Former Palm Beach Deputy Goes to Prison for Stealing from Kids’ Charity

(The AEGIS Alliance) – WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA – A former Palm Beach sheriff’s deputy has been given a five-year prison sentence because he stole $50,000 from a children’s charity and paid kickbacks to entice patients into receiving treatment for drugs at a West Palm Beach center he ran.

Age 49 Robert “Bobby” Simeone gave guilty pleas to 30 felony charges that relate to three cases. A judge issued his prison sentence on Tuesday. Simeone who formerly worked as a deputy for the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Department was arrested back in February. However, 27 of the felony counts were dropped by prosecutors.

Simeone was paying two operators at a sober living home to bring patients into his center, according to evidence from prosecutors. It is illegal in Florida to offer commission payments, bribes or kickbacks in return for promoting the referral of patients to or from health care providers.

Investigators handling financial crimes reviewed Simeone and his wife’s bank accounts, and a non-profit in Boynton Beach named Children of Wounded Warriors, according to WPTV. Detective’s court records revealed they discovered $73,556 in bank deposits made to the kids’ charity between 2015 and 2019, and $49,037 of that money was transferred from the charity and deposited into Simeone’s business and personal bank accounts.

26 counts Simeone was convicted on include conspiracy to commit patient brokering, patient brokering, grand theft, money laundering, and organized scheme to defraud. Robert Simeone is now expected to serve five years behind bars.

Kyle James Lee – The AEGIS Alliance – This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.