Espinosa calls his '22 run 'ghost campaign'
Carlos Irizarry, a former Kissimmee City Commissioner who ran for election for the County Commission in 2022, was arrested over the weekend on 14 charges that he mis-represented his campaign finances.
He was arrested late Friday and booked into the Osceola County Jail, and has bonded out on $3,200 bail.
An arrest affidavit obtained from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, who has been investigating Irizarry since August 2022, shows eight charges of willful certification of false or incomplete campaign treasurer's report and six of false reporting or deliberate failure to include required information. These are violations of Florida State Statute 106, laws that oversee political campaigns and how they're financed.
Among the FDLE findings, Irizarry, "Did willfully certify the correctness of a campaign treasurer's report while knowing that such report was incorrect, false or incomplete, contrary to (Florida statute 106)" on occasions between June and August 2022. He entered the district 4 race in early Mar 2022, and served as his own campaign treasurer, which is legal under Florida law.
The report also says he "Did knowingly fail to report an expenditure required to be reported by Chapter 106," and that expenditures listed on campaign reports didn't align with bank records, which showed expenditures at two spas and a hair salon. He also reportedly made two donations to a religious organization's food pantry, but FDLE interviewed its pastor, who said Irizarry had not made any charitable donations from the campaign.
"Irizarry had certified these campaign treasurer's reports knowing they contained false information in violation of Florida Statutes chapter 106.07(5)," the report compiled by FDLE investigator David Snowden said.
It was Jackie Espinosa, who was also in that 2022 district 4 County Commission race, won by incumbent Cheryl Grieb, who filed the FDLE complaint last year based on a number of text message conversations when Irizarry entered the race, accusing him of being a "ghost candidate" put in the race by outside forces in order to dilute the Latino vote. Irizarry garnered 12.7% of the vote, Espinosa 38.9% and Grieb won with 48%.
Following the election, Espinosa filed a lawsuit challenging those results, claiming Irizarry was in the race solely to siphon away part of the area’s Hispanic vote to help ensure Grieb’s victory. The case was dismissed, but at an event Monday in her downtown Kissimmee eatery she noted she filed an appeal in the state's 6th District.
"Our complaint was that Mr. Irizarry was a ghost candidate to disenfranchise voters and help the incumbent win the race," Espinosa said Monday. "We are pleased to see our criminal complaint moving forward. His arrest has been bittersweet for me personally, Carlos was my friend, but I will stand my ground on principle. The message set forth by the FDLE is pretty powerful."
She is one of three people who have filed to run for Kissimmee mayor in 2024. She ran for that seat in 2020, losing a runoff to current Mayor Olga Gonzalez.
Irizarry, who did not return a call for this story, has reportedly said Espinosa's claims are "just based on gossip," and denied any "ghost" role in splitting votes. He has run for numerous positions in Osceola County, including his City Commission seat — which he was removed from by the state in 2010 after he reportedly threatened his wife with a gun at their child's school function — and the House of Representatives.
