State Rep. Amesty (R) pleads not guilty to felony charges

State Rep. Carolina Amesty has pleaded not guilty to four felony charges stemming from an allegation she forged a man’s signature on a document she notarized for her family-run school.

Amesty, 29, was indicted last month by a grand jury and quickly proclaimed her innocence in a statement on X, saying she was confident a trial would result in “public vindication.” The Orange County Clerk of Courts recorded Amesty’s plea of not guilty on Tuesday.

The indictment followed two Orlando Sentinel investigations into Amesty’s background, credentials and conduct in her former role as an administrator at Central Christian University, a small school on North Hiawassee Road in Orange County.

In March, the Sentinel detailed how Amesty notarized a form in September 2021 claiming Robert Shaffer, a veteran educator with a Ph.D. from the University of Florida, was an employee at the university. But Shaffer, who previously served as the principal of the adjacent K-12 school run by Amesty’s family, told the Sentinel he never worked at the university nor signed the form Amesty said he did.


https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2024/09/18/state-rep-amesty-pleads-not-guilty-to-felony-charges/