ORLANDO – The GLBT Center of Central Florida has been fined $1,000 by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
The fine stems from an investigation into two complaints filed in 2016 by volunteers who alleged The Center had been misusing donations made for the victims of the Pulse shooting.
State officials found The Center did not update and display the proper information for a not-for-profit and its board members, as well they found funds raised at an event for Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, one of the 49 victims from the June 12 shooting, were not turned over to the family.
“The report came out from the state, and The Center was vindicated on the two complaints that were put through,” Terry DeCarlo, The Center’s executive director, says. “During their investigation they found that our fundraising state number that all not-for-profits get was missing off our webpage and our Facebook page.”
Jeffrey Buak, The Center’s newly appointed board president, said Feb. 13 to the Orlando Sentinel that the fine has been paid and they have settled the matter with the state.
Buak went on to say that the event for Rosado, an event called “Orlando’s Got Talent” which took place last July at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater and raised $2,137, was organized by a volunteer who left The Center shortly after the event happened. Buak said the funds have now been paid to the family, something DeCarlo confirmed.
“It just got mixed up in everything and [after Pulse] nothing was ever slated and said ‘this has to go here’. The state of course found that then, once it was brought to our attention, not only did we write the check for the amount that came in through the event but even more to the family and presented to them right away,” DeCarlo says.
The Center also did not provide personal addresses of its officers and board members, a requirement for all not-for-profits, which made it difficult for the state to conduct its investigation.
“If there’s anything good that’s coming out if this, the state is going to come here to The Center, the investigator who did the whole report is coming here, sitting down with the board, my staff and a couple of other executive directors of other agencies to teach us,” DeCarlo says. “They are going to let us know what we should do, what we should have in place, and basically give us a course, so that this doesn’t happen again.”
The state imposed fine comes at the same time Tim Vargas stepped down as board president and Buak moved into the position. DeCarlo says that while the events occurred within a few weeks of each other that one has nothing to do with the other.
“Our board rotates every two years, and the two years were up,” he says. “Actually Tim didn’t leave the board, he’s still on, he is our interim treasurer but his term as president was up. Jeff was our vice president so he automatically moved up to president.”
DeCarlo says that while publicity like this can be damaging, he know that the community is standing with The Center.
“Not even five minutes ago, I got a email from someone ‘…the work you do for and among the community is well known and cannot be diminished. You will weather this and we will all be Orlando Strong.’ That’s what we’re getting,” DeCarlo says. “The community knows how much we do, they know how much chaos there was directly after Pulse and if 99.9999 percent of the things were right and on point and there was that .0001 percent that might have slipped through the cracks, they realize how crazy it was during that time and they’re standing with us.”
