Pembroke Park subpoenas mayor’s wife in residency fight
Pembroke Park has subpoenaed Angela Jacobs and widened its records hunt as it fights over whether Mayor Geoffrey Jacobs really lives in town. A Fort Pierce home, 100 miles away, sits at the center of the residency dispute.
The Fort Pierce house owned by Geoffrey Jacobs and Angela Jacobs, more than 100 miles north of Pembroke Park, was purchased in late 2024 for $565,000 and is described in county records as a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home with a pool on more than an acre of land. Pembroke Park has subpoenaed Angela Jacobs for a sworn deposition and widened its records hunt over whether Mayor Geoffrey Jacobs lives in the town. The town is also seeking records from Verizon Communications, the Florida Department of State’s Division of Elections, Broward County and the St. Lucie County School District.
In 1988, about 85% of voters approved a residency rule saying officials must live in town and lose their seat if they move out. Commissioners moved in February 2026 to formally add that language to the charter.
St. Lucie County opened a formal homestead fraud investigation into the property after records showed it had been receiving a $25,000 homestead exemption, a $5,000 military disability exemption and a $535,000 service-connected total-and-permanent disability exemption.
The larger exemption was removed from county records after the scrutiny became public, while the smaller homestead and veteran’s exemptions remained. Florida law requires people claiming homestead and permanent-disability benefits to swear the property is their permanent residence, and state law does not allow someone to claim more than one permanent residence at the same time for those benefits.
The loan was backed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and included an occupancy certification requiring the borrower to move in as a primary resident within 60 days of closing and stay there for at least a year.
The legal battle has already reached Broward County Circuit Court. A judge blocked Pembroke Park commissioners from holding a February 10, 2026, meeting to consider removing Jacobs, and a later ruling allowed him to remain mayor while the lawsuit proceeds without deciding the residency question. One commissioner had pushed to pause most public meetings until the case is resolved, warning that decisions made now could later be challenged.
Jacobs was reinstated as mayor in May 2025 after a commission vote tied to a 2024 referendum that called for the mayoral position to rotate among commissioners. His team has denied wrongdoing, and his attorney has argued that he continues to live in Pembroke Park.
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