Wakulla County Property Appraiser Brad Harvey has been arrested and suspended from office following an investigation into fraud by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Investigators found Harvey overpaid himself by $176,000 over three years. He also racked up nearly $27,000 in fraudulent charges to the Property Appraisers office credit card. Among the charges: a Carnival cruise.
Harvey is facing a 1st degree felony charge for the overpayments and a second degree felony for the credit card charges.
He had been under investigation by FDLE at least since October 2019. The agency acknowledges it had received multiple complaints from county employees regarding Harvey’s misuse of public money.
In September, the county administrator wrote a letter to the governor’s office, state lawmakers, state auditors, the FDLE and state lawmakers stating Harvey’s misuse of the office credit card and his excessive pay.
Harvey was arrested Friday and booked into the Wakulla County jail. State Attorney Jack Campbell’s office will handle the case.
