Nude Photo Questioned During Property Appraiser's Trial

The corruption trial of Brevard County's former chief deputy property appraiser turned to a discussion of nude photos on staff computers.

Lance Larsen is facing up to 35 years in prison if he's convicted of falsifying property records to give tax breaks to his boss' campaign contributors. The defense is trying to prove that the property appraiser's employees were upset over being let go or forced to resign and so they created allegations about Lance Larsen and his boss, Jim Ford.

Former manager Bonnie Haile was back on the stand Thursday morning, discussing backdated homestead exemptions she says Larsen gave to some homeowners in Cocoa Beach, who later contributed $50 to Ford's reelection campaign.

Haile said Larsen took unusual steps, even sending an employee to the property just to get them to sign paperwork when all other homeowners have to take care of that themselves. But Larsen's defense attorneys then started questioning Haile's motives and questioned whether she was upset that she was forced out of the office because of a single nude photo found on her computer, which is against office policy.

"The picture that they questioned me about was of a girlfriend on vacation from the back. You could not see any body part. You knew she was topless," Haile testified.

Haile maintains she was one of seven people forced out of the property appraiser's office because they cooperated with a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation into Ford and then offered larger severance packages if they kept quiet.