Miami Lakes Vice Mayor sold homes without license

The Miami Herald reports:

Business was looking good for Realtor and Miami Lakes Vice Mayor Nancy Simon.

First came the January 2005 sale of a $700,000 Coconut Grove home that netted her a $17,236 check. That same year, sales in Miami Beach and Miami Lakes resulted in $11,000 worth of commission checks.

The only problem: Simon's real estate license was void at the time of the sales, says a recent report by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

A 28-page report issued Jan. 18 by the department, which regulates Realtors along with other professionals statewide, concluded that Simon earned $28,411 in real estate commission in 2005 -- a year after her license had expired.

Sam Farkas, a spokesman for the state department, which does not have criminal enforcement powers, said the department has forwarded its findings to Miami-Dade County prosecutors. Selling real estate without a license is a felony.

Ed Griffith, a spokesman for the state attorney's office, said he could neither confirm nor deny that an investigation is under way.

Simon, a three-term councilwoman, said the ordeal stems from a $115 license renewal check she thought she mailed in late 2004 but which was never received by the state regulation department. She also blames an illness that left her hospitalized in August of the same year.

A great human interest story.