ORLANDO, Fla. — Joe Ellicott — a close friend of disgraced Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg and a former radio talk show host — agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and distribution of a controlled substance, according to court documents filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Each charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years and fines totaling more than $5.2 million.
Ellicott, who also owned Uncle Joe’s Coins, Currency & Collectibles in Maitland, served as a groomsman at Greenberg’s wedding in the summer of 2016. Shortly after Greenberg took office in January 2017, he hired Ellicott to serve as the office’s “supervisor of facilities.”
According to court documents, Ellicott admitted to agreeing to pay bribes to a public official. He also pled guilty to illegally selling Adderall, an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder prescription drug.
Ellicott has agreed to cooperate fully with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the investigation and prosecution of other people, according to the plea agreement.
Ellicott’s attorney Joseph Zwick said he thinks his client is only facing charges because of his connection to Greenberg and that the accusations against him are “de minimis.”
“The big difference between Joe and Mr. Greenberg was that Joe was not elected by the people of Central Florida and Mr. Greenberg was,” Zwick said.
Ellicott is hoping to avoid jail time, Zwick said.
An audit of the tax collector’s office following Greenberg’s arrest in 2020 found that Ellicott — who owns Uncle Joe’s Coins, Currency & Collectibles in Maitland — used a credit card issued to him by the tax office to purchase up to $5,700 in antiques, sporting goods, knives, batteries and hardware tools. The auditors wrote that they thought the purchases were for Ellicott’s store and could be fraudulent. But Zwick said Wednesday he didn’t think those accusations were true.
An audit commissioned by Seminole County later revealed that Ellicott used a credit card issued to him by the Tax Collector’s Office to purchase up to $7,500 in antiques, sporting goods, knives, batteries and hardware.
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