Florida juvenile justice chief Frank Peterman has reimbursed the
state for nearly $27,000 in questionable taxpayer-funded travel between
Tallahassee and Tampa, trips that allowed him to spend long weekends
near St. Petersburg, where his wife and children live and where he
still preaches at a Baptist church.
The two checks were drawn on an account at Achieva Credit Union in
Largo, near St. Petersburg. They total $26,811. The repaid money is
equal to a full year's salary for many, many state employees, and
follows a highly critical report on Peterman's travel by Gov. Charlie
Crist's chief inspector general that recommended Peterman repay the
state as a form of "corrective action … for travel not fully and
completely justified as official state business."
Crist ordered the IG investigation after a Times/Herald report last
November detailed Peterman's many flights to and from the capital and
Tampa, along with extra penalties for last-minute changes to flights,
luggage fees and extensive use of costlier short-term airport parking.
The amount Peterman repaid the state includes all travel from
Tallahassee to St. Petersburg as well as the excessive luggage fees and
airline re-bookings.
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