Sheriff’s Office arrests 39-year-old Sarasota man
A 39-year-old Sarasota man has been charged with Grand Theft of $100,000 or more in connection with actions he took while working at the Siesta Key Palms Resort in Sarasota, a Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office arrest warrant says.
Billy Vann Prater Jr., of 4304 Midland Road in Sarasota, was arrested on May 21, his Sheriff’s Office Corrections Division booking record shows. He was released from jail on May 22 on $50,000 bond, that record says. He has entered a plea of “Not Guilty” in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court, as noted in records maintained by the Sarasota County Clerk of the Circuit Court and County Comptroller’s Office.
The hotel, which stands at 1800 Stickney Point Road, is owned by Henry Rodriguez of Osprey. Rodriguez has owned the property since early May 2016, the records of the Sarasota County Property Appraiser’s Office say.
On Nov. 26, 2024, the warrant noted, Rodriguez met with a detective at the Sheriff’s Office “to file a fraud report.” Rodriguez told the detective that he discovered a theft from the hotel that he attributed to Prater, who previously was the office manager for the business.
During his statement to the detective, the warrant continued, Rodriguez explained that Prater used his position “to give free rooms or cancel rooms in the system to take the money.” Further, Rodriguez said, Prater hired Daniel Picaut “to do the handy man jobs on the property. Picaut was paid via multiple methods,” the warrant said, such as CashApp and PayPal, as well as through the company payroll. It was unclear, the warrant added, what work Picaut had done and whether the amount he was paid had been inflated.
After speaking with his accountant, Rodriguez ended up requesting an audit, the warrant noted. That was how Rodriguez learned that Prater had “conducted scams and [stolen] approximately $110,470.19, from the end of 2023 through [part of] 2024,” when the theft was discovered, the warrant continued.
The auditor provided a sworn statement to the Sheriff’s Office, along with documentation of the fraud, the warrant added. Moreover, during a meeting with the auditor, the warrant said, the detective was “provided a receipt for a laptop that was taken by Prater, worth approximately $534 at the time of purchase on 8/4/2023.”
Yet another example of fraud, the warrant noted, was evidence showing that Prater added extra hotel stays to approved accounts for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) workers, “even though the guests did not stay those nights …” That information was forwarded to FEMA, the warrant pointed out.
Rodriguez ended up paying FEMA $7,003.25, the warrant said.
Prater’s criminal history
A News Leader review of 12th Judicial Circuit Court records this week found that Prater also was charged with stalking in early April, and he was cited on May 23 — after his release on bond — with having an open container of alcohol in his vehicle and with driving through a parking lot to avoid a red light.
All of the court records related to the stalking case are classified as “Protected,” meaning they are unavailable for public view. One of them is listed as a Domestic Violence Relationship Form.
The traffic citations were issued in the aftermath of an incident at the intersection of Proctor Road and Swift Road in Sarasota, those documents noted.
The penalty for avoiding the red traffic light is $166, the citation said.