Federal judge rejects request
Joel Greenberg’s attorney asked to drop charges
Without comment, a federal judge this week denied a pair of requests by Joel Greenberg’s attorney to throw out four charges against the former Seminole County Tax Collector, including that Greenberg stalked a political opponent, stole his identity by creating fake social media accounts to post false and derogatory information, and used two fake IDs that he allegedly created.
Greenberg ’s attorney Vincent A. Citro made a motion in July that Greenberg’s actions regarding the fake social media accounts were protected under the
First Amendment, and that social media sites have “countless posts intended to harass and/or cause substantial emotional distress.”
Citro added the federal statute that federal prosecutors used to charge Greenberg is “unconstitutionally vague” and violate his Fifth Amendment rights of due process because the law doesn’t clearly state what specific conduct is unlawful nor gives a standard of what emotional distress Greenberg’s alleged victim, a school teacher, suffered.
In August, Citro filed a second motion requesting that two of the four charges against Greenberg that he created and used fake driver’s licenses also should be tossed. Citro argued that because Greenberg already is A charged with creating fake
IDs, charging him also with using the fake IDs is “multiplicitous” and violates the Constitution’s double jeopardy clause.
Greenberg also faces six additional charges, including sex trafficking allegations from federal prosecutors who said that he illegally used a state database to look up private information about a girl between the ages of 14 and 17 as well as individuals with whom he was engaged in “sugar daddy” relationships. In his order on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell said Greenberg and his attorneys have until Oct.
2 to file a new motion to dismiss the new charges.
Greenberg, who resigned in June, has pleaded not guilty on all 12 charges and remains free. But he must wear an ankle monitor and has an 8 p.m. curfew.