FORT PIERCE, Fla. — The arrest affidavit for suspended Fort Pierce City Manager Nick Mimms was released Friday.
WPTV's investigative team spent the day digging into the 62-page summary of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation.
Mimms was arrested Wednesday and faces one count of bid tampering and one count of official misconduct.
Fort Pierce city commissioners held a special meeting Thursday where they voted unanimously to place Mimms on administrative leave with pay.
WATCH BELOW: Fort Pierce city manager arrested
The FDLE report says a whistleblower tipped off agents to the alleged bid rigging, which is the most serious crime that Mimms faces.
The two-year investigation involves two plots of land located in Fort Pierce's Lincoln Park Corridor that the city secured a $500,000 contribution to develop. The city put out the project for bids.
The winning bid went to "Lincoln Park Young Professionals," a nonprofit run by two ex-city workers — Vennis Gilmore and Caleta Scott. Scott is Mimms' niece.
The FDLE report says Mimms "knowingly and intentionally influenced the competitive solicitation process to ensure that the City land would ultimately be leased by his niece's organization."
During the process, the FDLE said "(Mimms) appointed himself as project manager" and "concealed his conflict of interest."
The complaint alleges a cover-up where FDLE agents found Mimms, "did not require Scott and Gilmore to disclose their conflict of interest" and "ensured that Gilmore and Scott's names did not appear on the lease" after the bid was awarded to the nonprofit."
The documents reported that another business, the Doyen Company, was also interested in the property with plans to build low-income apartments on the land. Investigators said an agent of Doyen asserted that he was "victimized by the unfair practices" and it "lost both the opportunity to lease the lots and the time and money spent to put together a competitive bid."
WATCH BELOW: City manager placed on leave after arrest
As WPTV dug into the report, we learned that FDLE agents claimed contractor Joseph Cooper and Project Manager Bruce Lewis "enriched themselves by taking significant financial deposits … without completing any substantive … physical construction on the property."
Mimms was interviewed by the FDLE and denied wrongdoing. According to the report, he described the Lincoln Park Redevelopment Project as "nothing" and "a dud."
WATCH BELOW: Catholic nonprofit named in FDLE affidavit against Fort Pierce city manager
The report also said a Catholic nonprofit, Allegany Franciscan Ministries, awarded $500,000 to the "Lincoln Park Young Professionals" to develop the project, which never started.
WPTV reporter Joel Lopez reached out to the Catholic nonprofit, who wouldn't go on camera but emailed us a statement saying the following:
"The only comment I have at this time is that we are supportive of the FDLE investigation and are cooperating."
Eileen Coogan
President/CEO Allegany Franciscan Ministries
WPTV will continue to stay on top of details that continue to unfold in this brewing scandal.
