Indicted Lynn Haven developer James Finch claims dirty deeds by law enforcement

LYNN HAVEN — With a trial date of May 31 looming, former Mayor Margo Anderson and construction company owner and co-defendant James Finch are holding out hope a federal court judge will throw out the criminal cases against them.

The pair are charged with working together to defraud the citizens of Lynn Haven of honest services and conspiring to enrich themselves through bribes and kickbacks. Each also is charged with lying to federal agents investigating their case.

At evidentiary hearings in late March and early April and in court memoranda filed since then, attorneys for Anderson and Finch have attacked the government's case against them and accused investigators for both the FBI and the Bay County Sheriff's Office of breaking the law.

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A final deadline for both sides to have turned in supplemental briefs for closing arguments has been set for May 24. Judge Mark Walker could issue an order on the status of the case sometime after that date.

In a "Post-Evidentiary Hearing Brief" filed on behalf of Finch, attorney Guy Lewis called on Walker to dismiss the case against his client, with prejudice, based on "the government's repeated, flagrant misconduct" in building its case.

Anderson confirmed her lawyer has filed a similar brief.

Among the charges levied in the defense brief is one that prosecutors withheld information implicating an investigating officer in extensive corruption.

The brief said defense attorneys had caught on to the conduct thanks to testimony provided by former Lynn Haven City Manager Michael White and former Erosion Control Specialist owner David White. The two have pleaded guilty to charges resulting from their conspiring to steal about $5 million from Lynn Haven following Hurricane Michael in 2018.

The officer singled out by the defense team was BCSO Maj. Jimmy Stanford. Finch's attorney claimed Stanford had a "close financial relationship" with Derwin White, the now-deceased head of GAC Contracting who the brief claims had been "identified as a target of the investigation" that ensnared Anderson and Finch.

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It said David "Mickey" White, Derwin White's nephew, had offered testimony implicating the GAC Contracting owner.

The brief stated many of Stanford's alleged crimes "occurred while investigating this very case."

BCSO spokeswoman Ruth Corley declined comment on the allegations made against Stanford. She said the sheriff's office is bound by court order not to comment on the ongoing case.

"We cannot say anything about anything," she said.

Corley did confirm Stanford remains on active duty with the sheriff's office.

"Sheriff Ford would encourage everyone to withhold judgment until the official response to these allegations is released by the U.S. Attorney's Office," Corley said.

The brief also calls into question "the investigative tactics, professional judgment and honesty" of FBI agent Larry Borghini, a lead agent in the Lynn Haven investigation.

"Despite receiving information from multiple sources that Major Stanford was involved in significant criminal conduct and was intimately connected to the targets, neither agent Borghini, nor the government notified the Bay County Sheriff's Office nor attempted to remove or isolate Major Stanford from the ongoing investigation," it said.

Lewis also claimed in the briefing that Borghini utilized former Assistant State Attorney Greg Wilson, who had been convicted of sneaking contraband into the Bay County Jail, to spy on Finch, his co-defendants and attorneys for the defense. It also claims Borghini lied under oath about Wilson during the evidentiary hearing.

"Agent Borghini's April 6, 2022, testimony was fabricated. It was demonstrably false," Lewis wrote. "His testimony is simply not credible. He has provided false information before the grand juries and again before this court at the April 6, 2022, evidentiary hearing."

The brief also accused federal officials with violating court orders regarding the disclosure of evidence, withholding "Brady Material" that implicates law enforcement officials for acts of dishonesty and "multiple and repeated" violations of court orders and intentional suppression of evidence favorable to the defense.

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The defense brief also names former Lynn Haven Engineer Chris Forehand. It claims the government had claimed to have provided Forehand with immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony. It points to Forehand as a major player in the criminal enterprise that took over Lynn Haven.

"Forehand's involvement in the multiple indictments permeate every aspect of the case," it said.

Lewis claimed prosecutors never provided proof the engineer had been offered a deal in exchange for his testimony in the case against Anderson and Finch.

"Maybe the most egregious" of the federal government's failings in investigating the case of Finch and Anderson, the brief said, "is that the government repeatedly presented false and misleading information to multiple federal grand juries in ways designed to irretrievably prejudice the defendants."

Anderson was still serving as mayor when she was originally indicted Aug. 18, 2020, along with then City Attorney Adam Albritton, on more than 60 federal charges. Those included conspiring to defraud, numerous counts of wire fraud and embezzlement of federal funds. She also faced counts of depriving the city of Lynn Haven and its residents of their right to honest services and lying to federal agents.

Finch, owner of Phoenix Construction, later would be indicted and Anderson was further charged with conspiring with Finch to steer construction projects to his company in exchange for gifts of travel and in one instance, a motor home.

Some of the illegally procured projects indirectly involved Hurricane Michael debris removal and others occurred well before the storm, according to the indictments.

The Anderson and Albritton indictments came nine months after five others, including former Lynn Haven City Manager Michael White, had been charged with federal crimes. Those charges stemmed from a scheme in which two businesses worked with White to falsify invoices that allowed them to steal millions in FEMA debris removal funding assistance coming to the city following Hurricane Michael in October 2018.

White, Albritton, former Lynn Haven City Commission member Antonius Brown and former Lynn Haven Leisure Services Director David Horton were all charged ahead of or along with Anderson and Finch for conspiring to defraud the city.

David White and his sister, Shannon Rodriguez, both with ECS, and Joshua Anderson, owner of Greenleaf Lawn Care of Bay County, also were charged in the corruption case.

All of those charged other than Anderson and Finch have pleaded guilty and continue to await sentencing.

This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Former Lynn Haven Mayor Anderson, James Finch want case thrown out