Nearly two years after her suspension from the Lake Wales City Commission, Kris Fitzgerald has been returned to office.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an order Wednesday reinstating Fitzgerald, whom he had suspended in July 2021, a month after she was arrested and charged with a felony.
She was later removed from the City Commission, and Daniel Krueger gained election last year to replace her on Seat 4.
A jury last October acquitted Fitzgerald on two charges, interference with custody and aggravated assault, ending a two-day trial overseen by Circuit Court Judge Lori Winstead in Bartow.
Fitzgerald, 43, is immediately reinstated, replacing Krueger on the commission, Lake Wales spokesman Eric Marshall said.
In Wednesday’s executive order, DeSantis wrote that Krueger remained in a temporary appointment to fill Fitzgerald’s seat even after his election last year and that Fitzgerald’s position had never been vacant in a legal or permanent sense. He revoked the order he had issued in 2021.
“Commissioner Fitzgerald will receive full back pay and other allowances to which she would have been entitled during the suspension,” City Manager James Slaton said in a news release.
City officials have tried to contact Fitzgerald but had not heard back from her as of Wednesday afternoon, Marshall said.