- November 23, 2024
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This story was updated at 5:21 p.m.
Palm Coast mayoral candidate Peter Johnson has come under fire after a Facebook message showing him allegedly using a racial slur has surfaced online.
But Johnson denies ever sending the messages and said the message has been faked in order to discredit his campaign for mayor. The messages in the screenshot show an anonymous person — all identifications have been removed from the page — criticizing Johnson for destroying feral cat feeders in 2023. Johnson’s alleged response uses swear words and the N-word slur at the messenger.
Johnson said he first became aware of the screenshot when a local news media outlet approached him in March about it.
He said he has always denied sending the messages and immediately filed a police report with the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.
“This was completely fraudulent,” Johnson said.
The messages have since gone public online, with posts circulating on social media, and at least two websites having posted articles about Johnson and the messages. One website — freedomsentinel.net — is no longer active. In fact, a video supplied by Johnson shows a person clicking on the "contact" link on the site, and it connects to a 1-800 number sex hotline. The Observer could not independently verify the video.
The FCSO sent the police report to the Observer. It was filed on March 14, when Johnson first became aware of the message, with a followup report on June 20.
Johnson said he also went to the local Federal Bureau of Investigation office, but was told the issue is not under their jurisdiction.
Community Cats of Palm Coast Director Jessica Myers said in an interview with Bunnell Pastor Jearlyn Dennie on the WNZF radio show “Today with Pastor J” that she had spoken with the person who received the emails. Dennie, who has been involved in community politics for years, characterizes her show as a talk show that discuss a variety of local issues, including, during election season, discussing political issues and local candidates.
Myers said she posted half the messages in a private Facebook group and the respondent was able to finish the message, so she believed it was legitimate.
Myers said in the interview she was willing to step down from her position at Community Cats if it meant she could step in and prevent Johnson from becoming mayor.
“I said, ‘I’m going to do whatever I have to do, even if that means stepping down as director of Community Cats,’” she said.
Myers also asked in the interview that, if the messages were faked, why hadn’t Johnson made a public statement against it?
When asked, Johnson said it was because he didn’t want to give “baseless rumors” any semblance of credibility by acknowledging them.
Myers originally declined to interview with the Observer following her “Today with Pastor J” interview, but, in a phone interview on July 3, Myers said she since had begun to doubt the veracity of the messages. She said since her first contact with the person who had allegedly received the message from Johnson, that person has not returned her calls.
Johnson is not her favorite person, Myers said, but she doesn't "like anybody to be accused if it can't be proven 100% true."
"It may be true, it may not be true," Myers said. "But I'm no longer 100% convinced."
Dennie became aware of the alleged message from a source, but she declined to provide the identity of that source when asked by the Flagler County Sheriff's Office, according to the June 20 FCSO report.
The alleged messages refer to an incident between between Johnson and a Community Cats volunteer in July 2023 over a feral cat feeder that Johnson had destroyed on a city trail. A volunteer replaced the broken feeder a few days later after the first was broken, and was confronted by Johnson.
In the body camera statements from Johnson and the volunteer, Johnson allegedly got in the woman’s face and began recording her for replacing the feeders. The woman also swiped in Johnson’s face, but not hitting him, and pulled out her pepper spray, though she did not use it, according to statements from both parties.
Ultimately, no charges were filed against either Johnson or the volunteer. It wasn’t until after the altercation that Johnson filed to run in the mayor race.
The FCSO deputy for the incident wrote in his report that “a possible fake account was created to discredited Peter because he is running for mayor.”
“This is fraudulently pretending to be me in an effort to disparage my name [and] using disgusting racial terms in the process,” Johnson said. “It is unacceptable.”
