Bahama Beshears

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Report: Former DBPR head Halsey Beshears was on Matt Gaetz party plane to Bahamas

What caught the eyes of investigators is a trip to the Bahamas said to have been arranged by a marijuana entrepreneur.

Halsey Beshears, the former head of the state's Department of Business and Professional Regulation and a seven-year state House member from Jefferson County, is the third Florida Republican caught up in a federal sex trafficking investigation.

The New York Times reported Friday that the widening probe that stems from irregularities in the Seminole County Tax Collector's office has placed Beshears on a plane that sources say was used for a trip to the Bahamas that included GOP Congressman Matt Gaetz and former Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg.

What caught the eyes of investigators is a trip to the Bahamas in late 2018 or early 2019, said to have been arranged by a marijuana entrepreneur.

The Times report cites sources familiar with the probe saying the plane carrying the participants returned to Florida, where it was stopped by immigration authorities. Beshears was among those on board, according to reports. It isn't clear why authorities stopped the plane.

Beshears served in Florida House same time as Gaetz

Beshears, scion of a Jefferson County farming family, was elected to the Florida House in 2012, two years after Gaetz's first term, on what he called a conservative common sense platform.

A succession of House Speakers tapped the two advocates of fewer regulations and lower taxes to chair committees. Gaetz was elected to Congress in 2016, and Beshears joined the DeSantis administration two years later.

More: FBI probe touches local lawmaker and lobbyist

Beshears was suspected by some cannabis lobbyists of inserting an amendment into the 2014 medical marijuana law — which Gaetz was the House sponsor — to limit license eligibility to a handful of growers, something he denied.

His family's business, Simpson Nurseries, would team up with Hackney Nurseries to create Trulieve, a marijuana dispensing company created by Kim Rivers.

Rivers' husband, J.T. Burnette, is awaiting trial on charges related to a pay-to-play scandal involving former Tallahassee City Commissioner Scott Maddox. Trulieve has not been publicly linked to the Burnette and Maddox case, which was brought after a long undercover FBI investigation.

Beshears has other links to Gaetz as well.

The Orlando Sentinel reported that when Pirozzolo applied to Gov. Ron DeSantis for a position with the Orlando International Airport Authority, he used Beshears and Gaetz as references.

After his election in 2018, DeSantis appointed Beshears head of DBPR. Beshears later led what was called a "deregathon," leading to the removal of regulations and licensing requirements for dozens of professions in the 2019 and 2020 sessions.

Beshears stepped down in January, citing health reasons.

And in 2018, when the Florida Education Association handed him a failing grade for his votes on education issues, Beshears dismissed the labor union, saying its opinion didn't matter to him.

"I care about what teachers think," Beshears said at the time. "My wife is a teacher; my sister-in-law is a teacher. Their opinion is what matters to me, not some scorecard."

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Secretary Beshears has the continued support for success in future endeavors. We need to lift him up in spirit and prayer. Wishing you all a blessed day!

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Secretary Beshears has the continued support for success in future endeavors. We need to lift him up in spirit and prayer. Wishing you all a blessed day!

What about the sex trafficking victims are we praying for them too or just the powerful white dudes? Asking for a friend.

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Secretary Beshears has the continued support for success in future endeavors. We need to lift him up in spirit and prayer. Wishing you all a blessed day!

you need be prayin for yourself to becaus the associated press is all over this some heads are goin to role in tco

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What about the sex trafficking victims are we praying for them too or just the powerful white dudes? Asking for a friend.

Innocent until proven guilty. Or are you one of those millenial/cancel culture/get triggered easily types that forgets we have a constitution and laws?

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Nikki.Fried@FDACS.gov

Anna.Eskamani@myfloridahouse.gov

Gregory.Angel@Charter.com

jcall@tallahassee.com

sbousquet@sunsentinel.com