St. Lucie County - Wednesday December 13, 2023: Boca Raton lawyer Patrick Lawlor is threatening legal action after St. Lucie County GOP Chairman Kenny Nail rejected a noon Wednesday deadline to issue a public apology and retract the accusations he made last week accusing County Sheriff appointee Keith Pearson of being a criminal who should be removed from office.
The 'cease-and-desist' letter from Lawlor "basically demanded me to stop talking about it," said Nail. It accuses the County GOP Chairman of 'malfeasance' he said. And the letter "doesn’t want me to call the Sheriff 'corrupt'. My response back to them originally was to 'go-pound-sand', but I have a formal response.”
When asked whether he would stop talking about Pearson Nail said - "Absolutely not. Sheriff Pearson still needs to go.” Nail reiterated accusations he made last week which Lawlor in his letter said are “reckless” and “arise to defamatory accusations”.
At that news conference last week, Nail said that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) report "called for the prosecution of Keith Pearson stemming from criminal activity” over Pearson’s alleged involvement in a ghost campaign to help former Sheriff Mascara get re-elect in 2020.
“How can someone who stole an election in the Republican primary, with a ghost candidate (be appointed Sheriff)?," asked Nail. "That’s not something I made up. All of this is in the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Investigative Summary. It is our duty to make sure that the people who did that are held accountable.”
The FDLE report, said Nail, justifies his accusation that Sheriff Pearson is a criminal. “Keith Pearson should be on Rock Road mopping floors in the jail of the St. Lucie County, not running the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office," said Nail.
There has still been no response from Governor DeSantis’s Office about Nail’s dramatic appeal last week for the Governor to take-back his appointment of Pearson. “Not a word," said Nail. "The Governor is running for President and I do not believe Governor DeSantis even knows about this.”
The St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office declined a request for comment from Sheriff Pearson.
