Former Plantation Mayor Charged with Criminal Misconduct

Former Plantation Mayor Lynn Stoner turned herself in at the Broward County Jail today after she was criminally charged with misconduct that occurred during her time as a public servant in elected office, Broward State Attorney Harold F. Pryor announced.

Broward prosecutors filed formal criminal charges against Stoner following an investigation with the Broward Office of the Inspector General.

Stoner is charged with one count of official misconduct, a third-degree felony, one count of falsification of records, a first-degree misdemeanor, and two counts of influencing a building official, a first-degree misdemeanor. She was released on her own recognizance while the case goes through the criminal justice system. The charges carry a maximum possible punishment of up to eight years in prison.

Between April and September of 2020, Stoner took a number of illegal actions to benefit a developer and his companies and projects in the city, the investigation found. Those actions included Stoner issuing a letter from the office of the Plantation mayor that falsely stated that Strata Group, LLC had successfully cleared up code violations and fines on one of its projects. This was false and the goal was to help the developer obtain a loan, according to court records. This action involved official misconduct and falsification of records by Stoner.

The two counts of influencing a building official relate to incidents in April of 2020 and between July and September of 2020.

In April 2020, Stoner “attempted to coerce, trick, persuade, or otherwise influence” a Plantation building official to “do her a favor” and write an official letter stating that Strata Group’s building code violations and fines had been resolved and/or to eliminate those violations. When the building official refused, Stoner issued the letter herself, resulting in the official misconduct charge.

Between July and September of that year, Stoner “threatened, coerced, tricked, persuaded, or otherwise influenced” the same city building official to try to get him to allow the developer to do construction work without a proper permit on a project known as Pixl.

Other allegations of misconduct by Stoner are still under review by prosecutors.