Deerfield Beach Close to Filing Suit Against One Charity, Likely to Spare Another

Deerfield Beach City Attorney Andy Maurodis says that a charity run by the Poitier family, the Westside Deerfield Businessmen Association, has finally provided documents in response to the independent auditor's request, meaning that he won't need to file the lawsuit he'd prepared against the organization. But another charity may not be so lucky.

Arlington Park Family, which received $30,000 through the city in 2007, has still not provided the city or its auditor financial documents that show how the money, which was to be used for the city's senior community, was spent. For roughly three months, Maurodis' letters to the organization were ignored. In March, city leaders gave him permission to sue whenever he pleased.

But since he got that permission, Arlington Park has hired an attorney who has asked Maurodis to hold off. This afternoon, the city attorney told Juice he was getting an itchy trigger finger.

"The lawsuit is ready to go," says Maurodis, speaking of Arlington Park Family. "The attorney indicated I will have something in the next week or two, but I don't know yet whether I'll wait."

Maurodis said the suit may be filed this week.

In February, Juice spoke with a former treasurer of the charity who said he left after having misgivings about how the charity's director, Mae Frances Feagin, was handling the $30,000.

And although WDBA appears to have dodged one legal bullet, there's no indication that the most recent set of documents provided by the charity resolve the concerns that led the auditor, Michael Kessler, to devote closer scrutiny to the charity. Kessler is expected to wrap up his investigation soon, and he'll be issuing a report to the city with his findings.