan fraud that put $31,000 in her pocket
In May, U.S. District Judge James Cohn gave the 28-year BSO veteran a sentence of seven months and ordered her to surrender to prison and repay $31,108 to the federal government. Cohn also imposed a $2,000 fine.
While Smith and Acosta faced trials in Miami, many of their BSO colleagues pleaded guilty to stealing tens of thousands of dollars from the federally funded loan program. The total amount of lost loan money — about $500,000 — was relatively modest compared to dozens of other COVID-19 relief fraud cases in South Florida, the sheer number of law enforcement officers charged with breaking the law in one police agency stood out as shocking, authorities said.
READ MORE: Lambos. Jewels. How ‘easy money’ from Uncle Sam made Miami a feast for PPP fraudsters
Among them: Former BSO Lieutenant Ernest Bernard Gonder Jr. admitted in Miami federal court that he fleeced more than $167,000 from the Paycheck Protection Program — much more than the other BSO employees who were arrested in October on charges of stealing tens of thousands of dollars each from the same program.
READ MORE: Ex-BSO lieutenant pleads guilty to fleecing hundreds of thousands from COVID loan program
Gonder, who resides in Port St. Lucie, submitted a PPP loan application in 2021 on behalf of EBG Properties LLC, in which he fabricated information about the company’s monthly payroll, number of employees and taxes, according to charges filed by prosecutor Marc Anton.
Gonder, who formerly worked in the BSO Department of Detention for more than 20 years, pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud in March. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams gave Gonder a sentence of one-year house arrest along with five years of probation. He was also ordered to pay back the government.
Gonder’s brother, Kamalis Brevard Gonder, who also worked as a BSO deputy in the detention department, pleaded guilty in June to a wire fraud charge stemming from a $20,833 loan that he obtained through the Paycheck Protection Program in 2021.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Raag Singhal sentenced Gonder to two years’ probation and ordered him to pay back the money to the government.
Although the total amount of lost loan money was relatively modest compared to dozens of other COVID-19 relief fraud cases in South Florida, the sheer number of law enforcement officers charged with breaking the law in one police agency stood out as shocking, authorities said.
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