Former North Miami Beach mayoral reprieve: Plead guilty to election fraud, get probation
On the eve of his trial and almost two years after being charged with five counts of election fraud, former North Miami Beach Mayor Anthony DeFillipo reached a settlement with the state that will keep him out of prison and leave him without a formal conviction.
DeFillipo, 53, who was facing a prison sentence in excess of 20 years for voting three times while not living in the city, will now serve four years probation, is required to do 200 hours of community service and forbidden from ever seeking political office again.
The deal was brokered as Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Ellen Sue Venzer was informing jurors of their potential obligation and just after jury selection had begun.
“You need to understand that if you violate probation in any way, you’re looking at five years and 60 days in state prison,” the judge told the former mayor, who was accused of voting in three North Miami Beach elections over a four month period, while living in Davie.
The state contends that DeFillipo voted three times in 2022 during a North Miami Beach election while he was living in a Davie home in exclusive Southwest Ranches that he bought with his wife. He first voted in an August primary, then in the October general election and again in a November runoff. Each of those votes carried a count of election fraud. He was also charged with falsely swearing and a charter violation.
In the end, DeFillipo agreed to plead guilty to a single count of voting from outside the district and the charter violation. The false swearing charge was dropped. If he violates his probation, the former mayor could face more than five years in prison. The judge also agreed to withhold adjudication, a legal term that secures guilt but not a conviction if terms of the settlement are met.
DeFillipo, who has been working as a realtor, is married with two sons.
“This case was resolved in a way that the mayor can move forward with his life without a felony record. And he can move forward with his future work and family and put this behind him,” DeFillipo’s attorney Michael Pizzi said. The former mayor was also represented by defense attorney Ben Kuehne.
Cellphone GPS, property records boost state’s case
Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney Annette Rasco was able to bolster the state’s case through property record searches and by collecting data from DeFillipo’s cellphone.
Despite claims by the former mayor that he was living in his mother’s North Miami Beach condo, Rasco collected information through GPS co-oridnates on DeFillipo’s cellphone that showed he spent every night over the four month voting period - even almost all of 2022 - at his Davie property.
The state was also prepared to hear testimony from a man who claimed to be renting DeFillipo’s mother’s apartment during the time period DeFillipo claimed to be there. The man said they were not roommates.
Arrested on Memorial Day in 2023, DeFillipo was originally under investigation by the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics & Public Trust for the charter violation of voting outside the city where he lived. DeFillipo and his wife purchased the two-story, six-bedroom home in Davie’s Sierra Ranches community for $1,226,500 in July 2022, according to Broward County property records. He told prosecutors his wife and sons moved into the home a month later while he remained in North Miami Beach.
A week after his arrest, DeFillipo was suspended from office by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. DeFillipo was the third North Miami Beach Mayor to be charged with crimes by the state in the past 11 years.
This story was originally published January 27, 2025 at 5:29 PM.
