Siegmeister says, “Not Guilty”

Remains in custody - Trial set for June

By Tami Stevenson

Live Oak, Fla., – Former state attorney for the Third Judicial Circuit, Jeff Siegmeister, pleaded not guilty to all counts in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Thursday, April 22, 2021. The charges accumulate to 129 years in prison, if found guilty and given a maximum sentence for each offense.

Detained February 26, and officially arrested on March 1, in Arizona, Siegmeister remains in custody, without bond, by an order of detention, being considered a flight risk.

Thursday, Siegmeister also requested court appointed counsel. He filed a financial affidavit with the court, was put under oath and questioned regarding his financial status. According to the clerk’s minutes, the court found Siegmeister unable to afford counsel and appointed a Federal Public Defender to his case.

There are 12 counts listed in the 33 page indictment that include extortion as part of conspiracy with Dixie County Defense Attorney, Marion Michael O’Steen, as well as bribery, wire fraud, and filing false tax returns. Siegmeister is named in eleven counts and O’Steen is named in four. O’Steen pleaded not guilty, in February, and was released on $100,000 bond.

According to the indictment, Siegmeister and O’Steen allegedly conspired to reduce sentencing on certain clients of O’Steen for money, including an attempted first degree murder charge.

Another charge of bribery for reduced sentence lists Madison Attorney Ernest Maloney Page, IV, as one of the conspirators. The release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office stated, on August 20, 2020, Page pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit federal program bribery for his role in facilitating this transaction.

The wire fraud charge stems from Siegmeister allegedly cheating an elderly transient man’s estate out of nearly a million dollars, stemming mostly from 10,248 shares of Coca-Cola Common Stock. Known only as L.T. in the indictment, he later was identified as Leonard Whitman Thomas. The indictment states that L.T. was an 80 year old man that had physical and mental deficiencies.

It is alleged the value of L.T.’s holdings, originally worth $664.751.93, kept rising after his death in 2015. The FBI wrote that, “…Siegmeister (allegedly) diverted a total of $985,000 in L.T. assets to himself” after L.T. died.

Siegmeister has a status hearing on May 24 at 3 p.m. His trial is scheduled for June 7 at 9:30 a.m. in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Jacksonville.