© 2024 Blaze Media LLC. All rights reserved.
This mayor used a dead person's identity to get a better parking space. Now she may lose her job.
Davenport, Florida, Mayor Darlene Bradley was caught using handicapped parking placards belonging to people who had died years before. (Image source: City of Davenport and Polk County Sheriff's Office)

This mayor used a dead person's identity to get a better parking space. Now she may lose her job.

What lengths would you go to for a front row parking spot, every day?

For Darlene Bradley, mayor of Davenport, Florida, the answer to that question is criminal identity theft.

Bradley parked in the handicapped parking spot at city hall all the time. The city manager, Kelly Callihan, noticed it, but since Bradley had a placard, it didn’t register as an issue.

Clearly, someone had a problem with it, and whoever that was dropped a tip with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office to look into her parking situation.

After discovering Bradley had never been issued a parking permit, authorities set up a covert surveillance camera outside city hall.

They observed her exiting her vehicle and carrying a suitcase into city hall without any assistance.

More importantly, they were able to zoom in on her placard, to reveal that it belonged to a woman who had died in 2012.

On top of that, the real permit expired in 2013, which indicates that the mayor’s, which had a 2018 expiration date, was likely a forgery.

Police got a warrant and searched her home, and found another placard, from another deceased person.

Bradley was arrested and charged with identity theft, counterfeiting, and illegal parking in a handicapped spot.

County Sheriff Grady Judd said Bradley “embarrassed the citizens of Davenport.”

Bradley could be facing a suspension during her trial, and will have to step down if she is convicted.

Want to leave a tip?

We answer to you. Help keep our content free of advertisers and big tech censorship by leaving a tip today.
Want to join the conversation?
Already a subscriber?