Former Miami Beach building official gets 18 months in corruption case

The third Miami Beach building department employee caught taking bribes from a scandal-tainted developer pleaded guilty Monday, agreeing to serve 18 months in jail.

Mohammed Partovi, 54, pleaded guilty to two counts of “unlawful compensation’’ for accepting a Rolex watch and cash from Michael Stern, a troubled Miami Beach developer who has repeatedly been accused of fraud and forgery in lawsuits relating to his real estate business.

Partovi, a Miami Beach plans examiner, accepted the gifts between 2005 and 2007 to expedite plans for Stern’s proposed demolition of a historic 95-year-old coral rock house on Collins Avenue. Partovi conducted a structural review of wall-shoring work at the house and signed off on the permit.

The city employee was one of three building officials arrested in 2008 after Stern agreed to cooperate with state agents investigating corruption in Miami Beach.

Stern came to the attention of law enforcement after the 2006 bribery arrest of Thomas Ratner, a Miami Beach inspector with close ties to Stern. Ratner pleaded guilty in 2007. Stern has not been charged with wrongdoing. He could not be reached for comment Monday.

The arrests proved an embarrassment for Miami Beach, spurring the resignation of the building department’s director. A Miami Herald investigation also revealed that Partovi and the other two defendants worked outside jobs without getting permission from the city.

The scandal sparked reforms by the city administration, which hired a consultant to recommend anti-corruption measures. The changes included reorganizing the building department, simplifying how fees were determined and changing how building plans were reviewed.

“Improvements to the department are still a priority for the city, and progress on the implementation of the balance of the consultant’s recommendations, as well as other internal improvements, is being closely tracked and monitored,” Miami Beach City Manager Jorge Gonzalez said in a statement Monday night.

“We remain committed to the highest level of ethical and transparent government – and expect no less from all of our employees.”

Partovi will serve his time at the Miami-Dade County Jail and will likely be released on house arrest after nine months.

He recently passed a defense-administered polygraph test that suggested that Stern initiated the illegal payoffs, according to his attorney, Edward O’Donnell. Partovi also denied accepting cash from Stern stuffed inside an empty toilet paper roll in the bathroom of City Hall, as the developer had claimed.

But Partovi, who was originally charged with racketeering, did not want to risk going to trial, O’Donnell said.

“I believe a jury would have cleared Mohammed. But he just wanted to put this case behind him,” he said.

Also convicted in the case: Andres Villareal, a city building inspector who pleaded guilty last year to accepting more than $100,000 from Stern while the developer was seeking approval to demolish the historic coral rock house. Villareal was sentenced to 18 months in jail and three years’ probation.

Stern eventually abandoned his plan to demolish the coral rock house. The proposal had sparked protests from preservationists, although the building was partially demolished. The structure, still entangled in litigation over Stern’s finances, has yet to be rebuilt.

Miami-Dade prosecutors also charged city planner Henry Johnson with accepting at least $17,500 in bribes from Stern, including $4,000 stuffed inside a magazine. Johnson pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 months.