Here's A Copy Of The $200,000 Check Made Out To Miami Police Chief Miguel Exposito

By Tim Elfrink Tue., Jul. 5 2011 at 12:03 PM

When a royal brouhaha erupted last week over Miami Police Chief Miguel Exposito's allegations that city officials offered him a "bribe" to resign, Riptide filed a Freedom of Information Act request for a copy the infamous $200,000 check.

Well, the check just landed in our inbox. It shows that Mayor Tomas Regalado (who says the payout was a legal "severance" offer) was right about one thing -- ex-Chief Financial Officer Larry Spring looks to have been the city official signing off on the deal.

Email records show that Spring emailed Finance Director Diana Gomez at 5:54 p.m. on Jan. 12, saying: "Per City Manager, please prepare an check (sic) in the amount of $200,000 payable to Miguel Exposito."

Minutes later, he sent a second email telling her "this is a settlement type check."

A check was cut that same day on a City of Miami bank account at Wachovia for $200,000. A copy of the same check with "VOID" written in black marker is also included in the records.

Nothing in the file obviously contradicts Regalado's version of events: That Spring, acting on behalf of ex-City Manager Tony Crapp Jr., prepared the $200,000 payment as part of a severance offer to the chief.

Here's the check:

And here's the full file with the email trail:

Expositocheck

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Miguel Exposito

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Armando D. Villorin

Chief Exposito receive from my family and I our most warm solidarity and moral support in your dispute with the corrupts public officials at city hall of Miami.

I worked as a Public Information Officer at the Miami Police Department for several years and I always observed on Chief Exposito an excellent police officer with a high grade of honesty and professionalism.

Armando D. Villorin ArmVillo@yahoo.com

nevernot

Now that this has played out on the local media how long until Katherine Fernandez Rundle decides not to indict? How long until our state attorney general passes the buck and a blind eye to outright corruption in Miami and fails to indict?