Gabrielle Russon
Embattled former Rep. Carolina Amesty is trying to get her Orange County Sheriff’s forgery arrest records expunged.
Amesty’s politically connected lawyer, Michael Sasso, filed an Orange Circuit Court motion to expunge the records, noting that the prosecutor had ultimately dismissed the felony forgery charges against her.
A July 1 filing also says her “criminal history record on file with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has been sealed.”
Sasso did not immediately respond for comment for this story.
The forgery charges hung over Amesty as she lost her race for re-election last year. Amesty, a Republican, became the subject of an Orlando Sentinel investigation which later led to the forgery charges.
“Amesty notarized a form in September 2021 claiming Robert Shaffer, a veteran educator with a Ph.D. from the University of Florida, was an employee at the university,” the Sentinel reported. “But Shaffer, who previously served as the principal of the adjacent K-12 school run by Amesty’s family, told the Sentinel he never worked at the university nor signed the form Amesty said he did.”
Amesty was later indicted in state court after a grand jury alleged she forged a signature on a document she notarized for Central Christian University, a small private school she ran with her family.
State Attorney Andrew Bain later dropped the four forgery-related felony charges.
Meanwhile, in a separate ongoing criminal case, federal prosecutors are asking for more time to obtain an indictment, the Orlando Sentinel reported. Amesty is accused of fraudulently obtaining $122,000 worth of loans intended to help small businesses during the COVID pandemic.
For her federal criminal case, Amesty is represented by Brad Bondi, the brother of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. But in the forgery case, Amesty’s lawyer is Sasso.
DeSantis had appointed Sasso to serve on the Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board (CFTOD) when the state took over Disney World’s Governing Board.
Sasso is also close friends with former Orange County Elections Supervisor Glen Gilzean, another DeSantis appointee with a controversial tenure. Sasso had represented Gilzean in court during legal matters involving the Supervisor of Elections Office last year. Gilzean had previously been the CFTOD Administrator.
Amesty is trying to fundraise money for her legal defense.
“Conservative leaders are targeted, smeared, and dragged through the mud because they refuse to bend to the leftist agenda,” according to her website trying to convince MAGA supporters to help her. “Carolina Amesty has been falsely accused, publicly vilified, and politically persecuted by partisan forces who want to silence her voice and intimidate anyone who shares our beliefs.”
