Asked in a questionnaire by Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers for TCPalm.com’s “Ask the Candidates” page whether they had been convicted of a felony, both candidates on the ballot for state Senate District 28 seat wrote “no.”

The answer from one of the candidates isn’t accurate, according to a Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers investigation.

According to court records and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Eastern Pennsylvania, Democrat Bill Ramos, a mortgage broker from Jensen Beach, pleaded guilty to a single count of embezzlement of postal funds — accepting a three-year probation and repaying the missing money — in 1989. That charge is a felony.

Ramos said Thursday he didn’t consider pleading “no contest” the same as a conviction.

“I answered specifically as it was asked,” Ramos said. “It just said have you ever been convicted of, and I answered no. I plead no contest.”

The court documents show Ramos pleaded guilty.

Assistant State Attorney John Cannizzaro, of Florida’s 19th Judicial Circuit in Fort Pierce, said judges advise defendants before they enter a guilty plea that the action is the same as being convicted at a jury trial.

“There is no difference,” he said.

Ramos’ opponent Republican Joe Negron, an attorney from Stuart, said he was told several months ago that there was a reference to the embezzlement charge on Ramos’ campaign Web site, but he otherwise had no comment.

“I think it’s a matter between him and the voters,” Negron said.

Ramos was accused of taking $4,922.16. He said Thursday he admits he took about $50, but only upon the advice of a senior worker in the Philadelphia U.S. Post Office where he was working.

“He said ‘Listen, just take some lunch money,’” Ramos said. “I said, ‘I don’t have any lunch money.’ He goes, ‘Just take a few bucks out of the drawer, put it back when you get paid, it’s no big deal.’”

Ramos said he had just been transferred into the clerk position and he was going through a divorce.

“I’m 20-some-odd-years-old, I’m listening to a guy in his mid 60s who had a long career with the post office,” Ramos said. “I was stupid. I don’t blame him. I should have known better, but my heart wasn’t there, and I wasn’t thinking.”

Before he could repay the money, he said he was questioned by postal authorities about the shortage in his drawer and pressured into signing a confession for the higher amount.

A U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman would only say Ramos worked for the federal agency from April 24, 1984, through Feb. 16, 1989.

U.S. Court records state Ramos agreed to repay the U.S. Post Office $4,682 — which included $300 in fines. He received only three years probation — the maximum penalty was up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 — because he lacked a criminal history and he admitted to the crime, according to court records.

Ramos said at the time he was the youngest, non-white employee in the Somerton Station office, but he didn’t want to make that an excuse.

David Dew, chairman of Martin County Democratic Party, said he has known about Ramos’ past since before he first ran for office in 2006. Dew said he thinks the Ramos was set up.

“If you never worked in a shop then you probably can’t see it, but he was set up by the guys in the shop,” Dew said.

This isn’t the first time Ramos was questioned about how he responded to having a criminal past.

In Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation paperwork for his real estate sales associate license, Ramos checked a box marked “no” when asked whether he had ever been convicted of a crime, found guilty, or entered a guilty plea to any municipal, county, state of federal offense, felony or misdemeanor. The question excluded parking, speeding and other similar traffic violations.

Ramos said he checked “no” because he was under the impression his record had been cleared after 10 years. After getting an attorney to contest the charge, he found out that was not accurate and accepted a five-year suspension of his real estate license. He was also fined $380 for violating two administrative complaints.

“That’s no excuse. It’s ignorance, but that was my reason,” Ramos said. “There was no reason for me to lie. I had declared it, provided all the documentation requested when I got my mortgage license and had it with no infractions whatsoever.”

Ramos had filled out the paperwork for the real estate license around Dec. 8, 2003, according to the state.

At the recommendation of Dew, Ramos alluded to the embezzlement charge on his campaign Web site, www.BillRamos.com.

“In my mid 20’s I learned a bitter lesson about trust and manipulation by those in positions of authority,” he states in a section titled “About Bill Ramos.”

“Almost 25 years ago, I was accused of theft by a trusted superior. Innocent, under pressure, and unable to afford an attorney, I was forced to accept a no contest plea to having taken money from my workplace.

“As so many before me and many more since, I learned firsthand what being poor and powerless meant. That single moment in time, almost 25 years ago, was a powerful lesson for me about trust and how it is so easily and casually abused by some.”

Ramos was 30 when he agreed to the three-year probationary sentence.

His probation was extended two years so he could complete the repayment and because of a recommendation from his probation officer that he needed drug treatment therapy, according to court records.

The initial terms of probation did not include reference to drug testing. Ramos said he did smoke marijuana at the time.

“Everybody I hung out with got high,” Ramos said. “I smoked it. I inhaled it. I enjoyed it and I grew out of it, life happens. If I’m condemned for that, then so be it.”

A background check of Florida Department of Law Enforcement records found only a minor motor vehicle ticket among the two candidates, given to Negron.

The embezzlement conviction does not preclude Ramos from running for office.

A requirement to run for the state office is that one must be a qualified elector — a registered voter — in the district.

A Pennsylvania Division of State spokeswoman said convicted felons are eligible to register once they complete their sentence, including probation.

Ramos said his right to vote was never taken away.

Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers researchers Marjorie Bril and Karen Bayha contributed to this report.
By Jim Turner, TCPalm.com

Tags: campaign, clerks, contest, court, Crime, divorce, drugs, election, federal, felony, fines, Florida, history, marijuana, missing, money, plea, probation, violations, vote, web

This entry was posted on Friday, July 24th, 2009 at 11:30 am and is filed under Courts, Crime, State, Treasure Coast business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.