A former Quincy city manager was arrested Feb. 10 on numerous charges for allegedly steering more than $30,000 in Community Redevelopment Agency funds toward his own now-defunct cigar bar.
Robert Nixon was arrested on one count of grand theft and four counts each of official misconduct, forgery and uttering, said Assistant State Attorney James Beville. He also faces two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon for guns found at his residence the morning of his arrest.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the State Attorney’s Office conducted the investigation. Nixon was taken into custody without incident and booked into the Gadsden County Jail. His first court appearance is scheduled for Feb. 11.
Beville said Nixon funneled $32,700 in agency funding to Monterrey Cigar Social, the business he ran on West Jefferson Street in downtown Quincy. The alleged crimes occurred between May 2022 and April 2023.
“He was diverting CRA money to renovate the business he was running,” Beville said.
The CRA voted to give the money to an entirely different business located in a building owned by the same individual who owned the building that housed Nixon’s shop. The property owner was oblivious to the scheme.
“It went to the cigar bar instead, without anybody’s knowledge,” he said.
Court records with more details were not immediately available. Beville said Nixon was able to carry out his scheme because of the public positions he held.
“He controlled the money,” the prosecutor said. “He was a CRA director and the city manager.”
In 2010, Nixon, former director of the Florida A&M University’s Institute on Urban Policy and Commerce, and Eugene Telfair, the former president of the FAMU Credit Union, were convicted of federal charges after embezzling $134,000 in federal housing grants. Nixon was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison, Telfair to 30 months.
Despite his criminal past, Quincy city commissioners unanimously hired Nixon in 2018 as CRA director and appointed him city manager in 2022. He was fired last June in a 3-2 vote.
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Ex-Quincy city manager arrested for allegedly using CRA funds for cigar store
Reporting by Jeff Burlew, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
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