By Coral Gables Gazette staff

Almost 11 months after the Coral Gables Commission directed the city to investigate claims of “phishing” surveys against Commissioner Ariel Fernandez, the Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Office officially reported the matter closed on May 19. 

In a close-out memo, Tim VanderGiesen, chief of the State Attorney’s Public Corruption Unit, concluded there was “insufficient evidence of criminal activity to warrant further inquiry” and formally closed the matter.

The inquiry stemmed from allegations that Fernandez was behind anonymous political email surveys sent to Coral Gables residents in 2023 and 2024 through entities such as “People Count USA,” a group with no active website and no registration in Florida corporate or political committee records. The emails began circulating in August 2023, approximately four months after Fernandez and Commissioner Melissa Castro won election defeating Lago-backed candidates. The allegations were amplified last year in a lengthy post published by the anonymous Aesop’s Gables blog, widely viewed as sympathetic to Mayor Vince Lago, and prompted the commission to authorize a police investigation in July 2025. Commissioner Melissa Castro, who like Fernandez is frequently at odds with the Lago-Anderson-Lara bloc, declined to support the investigation, arguing it rested on the foundation of an anonymous blog.

The memo stated that while both Lago and Coral Gables Police Chief Edward Hudak Jr. forwarded complaints alleging Fernandez orchestrated anonymous polling and improperly tracked residents’ responses, investigators could not clearly determine who was actually responsible for the surveys.

VanderGiesen also rejected the central legal theories underlying the complaints. “There is no anti-phishing criminal offense in Florida,” he wrote, adding that state statutes involving deceptive electronic communications did not apply to the type of survey emails involved in the case.

The prosecutor further determined there was no evidence Fernandez used city resources or acted in his official capacity if he was involved in the polling at all. The memo noted that elected officials are permitted to engage in political activity and polling as private citizens and that such records would not automatically qualify as public records.

“Finally, if the person(s) conducting the polling did track the respondents’ answers, that is not a crime,” VanderGiesen wrote. “There is no allegation that the captured data was used in a criminal manner.”

Fernandez claims vindication

According to Fernandez, the decision represents complete vindication after what he repeatedly characterized as a politically motivated investigation. “The memorandum issued by the State Attorney’s office is unambiguous: the allegations against me were baseless,” Fernandez said in a statement. “There was no wrongdoing. None. This is not a matter of interpretation, it is a matter of fact.”

The commissioner went on to say the findings shine a light on many of the destructive actions of the mayor, Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson and Commissioner Richard Lara over the past year. “It is deeply troubling that the very tactics employed by authoritarian regimes; the suppression of dissent, the weaponization of political machinery, and the systematic destruction of reputations; have found their way into the halls of Coral Gables government under Vince Lago, Rhonda Anderson, and Richard Lara. 

“Over the past year, residents have witnessed their First Amendment rights violated, political propaganda disseminated through City-sponsored media, and personal vendettas cynically placed on City Commission agendas as though they were legitimate matters of governance. They are not,” he continued. 

In his statement, Fernandez said the State Attorney’s office report also served as a rebuke of the blog used to initiate the inquiry.  “This outcome must also serve as a permanent indictment of the anonymous blog Aesop Gables, its operatives and collaborators. It is a platform that exists for one purpose and one purpose only: to defame, intimidate, and destroy the reputations of anyone who does not align with the political agenda of Lago, Anderson, and Lara. No allegation from that outlet, or from those involved in it, should ever again be treated as credible. Their record speaks for itself.”

Mayor remains defiant

Despite the findings, Lago remained adamant that Fernandez was connected to the surveys. “The State Attorney declined to pursue criminal charges. That is not the same as a finding that nothing happened, and Commissioner Fernandez knows it,” Lago told the Miami Herald. “He has spent over a year refusing to deny that he was behind these surveys, because he cannot.”

The Gazette specifically asked Fernandez if he had anything to do with the surveys. As of the publication of this article, the commissioner had not responded to that question. 

Lago’s position mirrored comments he made when the investigation was first launched last summer. “The facts are there, it’s very clear what happened, we were targeted by push polls,” Lago said during the July 1, 2025 commission meeting. “I saw the evidence, damning and the extent some are willing to go to ruin others.”

Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson and Commissioner Richard Lara, who strongly backed the investigation last year, struck a noticeably more restrained tone after the State Attorney’s decision. Anderson told the Herald it was “good news for Coral Gables that the State Attorney’s Office has closed out this matter” and added that residents should still be cautious about clicking links in emails. “In this case, the link just led to a poll, but others may lead to a computer virus,” Anderson said.

Lara said he “fully” supports the decision by prosecutors, noting that the standard for criminal charges “is appropriately high.”

Fernandez quiet about Lago’s alleged Sunshine violations

Fernandez raised a separate allegation at the May 19 commission meeting, accusing Lago of violating Florida’s Sunshine Law by calling fellow commissioners during private gatherings to discuss pending legislation. When the Gazette followed up by text and email, the commissioner did not respond.

“We were in your house … and you would call your colleagues to make sure they were supporting your legislation,” Fernandez alleged at the May 19 meeting. “You would put them on speaker phone and put the phone on the table and tell us don’t talk so they don’t know you’re on the phone.”

The Gazette asked specifically why he waited so long to reveal the allegations, what other former commissioners were involved and what issues the calls dealt with, but as of the publication of this article, Fernandez has not responded.