State v. Dominguez
| Decision Date | 17 February 2010 |
| Docket Number | No. 3D08-2486.,3D08-2486. |
| Citation | 27 So.3d 782 |
| Parties | The STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Alvio DOMINGUEZ, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Lage Law Firm, and Gustavo D. Lage, Coral Gables, for appellee.
Before WELLS, CORTIÑAS, and SALTER, JJ.
The State appeals two rulings by the circuit court regarding the trial and conviction of Alvio Dominguez for official misconduct and grand theft. The first issue is whether the submission of falsified tuition reimbursement paperwork by a county employee was properly charged as eight separate violations of each statute (per the amended information) or should instead be considered one course of conduct and thus a single violation of the applicable statutes (as the trial court determined).
The second issue is whether the trial court erred by declining to assess the police investigative costs as part of the judgment of conviction pursuant to section 938.27(1), Florida Statutes (2007). We reverse on each of these points.
The amended information alleged, and the evidence at trial proved, that Dominguez sought and obtained tuition reimbursement from a county employee program for eight separate semesters of classes. The program required employees who also obtained military veterans' educational benefits to report and credit those amounts in submitting their out-of-pocket amounts for reimbursement by the county. Dominguez, himself a veteran and continuing service member with the National Guard, knew about this requirement but considered it discriminatory and unfair. Separately, and for each of the eight semesters, he prepared reimbursement requests that did not reflect a reduction in his expenses for the amounts he received as veterans' benefits. He then received and kept the resulting overpayments by the county. Although he had notified the county of his position that the county's requirement was improper, he did not advise the county that he was submitting reimbursement requests as if the requirement did not exist.
The initial information charged one count of official misconduct under section 838.022, and eight counts of grand theft under section 812.014, Florida Statutes (2007). The amended information charged eight counts of official misconduct, rather than a single count, and the same eight grand theft counts, with each semester's reimbursement request charged separately under each statute. The jury convicted Dominguez on all sixteen counts.
The trial court granted Dominguez's renewed motion for dismissal of seven counts under each statute, expressing on the record a concern that the State might have delayed the defendant's arrest or amended the information to exact a higher...
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Miami–dade County v. Dominguez
...for tuition charges he never paid. His multiple convictions (sixteen counts) were subsequently affirmed on appeal. State v. Dominguez, 27 So.3d 782, 784 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010). Thus, the circuit court departed from the essential requirements of law by: (1) reversing the County Manager's decisio......
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Miami-Dade Cnty. v. Dominguez, 3D11-1567
...for tuition charges he never paid. His multiple convictions (sixteen counts) were subsequently affirmed on appeal. State v. Dominguez, 27 So. 3d 782, 784 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010). Thus, the circuit court departed from the essential requirements of law by: (1) reversing the County Manager's decisi......
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State v. Fernandez
...of limitations. Each fraudulently-obtained payment of benefits is a separate violation under section 443.071(1). See State v. Dominguez, 27 So.3d 782 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010). The trial court erred in dismissing Count I in its totality, though the State's case may be limited to those allegedly-cr......
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...act of submitting false paperwork was a separate incident, and defendant was properly charged with separate counts. State v. Dominguez, 27 So. 3d 782 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010) Defendant and others were involved in the theft of a bag containing several electronic items. Defendant was caught in poss......