In Poking the Bear, Part I, we told you about North Miami Beach Criminal Commissioner Paule Villard’s incredibly stupid plot to put a muzzle on this blogger.

Then again, no one should be surprised.  Paule isn’t exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer.

In any event, her evil scheme was an epic fail.

Until she pulled this stunt, Paule was just another one of the many corrupt politicians that we regularly expose on VotersOpinion as a public service.

Now, it’s personal.

According to the Court Docket, on March 16, 2022 at 12:53 PM, she filed a frivolous Petition for Injunction for Protection against Stalking Violence, commonly known as a restraining order, which was heard before Circuit Judge Natalie Moore, who issued an Order Denying Petition for Temporary Injunction at 4:05 PM.

And in those three hours and thirteen minutes, Paule Villard set in motion a series of events she’ll only wish she could take back.

Even though Judge Moore immediately denied Paule’s frivolous Petition, Florida Statute 784.0485 requires that “the court shall set a hearing to be held at the earliest possible time.”  She then issued an Order to Appear for a fifteen-minute hearing on April 1, 2022 at 10:30 AM before Judge Christine Bandin.

On April 1, 2022, I attended the first fifteen-minute hearing via Zoom, at which time Judge Bandin scheduled a full hearing for Monday, April 4, 2022 at 2:30 PM.

But not before Paule’s lawyer asked the Judge to issue a restraining order against me.  His ploy was unsuccessful.

During the April 4th three-hour hearing, Paule was first questioned by her own lawyer, Nixon Laroche, and then was cross examined by my attorney, Michael A. Pizzi, Jr.

Before I go into the details of her testimony, it’s worthy to note that Florida Statute 784.0485(3)(f) states:

We’re not sure if she knew what she was doing, but Paule Villard signed this Petition, swearing that “each statement is true and correct,” while knowing full well that none of her allegations were true.  Even if she knew that she was committing perjury, she signed it anyway, probably hoping she wouldn’t get caught.

But even if she did know she was committing perjury, that certainly didn’t stop her from continuously lying for three solid hours during the hearing.

For about two of those hours, her lawyer asked her questions and she gave him the same exact response, which she repeated with the same lies over and over at least fifteen to twenty times.

It’s almost as if she thought if she repeated a lie enough times, it would be the truth.

In a nutshell, she lamented:

“Stephanie is harassing me, blah, blah, blah, she’s stalking me, blah, blah, blah, she’s following me, blah, blah, blah, she took those pictures, blah, blah, blah.”

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Again and again and again.

The only time Paule strayed from her mantra of lies was when she broke out in tears, right on cue, and sobbed like a professional funeral wailer.

And cried how terrified she is of the big, bad, mean blogger who writes such terrible things about her.

And who makes public records requests.

As I watched this staged performance it was all I could do not to take out my little violin and play some sad, sad music.

She pulled this Drama Queen stunt twice.

And both times her lawyer asked poor, little Paule if she needed five minutes to compose herself.

During which times I quickly turned off my video and burst out in uncontrollable laughter.

By this time, I had already started keeping my mute button on all the time because I was in serious danger of screaming, “YOU LYING BITCH!” throughout her entire testimony.

While I was furious that I was forced to sit through two hours of being falsely accused of everything but murder, my attorney, Michael Pizzi barely raised any objections to her lawyer’s line of questioning or any of her ridiculous responses.  In retrospect, I realized that it was a brilliant move because she basically buried herself with her own lies.

Finally, her lawyer was done wringing crocodile tears out of his client, and it was my attorney’s turn to question her.

Unlike Paule’s lawyer, whose questions were specifically designed to elicit an emotional response, Pizzi calmly and logically stuck to the facts.

His line of questioning went something like this:

Pizzi:  Have you ever personally met Ms. Kienzle?

Paule:  No.

Pizzi:  Since you were elected in 2018, have you ever seen Ms. Kienzle attend a Commission meeting in person?

Paule:  No.

Pizzi:  Have you ever witnessed Ms. Kienzle following you?

Paule:  No.

Pizzi:  Did you witness Ms. Kienzle personally take those photographs of you at the Hard Rock?

Paule:  No.

Pizzi:  Has Ms. Kienzle ever texted, called, or emailed you?

Paule:  No.

Pizzi:  Has Ms. Kienzle ever threatened you with physical harm, either in person, or by text, phone, or email?

Paule:  No.

Pizzi:  Has Ms. Kienzle ever physically abused you?

Paule:  No.

Pizzi:  So, if you’ve never personally met Ms. Kienzle, and she’s never texted, called, or emailed you, and she’s never threatened you with physical harm, either by text, phone, or email, and she’s never physically abused you, then there is absolutely no merit to this Petition for Injunction for Protection Against Stalking Violence.

Now, mind you, Paule didn’t answer a straight “no” to all his questions without whining that I write mean things about her.

And that I make public records requests.

But Mr. Pizzi would politely cut her off and told her to just please answer the question.

Several times during her testimony, Paule lied that I made a public records request for her home address, but when pressed, neither Paule nor her lawyer could come up with any evidence that I did.

Because she was a retired police officer, at least on paper, she has the right by law to have her address redacted from public records.

Keep this point in mind because it will become an extremely important issue later on.

At about 5:45, when Mr. Pizzi was done questioning Paule, the Judge announced that she had a “hard stop” at 6:00 PM and that the hearing would have to be continued on another day.

Paule’s lawyer once again begged the Judge to issue a restraining order against me, but the Judge said no.

She did, however, “ask, not order,” me to refrain from writing any blogs about Paule.

Despite my franticly texting to Pizzi, “NO FUCKING WAY,” he simply responded to the Judge, “Not a problem, Your Honor.”

I wanted to kick his ass.

Yeah, this crap was starting to get really, really annoying.

The Judge set the next hearing for Wednesday, April 6, 2022 at 2:30 PM, at which time I would finally get to have my say.

And that’s when the real fun began.

As I mentioned above, during the previous hearing, my attorney let Paule say whatever she wanted, for as long as she wanted, with very little objection.  The minute Mr. Pizzi started questioning me, however, Nixon Laroche raised objection after objection for the sole purpose of making sure the Judge couldn’t hear my side of the story.

For example, when Pizzi asked me why I write the blogs, I responded that I want to expose public corruption and that I consider what I do to be a it a public service.

Laroche vigorously objected.

But, of course.

My attorney did manage to get on the record, however, that:

• I have never personally met Paule Villard;
• I haven’t been to North Miami Beach in over two years;
• I have not personally attended any NMB Commission meetings since Paule was elected;
• I am not following Paule Villard; and
• I did not take those hilariously embarrassing pictures of her.

Laroche was chomping at the bit to interrogate me, with the confidence of someone who thought he could force me to implicate myself in, well, something … anything … so he could finally get his restraining order.

Laroche did not expect to come face to face with such a formidable and well prepared opponent, who is used to holding her own, especially when someone tries to bully me.

He also had no idea that I am a human lie detector, and that I’m pretty damn good at making people eat their own lying words.

Nevertheless, he gave it the old Florida Coastal School of Law try.

In case anyone is interested, that reference is to Laroche’s alma mater, a little-known, “junior varsity” law school, where only 53.3% of the first-time takers passed the Bar in July 2021, and which was forced to close after only 25 years due to “funding and accreditation issues.”

Luckily for him, Laroche graduated two years before the school was shut down.

The only Florida law school that received a lower success rate was St. Thomas University, where Paule’s co-conspirator on the dais, Michael “Mike” Joseph received his Juris Doctor Degree.

Which certainly explains a lot.

But I digress.

Laroche, who tried to come prepared, started lobbing questions at me as fast as he could, barely giving me time to respond before going on to the next question.

Here are some of the highlights, in no particular order, and paraphrased since I didn’t take verbatim notes:

Laroche:  Did you take those bathing suit pictures of my client?

Me:  No.

Laroche:  Who did?

Me:  I have no idea.

Laroche::  How did you get them?

Me:  They were sent to me.

Laroche:  And you have no idea who sent them to you?

Me:  Nope.

Laroche:  Are you saying someone sent them to you anonymously?  I find that hard to believe.

Me:  Yes, and I get anonymous stuff all the time.

Laroche:  Did you know those pictures were taken of Ms. Villard in a private setting at her granddaughter’s eighth birthday?

Me:  The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino is hardly a private setting, and I have no idea if there was a birthday party going on since I wasn’t there.

So that line of questioning was a bust and he moved on.

Laroche:  Did you ever call Ms. Villard corrupt?

Me:  I sure did.  She is corrupt.

Laroche:  Did you ever call Ms. Villard dumb?

Me:  Absolutely.  She’s incredibly stupid.

Laroche:  Did you ever call Ms. Villard fat?

Me:  Hmm.  I might have.  I don’t think I did, but it’s possible.

Laroche:  Did you ever call Ms. Villard a criminal?

Me:  Oh, yeah!  She is a criminal!

Laroche:  Can you tell me one time that Ms. Villard was arrested?

Me:  No, because I never said she was arrested?

Laroche:  Can you tell me one time that Ms. Villard was convicted?

Me:  No, because I never said she was convicted.

Laroche:  And yet, you called her a criminal?

Me:  Yes, I have the definition of “criminal” right here.  Would you like me to read it for the record?

He did not.

Laroche:  But, you did call her a criminal.

Me:  Yes, and I have a list of the crimes she’s committed right here.  Would you like me to …

He cut me off again.

But, not before I got my point across.

Laroche then asked me if I had ever made a public records request for Paule’s address, to which I responded that I had not.

Before he could shut me up, I explained that during the 2015 election, as I do every election, I review all the candidates’ Campaign Treasurer’s Reports (CTRs).  When I noticed that Paule’s address was missing from her CTRs, I emailed then-City Clerk Pamela Latimore and asked her why her address was left blank.

When Pamela told me that Paule was a retired police officer and that her address was redacted, I immediately understood because, unlike Paule, I’m familiar with Florida laws and how they work.

Then Laroche asked me if I had ever published Paule’s address on my website in any blogs, to which I responded that I did not.

He then shared a document on the Zoom, which was a Complaint I had filed with the Florida Ethics Commission regarding Paule’s Form 1 Statement of Financial Interests, in which I did list her home address.  The specific reason that her home address was included in the Complaint was because she had not reported her residence as an asset.  I subsequently learned that public officials are not required to report their residence as an asset, and therefore, the Complaint was dismissed.

Live and learn.

But, at the hearing, Laroche insisted that I posted that Complaint on my website and that anyone who clicked on the hyperlink could easily access it and find out where Paule lives.

At the time, I was taken by surprise because I had absolutely no recollection of posting that particular Complaint.  I specifically asked him which blog it was posted on so that I could take it down immediately.  He responded that he couldn’t recall because I post so many blogs.

That right there should have been a huge red flag.

This is a man who had scoured each and every one of my blogs about Paule, and who literally Facebook stalked each and every comment I posted, and then put screenshots of my words on the Zoom screen.

Yet, all of a sudden he “couldn’t recall” which blog allegedly contained a hyperlink to the offending Complaint?

No, that did not make any sense, but I had no time to think about it.  At that moment I was extremely upset that I might have inadvertently posted her address on my website, and I knew I had to take it down immediately.

I was frantically searching for the Complaint in my media file and coming up empty.  I then opened my Google Drive, where I sometimes upload large files, and I quickly deleted that Complaint from the Drive.

While I was doing all these things, the Judge kept asking me if I had taken it down.  I explained to her that it was deleted from my Google Drive, and that I would delete it from my website media file as soon as I could locate it.

I even repeated that it would be helpful if Mr. Laroche could tell me which blog specifically I had posted it on because if I knew I could delete it in a matter of seconds.

Still no response from him.

Not only was I upset with myself, thinking that I screwed up, I was getting really angry with Laroche, who kept grilling me while I was still searching through my website for the alleged document.

He immediately started a new line of questioning by asking me if anyone could access that Complaint by clicking on such a link on my website.  I responded that they could.

He then asked me if it’s possible that any of the people that Paule had arrested when she was a police officer could find her address on my website and then go to her house and do something to her.

I immediately shot back with, “You mean the ONE PERSON Paule arrested in her entire 21 years as a cop?”

He shot back, “That’s not the point!  The damage is done!”

To which I responded, “Welp, there you go.  I can’t undo it, can I?  So here we are.”

He asked me some more stupid questions, which I can’t even remember.

The rest of the hearing was pretty much a blur.

I always admit it if I make a mistake, and I was still kicking my own ass for what I believed at the time was a really stupid, really big mistake.

At about 6:00 PM, the Judge told everyone that we would have to continue the hearing at a later date and started checking her calendar.  Laroche demanded that it be continued the next day, but the Judge informed him that her calendar was fully booked with a trial until Monday, April 18, 2022.

Laroche exploded and demanded that she issue a restraining order against me right then and there because I put Paule in danger and that she was in fear for her life.

The Judge calmly said she would not be issuing a restraining order.

He asked her again.

She said no again.

She did, however, ask me again not to write any blogs or comments about Paule Villard, which just aggravated me even more than I already was.

It had now been six days since I posted a blog, and even though the Judge didn’t order me not to, I didn’t much appreciate having my First Amendment violated, even if it was voluntary on my part.

Especially when I’m being punished for doing absolutely nothing wrong in the first place!

And just like that, the hearing was over.

In any event, I had already wasted six hours of my life defending myself against Paule’s false allegations, and I still had to spend even more time looking for that damn Complaint that I had allegedly posted so I could take it down from my website.

My anger only heightened when it started dawning on me that Lying Laroche had played a very dirty trick on me indeed.

After spending another two hours poring through each and every one of my blogs about Paule, I finally discovered by process of elimination that I had never posted the “offending” Complaint on any of my blogs.

EVER!

At that moment, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Nixon Laroche, Esquire, flat-out lied to me, lied to my attorney, and lied to the Judge.

I also knew I would make him pay.

In the final chapter, Poking the Bear, Part III, I will reveal how I dealt with Lying Laroche, and how the Judge came to her final decision to dismiss Paule’s fraudulent Petition.

Stay tuned …

While you’re waiting, let’s all commiserate with the sad, sad fate of Paule the Drama Queen.

Stephanie