Palm Beach County Republican Party Embroiled in Libel Suit

REPUBLICAN VERSUS REPUBLICAN!

Is Trump’s Home County Republican Party Imploding? Delray Beach Police Report…

BY: STAFF REPORT | BocaNewsNow.com

UPDATE: 5:48 p.m. with Delray Beach police report at end of this post. Kevin Neal lives in Delray Beach.

DELRAY BEACH, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2023 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — The home of accused felon — and presidential candidate Donald Trump — is also home to a battle brewing over a Republican Party libel suit. That suit just filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court.

BocaNewsNow.com obtained the complaint which alleges that Kevin Neal, chairman of the Republican Executive Committee in Palm Beach County, made a libelous or slanderous comment against party member Anthony Ruffa back in October. The complaint states that Ruffa — a physician — was accused of spamming Neal and threatening his family.

From the complaint: “At this meeting, standing at a podium using a microphone, and in his official capacity as the REC Chairman, NEAL verbally made false statements of fact about RUFFA which were published to the REC members in attendance at the meeting. Specifically, NEAL published the following false statements of fact about RUFFA: RUFFA sent over 75 unwanted emails to NEAL’s personal email account; and in these emails, RUFFA threatened NEAL and his family. NEAL also stated to the audience that because of the alleged threatening emails that he received from RUFFA, that NEAL fears for his own safety as well as the safety of his family, and that he filed a criminal complaint against RUFFA with the police.

NEAL’s comments falsely accuse RUFFA of felony criminal conduct. Specifically, the comments paint RUFFA as a stalker under the criminal definition set out in Fla.Stat. 784.048 and also infer that RUFFA threatened to do bodily harm to NEAL and his family criminally in violation of Fla.Stat. 836.10.”

The suit seeks unspecified damages, but the minimum for filing in Palm Beach County Circuit Court is $50,000. There was no immediate response recorded by the Palm Beach County Clerk of Courts to the suit. Read the complete suit, below.

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Here’s the police report text:

“On 10/19/23, at 1735 hours, I made contact with Kevin Neal (DOB: 04/03/80) via cell phone in reference to ongoing harassment. Neal stated that he is an elected official in Palm Beach County and has received multiple harassing emails. Neal stated that these emails are coming from a male named Anthony “Tony” Ruffa, who is originally from Pennsylvania, but resides part time in West Palm Beach. Neal advised that Ruffa has emailed him approximately 70 different times over the last 4 months.

Neal stated in the emails, Ruffa has made threats to remove Neal as a chairman, accuse Neal of excluding minorities, and call Neal inexperienced and too young. Neal advised that he spoke with legal counsel and wanted to report these harassing emails due to him becoming fearful of what Ruffa might do. Neal stated that Ruffa knows where he lives.) and has mentioned Neal’s wife and children in a previous email. Neal advised that Ruffa did not specifically threaten to harm his family and just mentioned his wife and children. Neal stated that he has been very emotionally distressed due to the constant harassment and slander.

Neal stated that he answered Ruffa a few days ago and advised Ruffa that he was going to contact the police. Neal informed me that Ruffa has not sent an email since; however, I advised Neal to contact DBPD if the emails continue or the situation gets worse.”