Dave Isnardi
© WKMG News 6Former Palm Bay Deputy city manager Dave Isnardi being led into the Brevard County Detention Center Friday afternoon.
Former Palm Bay Deputy City Manager Dave Isnardi has been arrested on charges of racketeering, conspiracy to commit extortion and conspiracy to possess controlled substances, including oxycodone.

Isnardi is the husband of Brevard County Commission Chair Kristine Isnardi.

Dave Isnardi is being represented at his initial appearaby Bryan Lober, an attorney who also is the County Commission vice chair. Lober said he told the Isnardis not to comment on the case to the media, and he noted that being accused of something is not the same as being guilty.

A second man, Jose Aguiar, a former candidate for the Palm Bay City Council, also was arrested Friday morning and charged with racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketeering. In 1997 in Massachusetts, Aguiar was convicted of conspiracy to sell cocaine and was sentenced to three years and one month in federal prison.


All told, Isnardi is charged with two first-degree felonies, which each carry potential penalties of 30 years in prison; and three third-degree felonies, each of which carry a potential five-year prison sentence.

The two are being held without bail until they can appear before a judge, now scheduled for Saturday morning.
Booking Image
Dave Isnardi booking mug
Jose Aguiar booking mug
Jose Aguiar booking mug
The arrest warrants for the two show that the FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement have been investigating allegations of corruption and undue influence on city officials in Palm Bay since at least 2015. The warrants draw heavily from secret recordings made by a confidential source working with investigators.

The arrest warrants for the two paint a picture of a city government embroiled in scandal, as Aguiar attempted to influence Palm Bay city officials. Though not arrested or charged, the warrants allege that City Councilman Jeff Bailey had an addiction to oxycodone and that former Councilman Tres Holton regularly had sex with prostitutes and used cocaine. It also alleges that Holton had obtained prostitutes for Mayor William Capote while the men were in Tallahassee.

The arrest warrants allege Isnardi and Aguiar were plotting to use a hidden camera to record Holton and Bailey having sex with prostitutes at "the Clubhouse," a Canova Street home then owned by Aguiar, where Holton, Bailey and other Palm Bay officials hung out. They then planned to use those recordings to blackmail Holton and Bailey into voting the way Aguiar wanted on various issues including rezoning a property that Aguiar owned to allow him to open a scrap metal business that Isnardi would be a partner in.

It isn't clear from the arrest documents whether the two ever did set up a camera or make any recordings.

"Is this a joke?" Holton said, when contacted by FLORIDA TODAY and told the allegations against him in the arrest warrants. "You're going to have to call me back," Holton said, not responding further to questions.

Bailey could not be immediately reached for comment.