Former St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara, a long-serving Democrat, has been found guilty in a ghost candidate voting fraud scheme.
Mascara, first elected in 2000, served six terms before retiring in December 2023.
The Florida Ethics Commission Board recently voted on penalties stemming from a complaint initiated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), which uncovered troubling evidence against Mascara.
According to reports from TC Palm, the FDLE’s investigation revealed that Mascara collaborated with others to recruit Kevin Carter, a retired deputy, to run as a candidate in the primary election against Richard Williams, a former Florida Highway Patrol trooper.
Carter defeated Williams in the primary but lost to Mascara in the general election,
After an investigation deemed there was probable cause for wrongdoing, Mascara faced a choice: he could have requested an evidentiary hearing conducted by the state Division of Administrative Hearings. Instead, he opted for a stipulated agreement with the state Attorney General’s Office, effectively admitting to misconduct.
In December 2023, just days before the ethics commission’s ruling, Mascara resigned from his position, citing unspecified health reasons—a move many now speculate was an attempt to evade impending scrutiny.
As part of the settlement with the commission, Mascara has been ordered to pay a $5,000 civil penalty and has received both a public censure and reprimand for abusing his position of power, according to WFLX.
In his admission before the commission, he acknowledged encouraging another candidate to run against him within the sheriff’s office—a clear violation of Florida’s ethics laws.
WFLX reported:
Investigators say they found a plan for the other candidate to concede to Mascara after winning the primary election.
FDLE opened a criminal investigation after the 2020 race where investigators say they found Mascara had his subordinates run his opponent’s campaign, make and place signs and create the campaign’s website.
Mascara was also accused of providing cash to straw donors to give to the other candidate’s campaign.
An outside State Attorney’s Office ultimately did not bring criminal charges against Mascara, saying that there was no clear money trail they could prove.
Mascara has not taken any questions about the allegations, but wrote in a Facebook post he did not imagine that encouraging people to enter the democratic process was unethical.
