Man Says Government's Simple Mistake Cost Him Votes, Money

POSTED: 5:41 pm EDT June 7, 2006

OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. -- An Osceola County politician and businessman is furious, saying a simple mistake by the State Attorney's Office cost him votes and money. The prosecutor in the case told Channel 9 that he signed legal papers without even looking at them.

Tony Ferentinos is running for Osceola County commission. He said the oversight by the State Attorney's Office is unacceptable and ruining his reputation. Ferentinos said the bad publicity not only hurt his campaign for county commissioner, it's also affecting business at his used car lot and he doesn't buy the state attorney's excuse that it was an honest mistake.

Ferentinos decided to run for Osceola County commission to get involved in local government. A month later, the government was at his door but not the kind of involvement he wanted.

"He shackled me. He handcuffed me like I was a murderer. I went into shock," he said.

Ferentinos still can't believe he was charged with tax fraud for failing to report $65,000 in sales tax from his car lot. But, he said, his accountant had been working with the Department of Revenue to straighten out the confusion for two years when, suddenly, he was arrested.

"This was politically motivated. There's no ifs, ands, or buts on this. We're almost 100 percent sure," he said.

Then, to make matters worse, the prosecutor filed a notice seeking the mandatory maximum sentence, calling Ferentinos a "prison releasee or reoffender," basically a convict. Articles ran in the local newspapers and his business dropped from about 15 cars a month to zero.

"We've been here 11 years, always had a good reputation, but who's gonna buy a car from a prison releasee?" he said.

The trouble is, Ferentinos isn't one. He's never been convicted of anything. A week ago, prosecutor George Mangrum withdrew the paperwork and told Channel 9 his secretary gave him the wrong document and he signed it without reading it first.

"Where did he get his law degree from? I think that's common stuff. You would know what you're signing, especially as an attorney. That's a lame excuse. As far as I’m concerned, he needs to be accountable," Ferentinos said.

He will fight the tax fraud charge in court in two weeks. He said he'll still try to get into government, even though politics already got him.

Ferentinos plans to file a complaint with the Florida Bar Association against the prosecutor who signed the document. He said he'll also file a civil law suit for the impact on his business and his campaign.

George C. Mangrum is an appointed Assistant State Attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit of the State of Florida.   An assistant state attorney is employed  by the people of the State of Florida as a prosecutor.   He is an officer of the court.  Sworn to uphold the Constitution.  Yet he is quick to first place blame for his idiocy on his secretary.  He has so little regard for the reputation of others, he signs and files documents with the court he does not even bother to read, so he says.  We The People of the State of Florida will not knowingly tolerate political motivation and incompetence in our legal system.  Only we can stop this attorney from moving up the ladder of success.

Tell Lawson Lamar we demand the

DISBARMENT OF

GEORGE C. MANGRUM. 

Office of the State Attorney

2 Courthouse Square Suite 3500

Kissimmee, FL 34741

Or call  407/343-3200

Hal C. Epperson Jr.

Don’t just gripe about bad lawyers…DO SOMETHING before this one hangs a shingle!

More Updates

Harris greets fans at 'Elephant Stampede'

GOP loyalists rally at a Kissimmee picnic as the Senate hopeful predicts her victory.

April Hunt | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted July 23, 2006

KISSIMMEE -- If she hadn't had surgery last week, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Katherine Harris said, she would have arrived at a GOP picnic on horseback Saturday.

Instead, she made her entrance by helicopter, flown by a friend from the nearby city airport to the Kissimmee Sports Arena.

“If I could have been Wendy on Peter Pan, I couldn't have had more fun," Harris said. "I am feeling great."

The Republican congresswoman from Longboat Key underwent surgery to remove an ovarian mass on Monday. A day later, she was back on the floor of Congress, voting to change the Constitution to ban gay marriage.

She said she did not know results of tests to determine whether the mass was cancerous, but that she had no plans to slow her campaign to unseat incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson.

Her stopover at the Osceola Elephant Stampede BBQ was part of nine hours of events all across the state Saturday.

The crowd of local Republican candidates and party loyalists greeted her with cheers and hugs. One man even had Harris sign his cowboy hat, which already bears the autograph of Merle Haggard.

"You are absolutely my hero," Margaret Knight told Harris as she wandered the crowd.

Knight, who owns a paralegal firm in Kissimmee, later explained that she had followed Harris for years.

"Anytime I see a woman in politics stand up like she did, it catches my eye," she said.

Harris, Florida's controversial secretary of state during the disputed 2000 presidential election, reminded the people that pundits had said she couldn't win before, when she ran for her seat in Congress.

Looking beyond the September primary election, in which she faces three Republican challengers, Harris predicted she would capture 52 percent of the vote against Nelson in the general election because she can get Republicans to the polls.

"To win, I need to stir up the base," Harris said. "And I stir up the base."

April Hunt can be reached 407-420-6269 or ahunt@orlandosentinel.com.

Congresswoman Harris and Margaret Knight at the Elephant Stampede.

Tony Ferentinos and Steve Knight listening to Congresswoman Katherine Harris speak.

Tony Ferentinos Osceola Commission Seat 2.

Congresswoman Harris.

Candidate wants attorney disbarred

POSTED: July 6, 2006

By Deanna Sheffield News-Gazette News Writer

Osceola County Commission candidate Tony Ferentinos wants a local prosecutor disbarred because he claims he maliciously damaged his reputation.

Ferentinos, a Republican running for the District 2 commission seat, has said that George Mangrum, Orange-Osceola assistant state attorney, deliberately slandered his name after learning he would be running for the Osceola County office. His primary concern was that the state attorney on court documents had labeled him a repeat criminal offender and a former prisoner – an erroneous designation that hurt car sales at his auto business, E.T. Auto Sales in Kissimmee.

The state claims that Ferentinos failed to report $65,000 in sales tax at his auto business between March 1, 2001, and Jan. 1, 2004. That investigation is ongoing, and a trial is set for Aug. 28.

“How can anyone not blame me for being upset?” Ferentinos asked. “People labeled prison releasee or reoffenders have committed crimes such as armed robbery, murder and bomb making.”
Mangrum recently told a local television news station that he had signed the documents relating to Ferentinos’ case without even looking at them.

While Mangrum could not be reached for comment for this article, Danielle Tavernier, a spokeswoman for the Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office, said the request to disbar Mangrum would not overshadow the criminal prosecution. Tavernier also said it “wouldn’t be appropriate” for the office to discuss the alleged mistake.
“He should not be responsible for the people of the great state of Florida,” Ferentinos said of Mangrum. “He lied about me … how many innocent people are sitting in jail because of his blatant lies? I haven’t done anything illegal.”

Ferentinos said that he has been working with the state revenue office for more than two years to straighten out issues related to whether he owed back taxes. However, two days after he filed to run for office (Feb. 15) he was arrested for tax fraud, and labeled a “prison releasee reoffender” before being released. A judge has told Ferentinos there would be no criminal charges and that the tax issue should be worked out with the state attorney’s office.

In Florida, a prison releasee reoffender would be any defendant who commits, or attempts to commit certain felonies within three years of being released from a state correctional facility.

Ferentinos, 57, has charged that the turn of events was designed to force him out of the race, a violation of his civil rights. Ferentinos also is planning to file a civil lawsuit for the financial impact on his business and the damage done to his campaign.

Ferentinos is one of five Republicans vying for the seat now held by Tom Franklin, who was recently appointed to the post by the governor after Atlee Mercer, who was not seeking re-election to a second term, was named county property appraiser.

The election of two county commissioners, one in District 2 and the other in District 4, has been put on hold for now, the result of a federal judge’s ruling in the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Osceola County for alleged violations of the Voters Rights Act of 1965. The judge’s injunction bars the county from including the county commission race in the primary in early September or the general election in November.

The lawsuit challenges the legality of the county’s use of the at large voting method for choosing county commissioners, mainly because it limits the voting power of minorities.