After about an hour of deliberation, David Broxterman, 57, was found guilty of scheme to defraud by a jury on Jan. 19.

David Broxterman, 57, of Lakeland.

Broxterman, of Lakeland, lied about having a PhD in organizational management from the University of South Florida when he applied for a job as a professor at Polk State College in 2008. He was selected for the position and was paid $258,760 by Polk State for classes he taught from 2009 to 2014.

He claimed he worked with an engineering professor at USF in order to obtain his PhD, adding that he paid $5,000 to cover the cost of the PhD program. Broxterman also said he worked with the same professor to defend his dissertation.

But Assistant State Attorney Michael Hrdlicka rebutted that, saying there was no receipt for the PhD program and they cannot confirm it with the professor who sat on Broxterman’s dissertation panel because he died. Broxterman could not remember the names of the other professors on the panel.

When investigators from the State Attorney’s Office requested a copy of Broxterman’s dissertation, he said it used to be in his office but has gone “missing.”

On Broxterman’s diploma, Hrdlicka said, the word “board” is spelled “baord.” It also lists the President of USF as “Judy C. Genshaft” – her correct middle initial is “L.”

Broxterman faces up to 30 years in prison. He will be sentenced by Judge Yancey March 16.

Vincent Madhavath was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday for hiring a hitman to kill his wife.

Vincent Madhavath, 45, of Winter Haven.

Madhavath, 45, was convicted of attempted first-degree murder and solicitation to commit first-degree murder by a jury on Sept. 29, 2016, after a three-day trial in front of Judge Yancey. Following his 20-year sentence, Yancey also gave him 10 years of probation.

During the trial, jurors learned Madhavath planned to have a hitman – who was an undercover Florida Department of Law Enforcement agent – enter his home after midnight and shoot his wife in the head.

The undercover FDLE agent and Madhavath met numerous times between May 2014 and August 2014 to discuss the details of the murder. In a video recording from one of their meetings, Madhavath handed the agent $5,000 in cash and a photo of his wife.

Assistant State Attorney Ashley McCarthy asked Judge Yancey to sentence Madhavath to 30 years in prison.

“He may not have been the one pulling the trigger,” McCarthy said, “but he’s more dangerous because he’s the mastermind.”

Madhavath’s wife pleaded with the judge to only sentence him to eight years because she needed him at home to help with their children. Friends of Madhavath’s sent in letters on his behalf, telling the judge he’s a “good guy.”

McCarthy said that Madhavath may seem like a good person from his friends’ perspectives, “but we saw the real him,” she said.
Judge Yancey sentenced him to 20 years, stating that he believed Madhavath was living a double life.