Remember that time back in 2013 when North Miami Beach lawyer Charles “Chucky” Baron threatened to sue this blogger?

When I wrote a blog about his suing the City of North Miami Beach to protest a real estate development near Greynolds Park, he got his panties twisted when one of my readers anonymously commented that Chucky would be all for the project if the developer had paid him off hired him as a consultant.

Chucky was livid.  He categorically denied it was true, and then posted several nasty comments in response.

He also sent me an email stating his intent to file a lawsuit against me.  Chucky not only accused me of defamation, but he also demanded the identity of my reader, “who will then be added as a defendant.”

I had absolutely no intention giving in to Chucky’s childish demand.  However, in the interest of moving on to more important things, I chose to remove the “offending” comment.

But not before re-printing it for the benefit of any readers who might have missed it.

Along with an explanation of why it was removed, of course.

As you can imagine, that only served to make Chucky more enraged.

Too bad, so sad.

Unfortunately for him, bloggers (and journalists, of course) are protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.  The Chuckies of the world may not like our opinions of them, but we have the absolute right to voice them.

Which brings me to yet another incredible tale of intimidation against a local blogger …

By yet another thin skinned public figure …

Who threatened a lawsuit.

Oh, joy!

On September 19, 2017, the North Bay Village blogger, Kevin Vericker, was served with a cease and desist letter by lawyers for Village Idiot Mayor-slash-#DirtyPolitician Connie Leon-Kreps.

It seems Herroner was a tad perturbed over Vericker’s latest post in which he wrote of “reports that Mayor Kreps and Commissioner Alvarez are under criminal federal investigation for using the US mail to extort a fellow commissioner into either resigning or complying with their demands to fire the village manager.”

The blogger then provided the mayor and her colleague with a solution to their legal and ethical challenges by advising:

There is an easy way to handle this.  Commissioner Alvarez and Mayor Kreps could simply:

• From the dais, state categorically that they had nothing to do with the extortion attempt.  We can assume they would be telling the truth since it is an offense under the Miami Dade Bill of Rights for an elected official to deliberately misstate the truth in their official capacity and an outright lie would add further complications to their situation, if there is one.
• If the reports of a criminal investigation soon to be closed are true, and they do not want to speak about this publicly for fear of compromising their own positions, then they should recuse themselves from participating this Tuesday in the meeting.  There would still be quorum and the process could move along.
• Finally, if they were involved in the extortion attempts, they could either resign or admit it and explain themselves to the public.

All Alvarez and Kreps had to do was simply – and publicly – deny their involvement in any such extortion attempt, as well as the ensuing criminal investigation, and the blogger would have dropped the whole sordid affair.

Instead of doing the honorable thing, Mayor Connie Leon-Kreps decided to hire a lawyer to threaten the blogger:

These statements include knowingly false publications, which allege: (i) that there is a criminal investigation against Ms. Leon-Kreps; (ii) that Ms. Leon-Kreps is under criminal investigation for sending extortion letters to a fellow North Bay Village commissioner; and (iii) that the FBI is investigating Ms. Leon-Kreps.

All of these statements are false and were made by you with actual malice.  As such, they are actionable.This letter shall serve as notice that you shall take down all of your false and defamatory statements about Ms. Leon-Kreps by the close of business on Friday, September 22, 2017.

So what did Kevin do?

Well, first of all, he told Miami New Times reporter Tim Elfrink that he wasn’t backing down.

YEAH, BABY!

In North Bay Village Mayor Threatens Blogger With Lawsuit Over Blackmail Claims,  Elfrink wrote, “He explains rumors have swirled for months that Leon-Kreps and Commissioner Jose Alvarez are being investigated in the case and that both have refused to directly discuss the claims with him; he says his blog post is simply a call for them to publicly disclose whether they’re being probed over the blackmail attempt. (Alvarez didn’t return multiple calls to his city-issued cell phone and an email from New Times.)”

The article continued:

The trouble began in May, when Hornsby, who was appointed to the village commission in January, asked for time to speak at a meeting and then revealed he’d been convicted on cocaine charges in Shelby, Tennessee, in the early ’90s and went to prison; he was on parole until 1999, went through rehab, and became a licensed radiologist.

The village’s police chief, former Miami Beach Chief Carlos Noriega, quickly announced the FDLE and a federal agency had opened investigations into the attempt to extort Hornsby. That’s when rumors began blazing through the community.

And:

So what is the state of the blackmail probe? An FDLE spokesperson confirms the investigation is ongoing but declines to discuss specifics. North Bay Village Manager Frank Rollason says that investigators are still working but that he doesn’t have any information about who is being probed.

“I can’t confirm or deny any reports about who is a target,” Rollason says. “There’s definitely a federal and state investigation ongoing connected with the Dade state attorney into the extortion claims by Commissioner Hornsby. I’m keeping a distance from it deliberately.”

Well, heck.  Sure smells like an “investigation” to me!

Kevin’s next move?

He responded to the lawyers that he’d take down his blog when Hell freezes over.

Only he was a bit more courteous.

He wrote:

Ms. Donaire and Ms. Baker, I cannot accommodate Mrs. Kreps demands, communicated through you, for the simple reason that the assertions are factually incorrect.  At no time do I make any allegations.  Even the most careless reading of my posting would make it clear that I am discussing the reports, both public and through protected sources, of the investigation.

Again, since I did not make the allegations you state, it is impossible for me to comply with your demand to remove nonexistent text and it would appear your sole intent is to squelch discussion of this important matter.

I do understand the mayor’s concern about the damage to her reputation, although that is of her own doing, and would like to reiterate my long standing offer that she, like any other involved citizen, is welcome in the Facebook group I administer, North Bay Village Residents Speak, to participate in community conversations and I will also reiterate my standing invitation for the Mayor to post (unedited) as a guest on my personal blog, www.nbvreality.com.

Finally, let me conclude with a question.  Your incorrect assertions on what I had written reference an FBI investigation.  Naturally I did not write about that as I know of no such participation by the FBI.  I wonder if you can confirm for me that the FBI is actively involved?

Best Regards,

Kevin Vericker

DUDE, YOU ARE MY FREAKING IDOL!

Oh, yeah!  This is exactly what blogger dreams are made of!

Stephanie