Leon County Commissioner Scott Maddox, Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell and State Attorney Willie Meggs are all on the witness list for a defendant in the Allied Veterans gambling case. Find out why here: http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/Top-Florida-Officials-Named-As-Defense-Witnesses-in-Gambling-Case-206466911.html
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“I’m not sure why I’m on the list.”
Tallahassee City Commissioner Scott Maddox made that comment after finding out he’s on the witness list in the Allied Veterans gambling case.
Federal, state and local authorities shut down the facilities in March.
Jacksonville attorney Kelly Mathis is accused of being the mastermind behind the Allied Veterans charity.
Prosecutors say it was actually a gambling operation.
Maddox says he knows Mathis as the past president of the Jacksonville Bar Association.
“And our firm has worked with him in the past,” said Maddox. “I know him, but he hasn’t contacted me, I haven’t heard from him,” he said.
Maddox is on the witness list for his role as former chairman of Florida’s Democratic Party.
As we reported previously, both major parties received money from Allied Veterans parent company.
However, Maddox says it happened after he left as party chair in 2005.
He’s one of several politicians and law enforcement officers on the witness list.
The attorney for Mathis says the high profile witnesses are on the list to testify about Florida law.
He says Mathis has done nothing wrong.
While Maddox says he hasn’t been contacted, he also says if he’s called to testify, he’d be glad to answer any questions he can.
Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell and State Attorney Willie Meggs are also on the witness list.
Associated Press Release
By MIKE SCHNEIDER
SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — Some of Florida’s top political and law enforcement leaders are named as defense witnesses for a Jacksonville lawyer charged with being the mastermind behind a veterans’ charity that prosecutors say was actually a gambling operation.
Kelly Mathis’ witness list filed Tuesday includes former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, former state Agricultural Commissioner Charles Bronson, former Florida Democratic Party chair Scott Maddox and a several prosecutors and sheriffs.
Mathis’ defense attorney says the politicians and law enforcement officials are listed because they had analyzed the law which he says shows that his client did nothing wrong.
The filing came on the same day that the 57 defendants charged with running the gambling operation had the arraignment before a judge. The defendants had earlier entered written guilty pleas and weren’t present in court.
