Disgraced Orlando City Commissioner Regina Hill brazenly asked a judge to let her return to the home she is accused of buying with money stolen from an elderly victim.
Hill, 58, appeared in court Thursday for the second time in a week as he faces charges for allegedly convincing a 96-year-old woman to give him power of attorney and using that authority to spend more than $100,000 from the victim’s accounts.
Among the many items prosecutors say he spent the money on was a home in the Lake Mann Estates area of Orlando.
Hill has been barred from returning to the home under a court order following his arrest in March.
But on Thursday, his lawyer argued that he needs to return to the home he mortgaged and renovated.
Hill, 58, has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges against her.
Hill allegedly used money he stole from an elderly woman to purchase a home that he now wants to return to.
“There is construction going on there and Ms. Hill would like to be able to continue with the construction; she is paying for everything,” said attorney John Notari. according to WESH.
Hill’s son and girlfriend are believed to have been living in the home the former city employee obtained with power of attorney at the time of her arrest in March, while Hill lived in a separate home that once belonged to the elderly woman’s parents, which she allegedly spent much of her savings on renovating.
The judge said he would rule on the matter at an unspecified later date.
Hill’s hearing on Thursday came just days after the judge granted a request from her legal team for more time to prepare her defense.
Prosecutors say Hill met the elderly woman in March 2021 in her role as commissioner and was supposed to help her secure better living conditions, but within a month, she had become her proxy.
Disgraced Orlando City Commissioner Regina Hill appeared in court Thursday and asked if she could return to the home at the center of an investigation.
She then allegedly used the money not only on the house, but also on a facelift, perfume, clothes and dental surgery.
Hill also used the woman’s savings for a New Year’s Eve vacation to Miami and to buy a large quantity of intravenous vitamins from a company called Vitalounge, according to court documents.
She has pleaded not guilty to the charges and insists she will be acquitted.
“I am confident,” he said in a brief statement after his court hearing on Tuesday, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
“It’s a tough journey, but I have to face it.”
But Hill had previous run-ins with the law, which came to light when she first ran for office in 2014.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, during his career, news emerged that he had a criminal record with 21 prior arrests dating back to 1983. The arrests included drug offenses, driving under the influence, fraud and passing bad checks.
She was also arrested in 2022 in Birmingham, Alabama, for public intoxication, the outlet reported.
Hill’s son, Rakeem, was also arrested in 2015 when a cache of guns and drugs was found inside a home she owned at the time, WFTV9 reports.
Hill was arrested in March following an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
A state investigation into his dealings with the elderly woman finally began when the Florida Department of Law Enforcement received a notice from one of his employees that he had been fired.
During the investigation, FDLE Special Agent Steve Brenton allegedly questioned the woman about signing her power of attorney and said “she remembered signing some type of document but did not understand it and would never have agreed to allow Hill to be a power of attorney.”
Brenton went on to say that when he analyzed Hill’s spending, “these purchases and/or bank withdrawals were in excess of $100,000 and benefited Hill alone.”
He said that while his home had been renovated, the house the elderly woman lived in needed repairs, but Hill had allegedly not spent any money on fixing them.
The agent’s affidavit also noted that before Hill met the elderly woman, she had more than $164,000 in her bank account and a balance of about $650.
Following her arrest, Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order suspending Hill from her position as commissioner.
By October, he had $60,000 left in his bank account and $10,000 on his credit card.
Following his arrest, Florida Governor… Ron DeSantis issued an executive order suspending Hill from her position as District 5 commissioner in Orlando.
That order set off a hotly contested race for interim commissioner, which Shan Rose ultimately won last month.
Still, Hill remains hopeful that he will one day return to office, saying he will do so if the charges against him are dropped or if he wins his trial, now scheduled for Sept. 17.
His lawyers now expect that to happen sometime this year.
“I want the truth to be known to the community,” he said Tuesday, the Sentinel reported.
