Warrant issued for state senator. Dawson (FL-D) wanted on drug fraud charge

Tallahassee Democrat ^ | 10/02/2002 | Democrat staff writers and The Miami Herald contributed to this report.

[Luis Gonzalez]

	Posted on Thu, Oct. 10, 2002
	Warrant issued for state senator Dawson wanted on drug fraud charge DEMOCRAT STAFF AND NEWS SERVICES Associated Press tate Sen. Mandy Dawson, D-Fort Lauderdale, is shown in a file photo, date and location not known. An arrest warrant was issued Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2002, for Dawson on a prescription drug fraud charge. The Tallahassee Police Department issued an arrest warrant Wednesday on a prescription-drug fraud charge for Fort Lauderdale state Sen. Mandy Dawson. "I don't have the details on what the charges are," said Chief Walt McNeil when reached at home Wednesday night. "It does have something to do with prescription fraud." McNeil said the department plans to release a statement today. Two Tallahassee Democrat sources said Wednesday evening that the case involves an altered prescription. A woman who answered the door of Dawson's Coconut Creek home told a reporter from The Miami Herald that the senator wasn't there late Wednesday. Dawson, 46, also did not return the Herald's telephone calls to her office and cellular phone. After she was rebuked two years ago by the Senate president for being late, Dawson said she was oversleeping because she was taking prescription painkillers, Imitrex and Vicodin, for migraine headaches. She underwent spinal surgery earlier this year. The impending arrest comes four weeks before Dawson, a Democrat, will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot, opposed only by nonpartisan candidate Fred Segal. She handily defeated 24-year-old political newcomer Corey Alston in the Sept. 10 primary. A spokeswoman for Gov. Jeb Bush told the Herald that his office had no information about the arrest warrant. The governor cannot suspend a state senator or representative, nor can he strike Dawson's name from the ballot. The Senate can suspend or remove a member with a two-thirds vote. This is not the first time Dawson has had run-ins with the law. She was charged in 1986 with grand theft, a felony, in connection with the writing of nine bad checks. The charge was dropped after she paid $1,105 in restitution. Also dismissed were numerous misdemeanors involving bad checks. She also was charged with welfare fraud, though the case was dropped in 1981. Dawson overcame the challenges of teenage motherhood to become Broward County's first black woman elected to the Florida House in 1992. She served three terms before running for the Senate in 1998. Her predominantly black district runs from Fort Lauderdale to Riviera Beach.

[Luis Gonzalez]

You know, you get to the part about how she had back surgery, and you start cutting her some slack, then you get here:

"This is not the first time Dawson has had run-ins with the law. She was charged in 1986 with grand theft, a felony, in connection with the writing of nine bad checks. The charge was dropped after she paid $1,105 in restitution. Also dismissed were numerous misdemeanors involving bad checks. She also was charged with welfare fraud, though the case was dropped in 1981."

Oh well, at least we still have Alcee.

[Zon]

This is not the first time Dawson has had run-ins with the law. She was charged in 1986 with grand theft, a felony, in connection with the writing of nine bad checks. The charge was dropped after she paid $1,105 in restitution. Also dismissed were numerous misdemeanors involving bad checks. She also was charged with welfare fraud, though the case was dropped in 1981.

Dawson overcame the challenges of teenage motherhood to become Broward County's first black woman elected to the Florida House in 1992.

Apparently she hasn't overcome here desire to be a petty criminal. My gosh, she's on easy street being a hidden criminal in congress and she still chooses to be a moonlight petty criminal.

The Tallahassee Police Department issued an arrest warrant Wednesday on a prescription-drug fraud charge for Fort Lauderdale state Sen. Mandy Dawson.