A federal court found former state Rep. Dwayne Taylor guilty of wire fraud for using campaign funds for personal expenses on Thursday.
Taylor, 49, who served in the state House of Representatives from 2008 to 2016, was indicted in March on nine counts of wire fraud. Read the indictment here.
With a conviction, Taylor now faces up to 20 years in prison per indictment for the crime.
The four-term state representative was accused of falsely reporting thousands of dollars in expenditures to the state of Florida during his 2012 and 2014 re-election campaigns, the indictment said.
It alleged, in part, that Taylor “would withdraw cash from the Dwayne L. Taylor Campaign Accounts at automated teller machines (ATMs) ... and, within minutes or hours, deposit the same or a similar amount of cash into one of (his) personal accounts.”
Under Florida law, it is illegal to use campaign money to defray normal living expenses.
Federal prosecutors said Taylor used campaign funds to live a ritzy lifestyle, rolling around in a Mercedes Benz while having a wedding at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City.
Though prosecutors allege Taylor stole more than $60,000 in campaign funds, his court case revolves around a much smaller amount of a little over $2,400.
Taylor refused to testify in the case, but jurors heard recorded interviews with him during the trial this week.
According to the Daytona Beach News Journal, a black juror was dismissed during the trial after Judge Carlos Mendoza’s court assistant saw the juror fall asleep during deliberations.
The juror was one of two blacks on the 12-person jury and their dismissal is likely to become a source of appeal for Taylor, who is also black.
After four terms, Taylor left the Legislature in 2016 because of term limits. Though he first announced he would run for Volusia County Commission chair against Republican Jason Davis, he changed his mind; instead, he ran unsuccessfully for Congress, losing in the District 6 Democratic primary.
Taylor isn’t the only former Florida lawmaker to run into trouble with the law.
In a similar case, former Rep. Reggie Fullwood, a Jacksonville Democrat pleaded guilty last year to one count of wire fraud and one count of failure to file an income tax return. Fullwood was sentenced Feb. 7 to six months of home detention followed by federal supervision for the fraud and tax convictions that forced him out of Florida’s Legislature.
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
