STARKE—A former Bradford political candidate was sentenced to five years’ probation and ordered to pay $105,000 in restitution after pleading to writing a $100,000 bad check.
In July, deputies arrested Storm Zedra Hamilton, 30, of Starke for two counts of fraud-insufficient funds check.
According to a sworn complaint, one victim and her attorney contacted Bradford Sheriff’s Detective Michael Garmon on Aug. 15, 2022, claiming that the defendant persuaded the Wellington, Florida victim to invest $100,000 in exchange for a one percent stake in Eastern MedWaste, Hamilton’s upstart biomedical waste management business.
“After several months had passed with no dividends being received by (the victim) from Eastern MedWaste, she texted Storm in hopes of getting some clarification,” wrote Garmon. “After receiving several text messages which appeared to be non-committal on Storm’s behalf, (the victim) requested a full refund of the money she invested.”
The investigator added that after several more months, the victim received a $100,000 check from Hamilton, but when she attempted to deposit the negotiable instrument at a credit union, she was told there were not enough funds to cover the check.
In the second count, Bradford Union Cattle Show and Sale officers claimed the defendant wrote a worthless check for $5,510.97 on Sept. 20, 2022.
Prosecutors dropped the charge associated with the cattle show check.
In a probation order, Circuit Judge James M. Colaw ordered the defendant to deliver a $15,000 cashier’s check to the Department of Corrections for the victim within 10 business days of sentencing and ordered him to pay $1,500 a month for the 60 months of his supervision period.
In a letter to the judge, the victim wrote that Hamilton presented a fraudulent business opportunity to her, used a federal agent as his supposed business partner, exploited the credentials of a legitimate business, claiming a merger that never existed, and deceitfully told her he had invested a significant amount of his own money in the enterprise.
She said that the defendant gave her the runaround for two years while she tried to recover her money.
“I watched Mr. Hamilton lead a life of luxury—a lavish wedding, extravagant holidays, and a seemingly endless stream of luxuries,” she wrote, “all while I struggled to make ends meet.”
In 2020, the defendant ran for the open seat of Bradford’s Supervisor of Elections following the retirement of Terry Vaughan.
Hamilton, running with no party affiliation, lost to Republican Amanda Seyfang in the Nov. 3 general election, garnering 22% of the vote.
