By Francisco Alvarado, www.FloridaBulldog.org
El Portal Mayor Omarr Nickerson presents himself as a globe-trotting scholar with advanced degrees from universities in Egypt, Syria and China, as well as a benefactor of the village he has led for six years.
But as Nickerson seeks reelection on Nov. 3, many residents are wondering if anything the mayor tells them is true. His academic credentials remain unverified. His residency is in question. And a $25,000 donation to the village he took credit for at a budget hearing last month has prompted ethics complaints seeking to establish where the money came from.
Meanwhile, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s child support program alleges Nickerson owes $55,552 in unpaid support for his two children, according to Miami-Dade Circuit Court filings. A Sept. 22 motion filed by Assistant State Attorney Odine Laurenvil seeks to hold him in contempt. A hearing is scheduled for Dec. 8, more than a month after voters decide whether to keep him in office.
Where the mayor actually lives in the village remains unclear. Child support court notices list Village Hall as his mailing address. Recent filings for two corporations the 49-year-old mayor owns list his parents’ home in Palmetto Bay, another Miami-Dade town roughly 25 miles south of El Portal.
“I would hope voters are concerned,” said Vimari Roman, a former village council member who served alongside Nickerson for four years in the late 2010s. “I can say that I thought about how strange all his stories are.”
Nickerson did not respond to two voicemails and two text messages. He also did not respond to multiple emails with detailed questions about his degrees, his sources of income, his home address in El Portal and the ethics complaints against him. The emails also requested that Nickerson provide copies of his degrees and any other documentation showing he has the two master’s and doctorate degrees described in his online village bio page.
A DONATION WITH NO IDENTIFIED DONOR
On Oct. 6, Miami-based elections law attorney Juan Carlos “J.C.” Planas, who unsuccessfully ran for Miami-Dade elections supervisor in 2024, filed complaints with the Florida Commission on Ethics and the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust over Nickerson’s financial disclosures and the source of the $25,000.
The complaints center on statements Nickerson made at El Portal’s Sept. 10 budget hearing. According to Planas’s affidavit, the mayor alternated between saying the donation came “through him” and saying it came from him.
Asked to identify the donor, the village’s chief financial officer Harry Tabfeld said he would research the matter and report back, according to a video of the budget hearing. At the Sept. 22 council meeting, Tabfeld still could not identify the source, Planas’ complaints state. Tabfeld did not respond to requests for comment.
In an affidavit attached to the complaint, Planas questioned Nickerson’s ability to donate $25,000 when the mayor listed his annual $3,000 village salary as his only income and no assets worth more than $1,000 in his statement of financial interest filed with the village. “No bank account, no home, no stocks. None,” the affidavit states.
Planas, who told Florida Bulldog he filed the complaint on behalf of residents who fear retaliation by Nickerson, contends village staff’s failure to confirm the $25,000 was indeed deposited into El Portal coffers prevents residents from determining whether someone with business before their government provided Nickerson with the money or if he just made it up to make himself look good.
“We have no idea where he got the money,” Planas said. “So either he lied on his financial disclosure or at the village council meeting.”
The complaints ask ethics authorities to examine whether the transaction involved unreported compensation, deficient financial disclosures or the use of public office to obtain money for the mayor’s promotion. “I think the village needs to be investigated as a whole,” Planas said.
After spending a decade as a village councilmember, Nickerson was elected mayor without opposition in 2020. But as soon as he took office, Nickerson faced scrutiny.
El Portal’s then-village attorney Norman Powell issued a legal opinion alleging the mayor submitted deficient qualifying paperwork, including a suspended driver’s license, and failed to disclose income sources. Then-Councilmember Vimari Roman forwarded Powell’s findings to the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust, and Powell sent his opinion and supporting documents to the state attorney’s public corruption unit.
However, both agencies did not open investigations and Nickerson went on to win two more two-year terms without opposition. In this election, resident George Alvarez is running against Nickerson.
His El Portal official bio page identifies him as “Mayor Omarr C. Nickerson, Ph.D,” and describes post-graduate academic accomplishments spanning three continents. Nickerson, who has a University of Miami bachelor’s degree, claims he obtained a master’s degree in “Global History and Socio-Geographic Studies” from the University of Cairo and a second master’s degree in “International Political Science and Economic Development” from the University of Damascus.
His bio says he then obtained doctorate degrees in “International Studies and International Relations/Affairs from the University of Beijing Peking, in China, and the University of Damascus, respectively.” His bio does not state the dates he attended and obtained those degrees.
The Egyptian institution’s formal name is Cairo University. The registrar’s office could not confirm if Nickerson actually attended the school, requesting his graduation date in order to conduct a deeper search. However, Cairo University does not offer a master’s degree in “Global History and Socio-Geographic Studies,” and only offers graduate studies courses in history and geography through separate academic departments, according to a school spokesperson.
In China, there is a Peking University in Beijing that has a School of International Studies offering graduate and doctoral programs in international politics, diplomacy, and global affairs. The courses are taught in Chinese only, require four years to earn a doctoral degree and applicants must have a master’s degree from an institution accredited by the Chinese Ministry of Education, according to Peking University’s website.
Officials in Peking University’s student affairs department and registrar’s office did not respond to emails seeking confirmation about Nickerson. Officials at the University of Damascus also did not respond to emails.
VEXED BY RESIDENCY, CHILD SUPPORT WOES
Questions about Nickerson’s residency have dogged him since he sold his three-bedroom El Portal home in 2018 for $445,000. At the time, Nickerson was going through a messy divorce preceded by a couple of run-ins with law enforcement over alleged domestic violence on his then-estranged wife, Barbara Gasaly.
In 2017, Nickerson was arrested on a misdemeanor battery charge after Gasaly told police he grabbed her around the neck and pushed her to the floor during an argument. Four days later, she filed for divorce and obtained a temporary restraining order. Nickerson was arrested again a year later on a felony charge of aggravated stalking of Gasaly.
He pleaded no contest to the battery charge in October 2018 and completed probation in January 2019. Later that month, a jury acquitted him of aggravated stalking.
The divorce court separately found that Gasaly was a victim of domestic violence. The July 2018 final judgment awarded her full custody of their two children, required Nickerson’s visits to be supervised and ordered him to undergo a psychological evaluation and reunification therapy.
The judge also granted an indefinite restraining order, finding that Gasaly “maintains a reasonable fear of imminent bodily harm.” In a 2020 interview with Florida Bulldog, Nickerson denied harming his ex-wife. “I have done nothing wrong and I hope the best for her,” he said at the time.
Several residents, speaking on background, said Nickerson has claimed to own four properties outside of Florida, including a mansion in Malibu, CA. They said he was recently living in a top-floor unit at The Kavista Apartments, an eight-story multifamily project with 282 units completed in 2024. The building was the first large-scale apartment development in El Portal.
Court records show that recent correspondence related to his child support violations is sent to El Portal Village Hall at 500 Northeast 87th Street. In 2024, Nickerson formed two companies called Comfort Fit and This Is. Their most recent annual reports, filed in January and February, list his parents’ Palmetto Bay home as the principal address.
“He hasn’t lived here since his divorce,” ex-councilmember Roman said in a recent interview. “He really shouldn’t be serving in El Portal.”
While Nickerson’s academic and residential history remain murky, his failure to pay child-support is documented by the state attorney’s child support program. According to an arrearage affidavit filed on Feb. 20, Nickerson has routinely missed his monthly $797 payments due since he was required to start paying child support on Dec. 1, 2019. Over the years, Nickerson made roughly 40 payments under $200, two payments of $800 and one payment of $1,200. His last recorded payment of $148 was on April 6, 2023, the affidavit shows.
“Miami-Dade has a lot of deadbeat dads,” elections lawyer Planas said. “But not a lot of deadbeat dads get elected to office. The signs of corruption are all over everything I have seen in El Portal.”
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