The FBI arrested Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi and Sweetwater Mayor Manuel Marono on bribery charges on Tuesday.

Pizzi was caught when two FBI agents posed as officials at a fictitious, non-profit company that helps local governments obtain federal grants. Pizzi accepted $6,750 in bribes to help the company. Marono was caught in the same trap as Pizzi, but had accepted more than $40,000 in bribes. Both of the men were suspended from office and if convicted could spend up to 20 years in prison, reports The Chicago Tribune.

“This is a sad day for South Florida,” Wifredo Ferrer, the U.S. attorney for Florida’s Southern District, told The Tribune. “This betrayal of our public trust is intolerable.”

Pizzi has served as an elected official of Miami Lakes since 1998, and is in his second term as the town’s mayor. Marono was part of Gov.Rick Scott’s transition team in 2011. He became mayor of Sweetwater in 2003.

The opinions contained in this column are solely those of the writer.



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