Friday July 6 1:34 PM ET
Ex-Miami Police Chief Gets Year in Jail for Fraud
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MIAMI (Reuters) - A former Miami police chief and city manager who was forced to resign in the wake of the Elian Gonzalez saga was sentenced to a year and a day in jail on Friday for defrauding a local charity of thousands of dollars.
Donald Warshaw was a respected public servant when he was indicted in September 2000 on charges that he looted the charity to pay for vacations, lingerie and hockey tickets. His fall from grace was another blow to a city mocked as a ``Banana Republic'' for a series of corruption scandals, election scams and the antics of local officials.
Warshaw pleaded guilty in April to wire fraud for using the credit card and bank accounts of the Do The Right Thing charity, which was set up to recognize young adults for their positive contributions to the community, to make $70,000 in personal purchases over a seven-year period. Warshaw was a board member of the charity.
U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno ordered Warshaw to pay back the stolen funds and told him to report on Sept. 4 to serve his sentence.
``I did what I did, blame no one else for it and accept the decision of the court,'' Warshaw said outside the Miami federal courthouse.
In April 2000, Warshaw was ousted from his city manager's job by Miami Mayor Joe Carollo, who accused him of corruption.
The move was viewed by some as political payback after Warshaw refused Carollo's demand to fire Miami Police Chief William O'Brien, who had supervised the policing of the Little Havana home where Elian Gonzalez was staying with his Miami relatives.
The Cuban shipwreck survivor, then aged 6, was snatched from the home by federal agents and handed over to his father for return to Cuba in a dramatic predawn raid on April 22, 2000. Miami police, under O'Brien, helped secure the area during the raid.
Cuban exiles, angry over the seizure of Elian and the prospect of his return to communist-run Cuba, confronted local police in heated street protests.
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