Former Florida Republican state Rep. Joseph Harding has been sentenced to four months in prison after pleading guilty on charges related to committing fraud surrounding COVID relief funds.
Harding pleaded guilty to wire fraud, money laundering, and making false statements with COVID relief fraud.
The former Representative was given the prison sentence along with two years of supervised release and has until January 29, 2024 to surrender for his time behind bars.
“Mr. Harding egregiously betrayed the public trust by stealing from COVID relief funds meant to help the very people who elected him,” Brian J. Payne, special agent in charge at the IRS Criminal Investigation Tampa Field Office, said. “Greed and public service should never meet, but when they do, we stand ready to ensure bad actors are held responsible for their actions.”
The former lawmaker was accused of fraudulently obtaining $150,000 in COVID relief funds from the Small Business Association.
“I want to express my remorse for the decisions and failures I’ve made,” Harding said during his case.
From The Washington Examiner:
Harding served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2020 until resigning in December 2022 after he had been indicted. He was best known for being one of the sponsors of the Parental Rights in Education bill, which was signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) in March 2022. The law outlawed classrooms from kindergarten through third grade from teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity and forbade schools from withholding information from parents about students' health and well-being. The bill was dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" law by opponents.
