Former Florida county tax collector faces child sex-trafficking charge
A Florida county’s former tax collector allegedly paid for sex with an underage girl and tapped the state’s motor vehicle database for records on people with whom he was engaged in “sugar daddy” relationships, federal prosecutors said Friday.
Joel Greenberg, a Republican, was the elected Seminole County tax collector until his resignation in June.
Prosecutors leveled the charges in a new indictment unsealed in Orlando Federal Court that accuses Greenberg of sex trafficking a child.
The charge involves a girl, age 14 to 17, WESH-TV reported, citing an attorney representing Greenberg. It is punishable by a 10-year prison sentence.
The indictment says the crime took place during a six-month period in 2017.
“We vigorously deny the allegations in the second superseding indictment,” Greenberg’s attorney Vincent Citro said. “The government will not be able to prove this case, and we look forward to prevailing at trial.”
Greenberg resigned two months ago after the feds indicted him for the first time on charges of stalking a political opponent and producing false
In 2018, the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned Greenberg for what they said were “multiple Islamophobic, racist, and xenophobic Facebook posts.”
Photo credit: Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations