The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office has closed an investigation into blackmail and extortion allegations in North Bay Village by deciding that no crime was committed.
Former Commissioner Dr. Douglas Hornsby said he received threatening letters about his past forcing him to disclose he had been convicted of a felony drug charge years before.
Hornsby did not reveal the conviction on his voter registration cards. Miami Dade Elections Director Christina White wrote Hornsby telling him he had not been an eligible voter for two decades. North Bay Village commissioners must be registered voters in order to serve.
An investigation was launched after Hornsby alleged he received threats to in an attempt to influence him to resign or vote to fire the village manager at the time.
Hornsby said the threats came to him in the mail at his home.
In a close-out memo, the Public Corruption Unit of the State Attorney’s office released its findings in its nearly year-long investigation.
The memo says, “…there were no threats on any of the letters themselves and no independent witnesses that can testify to the three subjects threatening Hornsby.”
The memo mentions Mayor Connie Leon Kreps and two North Bay Village residents as those Hornsby suspected of foul play. Click here to see the memo.
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In January, Hornsby was voted off the commission after months of controversy.
Former police chief Carlos Noriega initially announced he was launching an investigation into Hornsby’s blackmail claims. At the time, Noriega sent out a media releasing saying the investigation may also include FDLE and the FBI.
Noriega was terminated from the village in April.
Friday, he filed a federal lawsuit saying his job should have been protected because he was a whistleblower who was trying to root out public corruption.
The village attorney, Norman Powell, called Noriega’s lawsuit completely without merit and frivolous.
The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office Friday also confirmed that no North Bay Village police officers would be prosecuted over an alleged Hurricane Irma party.
The NBC 6 Investigators exclusively obtained video from inside the police station the night of the storm. It showed that one officer blocked a surveillance camera.
It remained blocked nine hours.
One patrolman filed an internal affairs complaint alleging multiple officers were drinking on the job that night and the camera was concealed to prevent them from being seen.
A spokesperson for the state attorney said there was nothing that indicated a crime had been committed.
