Mall owner takes stand in former Miami-Dade Commissioner Joe Martinez’s corruption trial

MIAMI – Testimony continued Thursday in the former’s corruption trial Miami-Dade Commissioner Joe Martinez.

He was arrested in 2022 and accused of accepting a huge bribe from the owner of a local supermarket.

Sergio Delgado, owner of a mall in southwest Miami-Dade, testified Thursday, discussing an agreement he and the owner of Extra Supermarket worked out with Martinez to hopefully alleviate their problems with county code enforcement.

“I paid $2,500,” Delgado said. “We were going to give him 10,000 upfront and then if the project was successful, we didn’t agree on a final number but it would be extra for a ‘success fee’.”

Martinez is charged with illegal tipping and conspiracy.

Prosecutors say he accepted $15,000 in payments as part of that deal while working for the commission.

Instead, they said Martinez pushed for a new county ordinance that would have helped the homeowner with code enforcement issues. In the end, that ordinance was never passed.

“We have a meeting with (code enforcement officer Ricardo) Roig, thanks to Joe Martinez and his staff,” Delgado said.

After asking Martinez for help, Delgado says, he was able to set up a meeting that was partially attended by the county’s deputy chief of code enforcement and Martinez’s chief of staff.

“In the meeting, Mr. Roig and his people and staff member Anna came up with the idea that maybe an ordinance would be the solution,” Delgado said.

Proceedings stopped for a lunch break around noon.