TEMPLE TERRACE, Fla. (WFLA) — The former Temple Terrace mayor who went by the nickname “Dr. Mel” is a big step closer to a $10,000 fine and public censure for embellishing her city bio with a degree from a disgraced “diploma mill.”
At one point, Mel Jurado agreed to pay a $5,000 fine for misuse of office, but the Florida Commission on Ethics voted to double that. The commission’s order sent to Governor Ron DeSantis also recommended a public censure and reprimand. Jurado has not responded to requests for comment.
8 On Your Side began asking questions about Jurado’s Ph. D in 2018, about a year after she took office as the city’s mayor.
Her doctorate in Psychology came from LaSalle University in Louisiana in 1996, the same year the FBI shut down the operation and arrested its owner who ended up in prison. Degrees at the “diploma mill” cost as little as $2,000.
As the controversy unraveled, Jurado was asked by 8 On Your Side if her degree came from an accredited university.
“I believe it is,” she said before walking away.
When criticism snowballed in late 2018, Jurado held her ground.
“I did not lie,” she told a crowd at a council meeting. “I did not deceive.”
About two years after saying that, and insisting she would not resign, Dr. Mel stepped down as mayor.
Ethics Commission Advocate Elizabeth Miller started her presentation at the agency’s June meeting with, “You may remember this case.”
“She bought a Ph. D degree from a diploma mill and directed the City of Temple Terrace staff to post that she was a doctor on the city website,” Miller said.
The only no vote on the penalty came from Commissioner John Grant.
“I don’t see that to be a serious thing,” Grant said.
The former state senator pointed out Jurado did a dissertation for the degree and he suggested a censure but no fine, insisting the 2019 complaint was politically motivated.
“This was all about people who didn’t like the mayor,” Grant said. “Found a peg to hang a hat on by filing a complaint.”
While Jurado has not responded to requests for comment from 8 On Your Side, Miller said she has also been ghosted recently by the former mayor.
“She never ever responded to me,” Miller said. “I also talked to her through her attorney. He never would respond back to me either.”
Miller said without a response from Jurado, the judge in the case “granted all the admissions.”
According to Miller, Jurado represented herself without an attorney during the most recent discussions.
The final decision on the order will be up to Gov. Ron DeSantis.
An ethics commission spokesperson said she did not know how long that step would take.
A review of the commission website indicates there is a backlog of more than 60 orders ahead of the one involving Jurado. The oldest pending order was filed by the commission in 2016 and several others are from 2017.
The governor’s office has yet to respond to questions about the number of pending orders.