DAYTONA BEACH — As the Florida Attorney General’s office continues to probe purchases and financial practices of the Daytona Beach city government, another subpoena for information has been served.
The latest subpoena, delivered to City Hall late in the workday May 1 according to an official familiar with the document, is addressed to City Clerk Letitia LaMagna. She was also served with a subpoena April 29, but it appears LaMagna is receiving the subpoenas because her office maintains official city records.
The first subpoena LaMagna received requested city records connected to City Manager Deric Feacher; Deputy City Manager Jim Morris; Fire Chief and Deputy City Manager Dru Driscoll; Business Enterprise Management Director Michael Stallworth; Mayor Derrick Henry; City Commissioner Dannette Henry; and City Commissioner Paula Reed.
The subpoena that arrived May 1 is seeking records connected to Feacher again, Chief Financial Officer Natalia Eckroth, and former Daytona Beach city employee Amber Spears, who worked in purchasing. There’s also a specific inquiry about the Mayor’s Math and Fitness Bootcamp, and a 2024 Childhood Obesity Grant.
Driscoll received a subpoena April 17 ordering him to appear before Assistant Statewide Prosecutor Richard Mantei April 29 in the Attorney General’s Seabreeze Boulevard office to provide a sworn statement.
Daytona Beach Fire Department Deputy Chief Jessica Matthews was also issued a subpoena April 17 commanding her to appear April 29 to provide a sworn statement.
Those two fire department subpoenas came in the wake of a March 27 internal city auditor report that documented expenditures by fire department employees using city purchase cards. Mantei is also seeking records related to that report now, as well as a fire department battalion chief who provided the internal city auditor information and was fired effective April 27.
The new subpoena, like the first subpoena sent to LaMagna, ordered her to appear before Mantei on May 13 in the Attorney General’s offices on Seabreeze Boulevard. But the order also again gives LaMagna the options of delivering the records by certified mail or email by May 13 if she chooses not to personally deliver the information that will be collected over the next week and a half.
What exactly is the state prosecutor looking for with the latest subpoena?
Since February, state government auditors have been taking an in-depth look at the city’s use of excess permits and licensing fee revenue, purchasing cards in several different departments, and other city financial matters. Then about a month ago, the state Attorney General’s office also started asking questions.
The three-page subpoena LaMagna received May 1 requests various electronically stored documents generated from Oct. 1, 2023 through Sept. 1, 2025.
Specific documents requested include an XLS workbook created by Spears entitled “P-Card Audit.”
Mantei is also seeking “all records, emails, text messages, and application-based communications that are in the possession, custody or control of the city” and Feacher, Eckroth and Spears. Mantei wants those documents whether they’re stored on the local government’s mobile devices or personal devices used at any time to conduct government business.
The assistant state prosecutor said he wants all records and emails, including attachments, relating to city purchasing cards containing the following terms alone or in any combination: circumvent, violation, hemorrhaging, non-employees, splitting charges and out of contract.
Mantei is also seeking any agenda summary, application, bid or description regarding funding of the Mayor’s Math and Fitness Bootcamp, and the city manager office’s acceptance of Childhood Obesity Grant 2024 together with documentation of any payouts or spending from that fund including all accountable payments for the total value of the grant.
The May 1 subpoena, like the three delivered prior to it, was issued under the authority of the Circuit Court at the request of the Office of Statewide Prosecution. Failure to obey the order could be punished as contempt of court.
You can reach Eileen at Eileen.Zaffiro@news-jrnl.com
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: New subpoena targets Daytona city manager, CFO, purchasing employee
Reporting by Eileen Zaffiro-Kean, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
