Boston developer Dennis Stackhouse pleaded no contest Monday to charges that he bundled campaign contributions to a Miami-Dade commissioner, a former county judge and a candidate for governor.

In exchange for the plea to five third-degree felonies, Stackhouse was sentenced to 12 months probation and 15 hours of community service. Because he doesn't have a prior criminal record, the charges would not have netted him prison time even had he been tried and convicted.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge William Thomas withheld adjudication, meaning Stackhouse will not have a criminal conviction on his record.

Prosecutors began investigating Stackhouse after a Miami Herald investigation last year revealed that he used double billings and fake invoices to siphon at least $500,000 in taxpayer money from a planned biopharmaceutical park project in Liberty City. County officials shut down the project after The Herald's investigation was published.

The investigation into that case is still pending, Assistant State Attorney Joseph Centorino said.

The newspaper also reported that Stackhouse, along with three of his employees and nine of his companies, donated thousands to County Commissioner Dorrin Rolle's 2006 reelection campaign while the commissioner pushed the county to purchase a $23 million parking garage that Stackhouse had promised to build inside the biopharmaceutical park.

One Stackhouse employee, Carolina Misle, told investigators that Stackhouse asked her to write checks for $2,500 from business accounts and her own personal account.

The money went to the campaigns of Rolle, former Miami-Dade County Judge Shirlyon McWhorter and former gubernatorial candidate Rod Smith.

Prosecutors also charged five of Stackhouse's companies with illegally bundling campaign contributions. He pleaded no contest on behalf of his companies as well, Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office spokesman Ed Griffith said.

A hearing was set for Dec. 16 to determine how much Stackhouse should reimburse the county for the investigation's cost.

Original Story - Miami Herald