FDLE: Dem ally tied to Patronis’ personal info leak; no crime committed
TALLAHASSEE — A political consultant for Florida Democratic candidates used the driver’s license number of the Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, a Republican, to access his driving records, a report from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has revealed.
The report, though, concluded that Jake Wagman, a former South Florida resident who now lives in Granger, Ind., and owns Shield Political Research, committed no crime because the information was accessed for political, not fraudulent, purposes.
However, Patronis blames his opponent, Jeremy Ring, a former Democratic state senator from Margate, for using dirty tricks in the campaign.
“The fact that [Ring] paid the Florida Democratic Party which paid Jake Wagman, the man FDLE concludes posed as me in order to access my personal information, is a sad new low in this race,” Patronis said in a statement. “While I am relieved that FDLE investigators do not believe Ring’s researcher was trying to steal from me, the fact that he entered my personal information through a page that required him to confirm that he was ‘Jimmy Patronis’ is disturbing.”
Among the information in Patronis’ history was a 2017 accident he caused while driving in a state-issued vehicle to his political consultant’s office. No one was hurt in the accident.
Patronis also erroneously had his license suspended for a year over an insurance mix-up.
“It sounds like the Patronis campaign is admitting that the only fraud committed here was when CFO Patronis used taxpayer resources for political activities and then tried to cover it up until the press caught him redhanded,” Ring said in a Twitter post. “Too bad Jimmy has become Florida’s Chief Fraud Offi-
cer.”
Ring didn’t acknowledge hiring Wagman.
Wagman has done work for Florida Democrats in the past. The FDLE report states he obtained Patronis’ driver’s license number through a public records request for traffic citations, then used the number to access other driving records through a thirdparty website used by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
But prosecutors said because state law requires fraudulent intent, he couldn’t be charged.
According to the report, Wagman also accessed the driving histories of Roy David Walker, a Democratic candidate for agriculture commissioner, on behalf of Nikki Fried, another Democratic candidate for the position. Fried won the primary against Walker on Tuesday.