ORLANDO, Fla. – The Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) determined that former Orlando city commissioner Regina Hill did not exploit an elderly woman, according to newly-obtained documents reviewed by News 6.
The emails and an investigative report, all of which are from 2023, appear to be in direct conflict with the findings from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
The FDLE arrested Hill in 2024. Prosecutors have charged her with exploitation of an elderly person, scheme to defraud, fraudulent use of identification, and mortgage fraud.
Prosecutors alleged that Hill exploited the woman—who is in her 90s—out of more than $100,000, and used the money to do things like buy a house and pay for a facelift. They also have claimed Hill obtained a power of attorney over the woman.
[See video below of Regina Hill walking out of jail after her arrest in 2024]
Hill is awaiting trial but is running again for an Orlando city commission seat. Governor Ron DeSantis suspended Hill last April after prosecutors leveled charges.
In a February 2023 email, an investigator with DCF wrote an email to another DCF employee and a FDLE agent tasked with investigating Hill. The email stated that the investigator determined the alleged victim had “the ability to make her own decisions at the time of the investigation.”
[See News 6 coverage below from 2024 after Regina Hill’s arrest]
“However, if determined that POA [the power of attorney] was forged or fraudulent we would need to dig deeper with the victim about the circumstances of that POA,” the investigator wrote.
Just weeks later, on the same day that the aforementioned FDLE agent interviewed the woman, he wrote an email to a DCF employee, in which he expressed his concerns about the woman.
“I am calling in a new report and I am requesting immediate assistance from DCF relating to [the victim],” the agent wrote.
The agent claimed that when he met the woman at her home, he was met with “angered resistance from a ‘caregiver’ in place” by Hill.
[Former Orlando commissioner Regina Hill launches reelection campaign]
He concluded that after speaking with the woman, “she was totally unaware that [Hill] had a power of attorney over her, changed her will, owns her property and stated that she has been taken advantage of.”
But in May of 2023, DCF published an investigative report — just obtained this week by News 6 — that reinforced its findings from earlier in the year.
The report stated the investigation was closing due to a lack of “substantiated findings.”
“There is no credible evidence to support [the] allegations,” the report stated.
In an email responding to News 6’s question about how the emergence of these documents may affect his client’s criminal case, Fritz Scheller, one of Regina Hill’s attorneys, wrote:
“Forgive me for answering your question with a question. But such a response is unavoidable. Considering DCF’s findings, the simple, yet critical, query that follows is what did FDLE, as well as others who testified in Ms. Hill’s injunction case, know and when did they know it. Of course, you could always ask them, but they have curiously remained silent.”
A spokesperson with the Florida Attorney General’s office said that his agency could not comment on ongoing investigations or prosecutions.