Former Keys commissioner arrested, accused of using campaign funds to pay for Netflix

Former Florida Keys county commissioner Eddie Martinez surrendered on Wednesday to face allegations he failed to report campaign expenditures — and used campaign money to pay for personal expenses with businesses such as CVS, U-Haul and Netflix.

Martinez was booked into a Miami-Dade jail on Wednesday afternoon, records show, on a dozen misdemeanor counts. He’ll eventually face trial in Monroe County.

First elected in 2020, Martinez, 47, served about a year in office before resigning over “health issues.” He quit in December 2021, a week after his arrest on a domestic violence charge at one of his homes in Hialeah.

“We’re going to fight the case. We hope for a speedy resolution. He’ll have his day in court,” said his defense attorney, Sabino Jauregui.

Although the charges stem from conduct that took place in Monroe County, law enforcement officials there recused themselves from the case. The governor’s office assigned the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office to investigate.

According to an arrest warrant, Martinez failed to report numerous transactions on state-required campaign treasurer reports, including withdrawing campaign cash from ATMs and spending campaign money through a debit card.

He’s also accused of improperly accepting a $3,000 federal loan that’s supposed to go to relief for small businesses affected by the pandemic — prosecutors say it exceeded the legal contribution limit of $1,000.

Bank records also showed he took out over $2,000 in campaign cash between November 2020 and Jan. 11, 2021, and used campaign money to pay bills with Netflix, CVS and U-Haul.

Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Investigator Bob Fielder interviewed Martinez twice, according to the warrant, and the former commissioner could not explain the discrepancies on his campaign finance reports.

Martinez’s election to the Monroe County Commission in 2020 was surprising — the Republican narrowly bested incumbent Democrat Heather Carruthers to represent District 3, which includes a portion of Key West.

Carruthers sued Martinez shortly after the election, arguing he never lived in the district at any time prior to being elected, a lawsuit that was ultimately dropped. After his misdemeanor battery arrest in Hialeah, during which he admitted he had a drug problem, three fellow county commissioners called for him to resign.

Martinez was arrested again in April stemming from another dispute with his estranged wife, this time on charges of robbery by sudden snatching, tampering with a witness and battery. Both cases are still pending.

His defense attorney, Jauregui, said he is working with the State Attorney’s Office to address the domestic violence charges.

“It’s my hope both cases will get dismissed,” Jauregui said.

Miami Herald staff writer David Goodhue contributed to this report.

This story was originally published June 15, 2022 at 4:08 PM.