WASHINGTON – A Florida politician who emerged as a central figure in the federal investigation of Rep. Matt Getz has agreed to cooperate with federal investigators and, according to court documents filed on Friday, charged an underage girl Have agreed to pay to have sex with her and other men.
Joel Greenberg is scheduled to plead guilty in six federal charges during a court appearance in Orlando on Monday – including sexual trafficking of a child. His association as a close aide to Getz indicates a significant increase in the Justice Department’s investigation and potentially increases the legal and political threat of the Florida Congress.
According to people familiar with the case, federal prosecutors are investigating whether Getz and Greenberg paid younger girls or offered them gifts in exchange for sex. There is no mention of Getz in the plea agreement, who has vehemently denied the allegations and any wrongdoing and insisted that he would not resign from his seat in Congress.
As part of his plea agreement, Greenberg admitted that he recruited women for commercial sex acts and paid them more than $ 70,000 from 2016 to 2018, including at least one underage girl for him and Paid to have sex with other people.
Prosecutors say Greenberg met the girl online – from a website where she was posing as an adult – and first met her on a boat, paying her $ 400. He later invited her to a hotel in Florida, where he and others had sex with her and also supplied ecstasy to the girl and others, according to the petition. Overall, prosecutors say Greenberg had sexual relations with the girl at least seven times.
“Greenberg also introduced the minor to other adult males who were engaged in commercial sexual acts with the minor,” the plea agreement states. The plea deal, signed on Wednesday, does not identify the men.
Prosecutors say Greenberg used his position as a Seminole County tax collector to access the state driver’s information database to “investigate” the women with whom he was having sex and at least Once the young girl was searched because she had “reason to believe the minor was under 18,” the plea agreement states.
Greenberg’s legal problems began last summer When he was arrested on charges of chasing a political opponent. According to an indictment filed against him, he mailed fake letters to the school where his opponent had taught, signed by a “very concerned student” who alleged that the teacher had sexually abused another student.
According to the indictment, Greenberg was accused in August of sexually trafficking a girl between the ages of 14 and 17 and using the state database to look up information about the girl and others with whom she was “sugar daddy” “Was involved in relationships.
According to the indictment, charges were added earlier this year on charges of embezzling $ 400,000 from the Seminole County Tax Collector’s Office.
People said investigators are also looking into whether Getz and her colleagues tried to get government jobs for some women. They are also investigating Getz’s connections to the medical marijuana field, including whether his colleagues sought to influence the Getz-sponsored legislation.
The people were aware of the investigation but spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity as they were not allowed to publicly discuss the ongoing investigation.
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