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Condo deal faces scrutiny

The state attorney wants more information on how the former Clearwater mayor got his condo, then sold it for a big profit.

By AARON SHAROCKMAN
Published December 14, 2005

	PREVIOUS COVERAGE A hot property. A proponent. A payday. Editorial: A violation of trust

The Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office has opened a criminal investigation into former Clearwater Mayor Brian Aungst's 2004 purchase and sale of a Clearwater Beach condo in a development that Aungst strongly supported while in office.

Investigators plan to question Aungst and expect to complete their work within two weeks, State Attorney Bernie McCabe said Tuesday.

Records from the project's developers, JMC Communities of St. Petersburg, have been subpoenaed, and JMC president J. Michael Cheezem and his partner, David Mack of Connecticut, will be questioned too, said their attorney, Denis deVlaming of Clearwater.

McCabe said the probe was prompted by a Nov. 27 story in the St. Petersburg Times detailing how Aungst bought and sold his condo in just two days - netting a $233,000 profit, or 67 percent on his investment. The Times' review of the transaction also raised questions about whether then-Mayor Aungst was given an opportunity to invest that was not available to other buyers.

Cheezem said in a written statement issued Tuesday that he and his company will cooperate with the State Attorney's Office. Prosecutors have asked for JMC's private sales records documenting Aungst's purchase. More than 75 pages of documents have been turned over to investigators, deVlaming said Tuesday.

Aungst on Tuesday said he has not been contacted by investigators but welcomes their phone call.

"Let's clear my name and get it over with," said the two-term mayor, who left office in January 2005.

He maintains that he received no favor from developers and that his support for the project was consistent with his efforts to back redevelopment during his six years as mayor.

"There's nothing out there," said Aungst, 51, public relations director for Bright House Networks. "There's nothing we did wrong."

At issue for prosecutors is whether Aungst received special treatment in buying his condo in the $130-million complex named Belle Harbor, which met with controversy when proposed in 2001.

Aungst repeatedly argued for the Belle Harbor proposal, strongly urging his four City Council colleagues to support it. Eventually, they did.

McCabe would not say Tuesday what specific charges his office is considering.

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Kehoe of Tampa, who has prosecuted and defended public corruption cases, said that if a connection could be established between Aungst's support and the opportunity he had to buy a condo in Belle Harbor, charges could include bribery or unlawful reward for official behavior, both second-degree felonies.

Such a case might be a challenge for prosecutors because they would need to re-create the interactions between the parties involved, said Kehoe, head of the trial division of Tampa law firm James, Hoyer, Newcomer & Smiljanich.

"In a historical investigation, telephone conversations haven't been taped. Deals haven't been monitored," Kehoe said. "You have to depend on people's recollections. And recollections differ."

A key date in Aungst's transaction was June 10, 2002. That day a line of 30 buyers had waited for as long as two weeks outside the Belle Harbor sales center to reserve one of the units. But Aungst told the Times he neither waited in line nor phoned in that day. And by day's end, all units in his floor plan were sold, other buyers told the Times.

Aungst was called by the Belle Harbor staff that day and told he could pick out a unit the following day. Aungst has acknowledged he had told JMC partner Mack that he was interested in buying a unit.

On June 11, he put money down on No. 404, a two-bedroom Bonaire model priced at $347,000. It was the smallest of the initial 111 condos offered and the cheapest with a view of the harbor.

When it was built two years later, Aungst closed on a Wednesday, then resold the unit on Friday for $580,000.

"I took a gamble like everyone else investing in property," he said.

Aaron Sharockman can be reached at asharockman@sptimes.com or 727 445-4160.

[Last modified December 14, 2005, 08:25:55]