Trial begins for Florida mayor accused of corruption

By Zachary Fagenson MIAMI (Reuters) - Former Homestead, Florida, Mayor Steven Bateman went on trial in Monday on charges he illegally held a $125-an-hour consulting job while serving in office and used his position to fast-track construction deals. Bateman, 59, arrested in August 2013, was charged with two felony counts of illegal compensation and three misdemeanors for allegedly breaking Miami-Dade County ethics rules. He was mayor of Homestead, a city south of Miami, from 2009 to 2013. Bateman has admitted to working as an outside consultant for a healthcare company, although he said it did not affect his mayoral duties. State prosecutors alleged, however, that Bateman illegally lobbied the town council, of which he was a member, to help speed construction of a child-care center. “I had to wear two hats,” Bateman told the Miami Herald last week. “I think I did a good job separating the hats, and we’ll prove that.” Bateman is the latest in a growing list of south Florida mayors to face prosecution this year for public corruption, although several were acquitted by juries. Sweetwater Mayor Manuel Maroño is serving a 40-month sentence after pleading guilty to accepting thousands of dollars of kickbacks. Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi was acquitted of several corruption charges by a federal jury in August. Former Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina was also acquitted in April on federal charges of conspiring to avoid paying taxes on $2 million in income and lying to authorities. In May, federal officials arrested North Miami Mayor Marie Lucie Tondreau, and alleged she was part of a mortgage fraud scheme that bilked more than $8 million from lenders. Tondreau, the city’s first Haitian-American mayor, has pleaded not guilty. (Editing by David Adams and Peter Cooney)