Ex-Keys Commissioner Pinched, Faces Year In Jail Over Alleged Use Of Dead Man's Social Security Number To Score Bogus Homestead Exemption Tax Claim

The Florida Keys Keynoter reports:

• Former Florida Keys Mosquito Control Board Commissioner Charles Langstaff has been charged with misdemeanor homestead-exemption fraud in Levy County. A commissioner representing the Upper Keys for 12 years, the 66-year-old Langstaff allegedly used the Social Security number of a dead Islamorada man to secure a homestead on his Morriston property near Gainesville.

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• Levy County State Attorney William Cervone filed the charge April 7. The charging document says that on Jan. 29, 2001, and continuing through March 1, 2010, Langstaff "did knowingly and willfully give false information for the purpose of claiming homestead exemption."
• Florida homeowners are allowed one homestead exemption, which allows for a property tax break on their permanent residence. Langstaff already had a homestead exemption on his Key Largo home.
• The charge is a first-degree misdemeanor that carries penalties up to a year in county jail and a $5,000 fine.

For more, see Langstaff to answer homestead-exemption charge.