Florida Democratic State Rep. Daphne Campbell and her family are being investigated for several counts of fraud and corruption.
The Miami Herald reports the Campbell family scandals include attempting to change Florida law in order to get out of five traffic tickets, Medicaid fraud, tax fraud, identity fraud, grand theft, voting fraud, wrongful deaths, and mistreatment of seniors.
Campbell denies any wrongdoing.
Campbell claims photographs showing her husband's car (with her campaign bumper sticker) running several red-lights were digitally altered.
"It’s a lie," she said. "That camera is a made up story. You can do anything with the computer now."
Other claims against Campbell and her family are:
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"Campbell and her husband own businesses that bill Medicaid. And the state’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit began investigating them two years ago. Their son, 30-year-old Gregory Campbell, faces Medicaid fraud charges in an alleged $300,000 scheme."
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"[Campbell] and her husband last spring were slapped with $145,000 worth of liens. The IRS also began examining the Campbells over financial transactions involving a web of family healthcare businesses. Two former business associates told The Herald and IRS that the Campbells scammed them."
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"Campbell’s husband pleaded guilty in 2007 to a federal charge of falsely using someone else’s Social Security number to obtain $829,103 involving six separate loans, one of which was from a Honda dealership."
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"[Campbell's] top aide Janice Shackelford was arrested for grand theft last fall for allegedly charging constituents, mostly Haitian immigrants, phony fees for help that never materialized. Before Campbell hired her, Shackelford had pleaded guilty to a 2006 grand theft charge in Miami-Dade; a swindling charge was dropped."
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"North Miami has been plagued with "unscrupulous" absentee ballot irregularities at assisted living facilities, a county ethics group reported in 2008. Campbell campaigned in a North Miami ALF. And that very ALF was highlighted in the ethics group report that pointedly mentioned the Democrat by name."
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"Campbell and her son ran Professional Group Home, based in Miami-Dade. And two developmentally disabled Miami-Dade residents died in its care in 2006, one after she was raped by a dangerous resident. The rapist wasn’t supervised closely despite Daphne Campbell’s assurance to a judge that he would get "’one-on-one" monitoring from staffers who will "’be with him everywhere he goes.""
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"The four deaths — plus inspections that found everything from rodent feces, cockroaches and squalor at the Campbell’s facilities — led the state to try to terminate their contract for about 10 group homes. The Campbells fought the state to keep their license so they could continue to work in the healthcare field and bill Medicaid."
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"She co-sponsored legislation to deny public access to the state-kept list of troubled ALFs. Without access to the information, The Herald would not have been able to document the abuse of the elderly in state care."
Campbell continues to claim the charges are false saying, "I don’t have no tax liens," and denies knowledge of any tax problems.