Charges of harassment and malfeasance dropped from impeachment case against UCF senator, student government records show.
UCF Sen. Patrick Cherubin was impeached Feb. 7 after Sen. Rachel Friant accused him of malfeasance, harassment and misfeasance, according to the affidavit. But Robert Hill, UCF Student Government Association attorney general, dropped the first two charges citing that they are not impeachable offenses. Hill decided that the impeachment proceedings continue with only the misfeasance charge.
Knight News contacted Associate Lecturer Margarita Koblasz, who was listed on the affidavit as one of the “involved parties.”
Koblasz said she was not aware that her name was on the affidavit and did not know why it was. Koblasz said she never saw Cherubin, but received an email from him in December 2018 which she said “its tone was inappropriate.”
”He sent an email demanding that I respond to a question that he had … when I asked him what was he investigating, what was he doing, he didn’t like that I asked him that and he then got very unpleasant and snooty, ” Koblasz said.
Koblasz said she sent an email to the speaker of the senate, Sierra Scott, along with a copy of the email Cherubin sent her complaining that “his behavior was out of line and inappropriate.” That was the only communication she had with SGA about the case, she said.
Cherubin said he was investigating an irregularity in funding and that is one of his duties as a senator.
“If I saw an irregularity and didn’t look into it, it’s considered nonfeasance, neglect of duty … it’s an actual impeachable offense,” Cherubin said. “I’ve been using public records requests to look into something that needed to be looked into and no one else was doing it.”
SGA President Josh Bolona, said this was the first impeachment for him to witness as president. But he isn’t aware of the details of the case because the legislative branch is the one handling it.
The removal hearing is set for March 7 at 7 p.m., Bolona said.
Check back for updates.
