PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. — Serious questions are being raised about where the mayor of Pembroke Park lives, as a homestead fraud investigation is now underway in St. Lucie County.

Local 10 News has confirmed that the St. Lucie County Property Appraiser’s Office has opened a formal homestead fraud investigation into a home owned by Pembroke Park Mayor Geoffrey Jacobs and his wife. The investigation began after Local 10 News raised questions about whether the Fort Pierce property is being claimed as the mayor’s permanent residence.

Under the Pembroke Park Town Charter, candidates for mayor and town commission must live in the town for at least one year prior to being elected and must be a registered voter in Broward County.

Public records show Jacobs and his wife purchased a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home with a pool on more than an acre of land in St. Lucie County in late 2024 for $565,000. The property is located in Fort Pierce, more than 100 miles north of Pembroke Park.

Records also show the Fort Pierce home is receiving multiple property tax exemptions that Florida law reserves for a person’s permanent residence. Those exemptions include Florida’s homestead exemption, which reduces taxable value by $25,000, a total-and-permanent service-connected disability exemption that removes more than $535,000 from taxation, and an additional $5,000 military disability exemption.

With those exemptions applied, no property taxes are currently being assessed on the St. Lucie County home, resulting in savings of more than $10,000 per year.

Florida law requires homeowners who receive homestead and permanent disability exemptions to swear under penalty of law that the property is their permanent residence. State law also provides that an individual may not claim more than one permanent residence at the same time for purposes of homestead taxation and other residency-based benefits.

Records further show Jacobs purchased the Fort Pierce home using a VA-backed mortgage. That type of loan requires the borrower to occupy the property as a primary residence within 60 days of closing and to continue living there for at least one year. Mortgage documents reviewed by Local 10 News show the mayor’s signature on the loan.

Jacobs has declined repeated requests from Local 10 News to answer questions about where he lives.

Public records show Jacobs is registered to vote in Broward County using an address in Pembroke Park. Florida law requires voters to be legal residents of the county where they are registered. At the same time, homestead and disability tax exemptions in St. Lucie County require the recipient to certify that the Fort Pierce home is their permanent residence.

When Local 10 News visited the Fort Pierce property, the mayor’s wife told Local 10 News Investigator Jeff Weinsier to leave and later called the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies responded and confirmed the news crew was standing on public property and had not entered the home or yard.

On the day Local 10 News was in Fort Pierce, a pickup truck and a Corvette that Jacobs has driven to town events in Pembroke Park were parked in the Fort Pierce driveway. A sign posted outside the home warned the media, inspector general officials, and law enforcement they are not welcome on the property.

Jacobs has stated that a mobile home in Pembroke Park is his residence and uses that address for voter registration. According to the Broward County Property Appraiser’s Office, Jacobs does not own the land where the mobile home is located. The land is owned by the mobile home park, and Jacobs rents the parcel.

Because the mobile home is not owned as real property, it is registered through the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, similar to a vehicle. Property tax exemptions, including the homestead exemption, are not available for mobile homes registered in this manner.

Neighbors near the Pembroke Park mobile home, who declined to appear on camera, told Local 10 News they rarely see Jacobs at that location.

In an emailed statement, Jacobs’ attorney, Michael Pizzi, said, “Mayor Jacobs lives in Pembroke Park and any suggestion otherwise is not true. This is a non-issue. The mayor is allowed to purchase property. The people can be confident that Mayor Jacobs has always and continues to reside in Pembroke Park.”

Under Florida law, if the St. Lucie County Property Appraiser determines that tax exemptions were improperly claimed, the county may revoke the exemptions, assess back taxes for prior years, impose penalties of up to 50 percent of the unpaid taxes, and add interest. In some cases, improper claims may also be referred for criminal review.

While the St. Lucie County Property Appraiser’s Office investigates the matter, some Pembroke Park commissioners say residents deserve clarity about where the mayor lives.

Commissioner Erik Morissette said voters need to be able to trust their elected officials and that living in the community is essential to serving residents effectively. Commissioner William Hodgkins described the possibility of a mayor living more than 100 miles away as “almost absurd.”

In a legal memorandum, Pembroke Park Town Attorney Jacob Horowitz addressed the residency issue, writing that while the Town Charter does not explicitly state that an elected official must remain a resident after election, interpreting the charter otherwise could lead to what he described as an “absurd result.”

Horowitz cited the 1988 referendum in which approximately 85 percent of voters supported residency requirements for elected officials and concluded that allowing a mayor to live more than 100 miles away would contradict the will and intent of the voters.

Read the memo:

The town attorney stated that while the town commission may hold hearings and review evidence such as tax and voter records, only a Broward County Circuit Court judge has the authority to declare the mayor’s seat vacant if the mayor is found to be ineligible.

Local 10 News has contacted the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for comment regarding the VA-backed mortgage requirements.

The Broward Office of Inspector General told Local 10 News that allegations of this nature fall within the type of conduct the office is authorized to investigate under the Broward County Charter. However, Florida law prohibits the office from saying whether an investigation has been opened.

Local 10 News will continue to follow the investigation and report any new developments.

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