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Escambia County was dealt a big financial blow when Circuit Judge Jere Tolton ruled on Dec. 27 that convicted, former county commissioner W.D. Childers won’t have to reimburse the county for the $1 million it lost on the resale of the Escambia County Soccer Complex. Childers is serving time in state prison for an April 2003 conviction on bribery and unlawful compensation.

Escambia County bought the soccer complex located on Highway 29 near the Rave Theaters for $3.9 million in November 2001 from real estate broker Joe Elliot.  Elliott was later tried and acquitted of bribing Childers and fellow commissioner Willie Junior.

The Independent News interviewed Elliott in its May 18, 2008 issue (“Joe Elliott’s Untold Story”) about the sale. [Click to Read: Joe Elliott’s Untold Story].

    In February 2003, the Escambia County Commission approved the sale of the complex to Moulton Properties for $2.9 million. Last year the company bundled the property with 18 adjacent acres and sold the land to Gulf Power for $15 million.

Many of the commissioners, particularly Tom Banjanin, weren’t happy with the sale price in 2003, but were lead by county staff to believe the county would be receive restitution from Childers.

Three years later, the county is out a $1 million and must sleep with the realization that they may have left millions on the table.