Boston developer accused of fraud in Miami project
MIAMI (AP) – A Boston developer who promised a taxpayer-backed biotech project that would bring investment and jobs to one of Miami’s most blighted inner-city neighborhoods was arrested Thursday on charges of siphoning nearly $1 million for his own use.
Dennis Stackhouse, 67, surrendered to authorities on fraud and grand theft charges arising from the never-built, $118 million Poinciana Biopharmaceutical Park proposed for the Liberty City neighborhood. He was later released on $40,000 bail and faces a minimum of three years behind bars if convicted.
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said Stackhouse used a series of complex transactions, including double-billing, fraudulent invoices and 48 different bank accounts, to essentially steal from some of Miami’s poorest people. Some of the cash came from the nonprofit Miami-Dade Empowerment Trust, which was created with federal tax dollars to stimulate development and jobs in impoverished areas.
Instead of a grand biotech project, the 15-acre site sits abandoned.
“When you steal from the poorest of the poor, it just hurts deep down,” Rundle said. “There’s a huge sense of betrayal.”
Rundle said the investigation began after a series of 2007 stories in The Miami Herald and acknowledged that the case demonstrated problems in government oversight.
“It’s unfortunate that the county didn’t do a better job,” she said.
Stackhouse’s attorney, Larry Handfield, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But he earlier told the Herald that Stackhouse is innocent.
“He has not made a penny from this entire ordeal,” Handfield said.
According to court documents, Stackhouse stole about $990,000 from loans he obtained from the Miami-Dade Empowerment Trust and Tremont Realty Capital LLC in Boston. One method he allegedly used was to submit invoices to one of the lenders that had already been paid by the other as well as faked documents for work that was never performed.
The lead prosecutor on the case, Richard Scruggs, said more people could be charged and more charges could be added. Stackhouse’s arraignment is scheduled for Nov. 19.