Posted on 14 March 2013.
ORLANDO, FL — Florida’s lieutenant governor resigned and nearly 60 other people were charged in a widening scandal of a purported veterans charity that authorities said Wednesday was a $300 million front for illegal gambling.
Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll’s resignation came a day after she was questioned in the investigation. Her public relations firm did work for the St. Augustine-based charity Allied Veterans of the World, but she has not been accused of wrongdoing.
Authorities said the probe involved 57 arrest warrants and 54 search warrants issued at gambling operations in 23 Florida counties and five other states: South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Nevada and Pennsylvania.
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said charges, which will be formally filed next week, include racketeering, conspiracy, money laundering and possession of slot machines.
Authorities refused to discuss any ties between Carroll, a 53-year-old Republican, and the investigation. Her aides had no immediate comment.
Carroll, a Navy veteran who served in the Gulf War, appeared in a TV ad in 2011 promoting the organization’s charitable work on behalf of veterans and their families.
Carroll’s resignation letter to Gov. Rick Scott offered no details about her reason for leaving, but the Republican governor said in a statement she resigned so her ties to the company would not be a distraction for the administration.
Carroll, an immigrant from Trinidad, served 20 years in the U.S. Navy, working as a jet mechanic before retiring as a lieutenant commander. Elected to the state House in 2003, she’s served as deputy majority leader and majority whip. She’s also a former executive director of the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs. She moved to Florida in 1986.
A married mother of three, Carroll has a son who plays defensive back for the Miami Dolphins.
Carroll was the brunt of late-night talk show hosts last summer after she apologized for offending lesbians when she said black women who engage in those relationships don’t look like her.