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Childers Faces 10 Years on Bribery Conviction

CRESTVIEW, FL-W.D. Childers, the former president of the Florida Senate and chairman of the Escambia County board of commissioners, is convicted last week of bribing a fellow commissioner in return for a favorable vote on two commercial real estate deals.

By Alex Finkelstein | Updated on April 14, 2003

CRESTVIEW, FL-W.D. Childers, a longtime North Florida property owner and at one time one of the most politically powerful legislators in Florida, faces 10 years in state prison when he comes up for sentencing in May following a bribery conviction last Wednesday.

Childers’ lawyers are appealing the six person-jury verdict to the First District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee, FL. The year-old case has generated headlines for months and stirred controversy in real estate, political and legal circles in North Florida. Childers is a lifetime Republican Party supporter and suspended chairman of the Escambia County board of commissioners.

The 69-year-old Childers testified the $90,000 in alleged bribe money he made to fellow commissioner Willie Junior in 2001 was actually several personal loans to Junior on his financially failing funeral home.

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