Michael Grieco To Resign, Accept Plea Deal: Reports

MIAMI BEACH, FL — Miami Beach Commissioner Michael Grieco is expected to resign his seat on Tuesday and accept a plea deal over a misdemeanor election crime, according to two news organizations. Grieco did not respond to a Patch request for comment on Monday night.

Both Local 10 News and The Miami Herald quoted anonymous sources late Monday in reporting that Grieco will take a plea agreement in connection with a misdemeanor violation of state campaign laws. The offense was related to Grieco's one-time mayoral bid.

Under the terms of the deal, Grieco will not be permitted to run for public office for a one-year period and will agree to pay the costs of the criminal investigation, according to an unnamed source cited by The Herald.

The former Miami-Dade prosecutor dropped his re-election bid for his commission seat in September, one week after Patch published an article questioning Grieco's misleading Facebook posts during Hurricane Irma. In making that announcement, Grieco urged his two opponents "to run campaigns befitting the people they wish to serve" and he appealed for privacy. He was first elected in 2013.

See also Facebook Said Commissioner Was In Miami Beach As Irma Struck. He Was Not.

"Because of the many sacrifices I’ve had to make, my family, my clients, my health and my law practice, I have decided this is the right time to join Commissioner Malakoff and Mayor Levine in retiring from the Miami Beach City Commission," Grieco said at the time. "I am no longer seeking another term. Effective today, I am withdrawing as a candidate for re-election."

The Patch article revealed that Grieco had made misleading Facebook posts during the worst of Hurricane Irma on Sept. 10. The posts said that "Commissioner Michael Grieco is in Miami Beach" while he later acknowledged in an interview that he was more than 200 miles away in Orlando at the time.

Grieco earlier dropped out of the city's mayoral race following a series of Miami Herald reports that claimed to link him to an outside fundraising group. He took aim at the Patch report in a campaign email that referred to Patch as a "questionable blog" but he did not deny making the Facebook posts or apologize for them.

"In response to Hurricane Irma, I have assisted thousands of our residents in multiple ways: through my staff, social media, and hands-on personal assistance," Grieco insisted in the campaign email.

Photo by Paul Scicchitano