Earlier this week, Florida Politics reported on how Palm Beach Gardens Council candidate Chuck Millar narrowly avoided a restraining order for harassing and demeaning an ex-girlfriend who dumped him by text.

That happened in 2018, and aside from a few minor traffic issues — speeding, failure to wear a seatbelt — his record is otherwise clean in Palm Beach County.

The same can’t be said for Palm Beach’s northern neighbor, Martin County. Over the course of eight years while living there, Millar racked up a troubling series of criminal arrests, including a pair of DUI accidents where a child was in the car and a domestic battery incident that prompted his wife to file for divorce.

Florida Politics contacted Millar on Friday to discuss these charges. In an interview the day before about the restraining order incident, he said he’s since addressed his emotional issues in therapy and is a better person for it.

Let’s hope so.

Millar was first arrested for drunk driving in Martin County on Aug. 26, 2004. He was 44 at the time. He pleaded no contest to a first-degree misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence with an under-18 passenger and causing property damage due to an accident.

The arrest affidavit said Millar admitted to rear-ending another vehicle “while reaching for his son’s sippy cup in the back seat.” Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Vito Fruggiero noted that the boy was secured in a child restraint.

Millar, who was driving with a suspended license due to unpaid traffic fines, failed a field sobriety test. He then refused a breathalyzer test, but was not charged later for doing so.

Fruggiero placed Millar under arrest, but agreed to wait until Millar’s then-wife, Carol, came for the boy.

Four-and-a-half years later, on May 16, 2009, Martin Sheriff’s deputies responded to a domestic disturbance call at Millar’s home. They arrived at about 3 p.m., finding Millar visibly intoxicated. The arresting officer wrote that Millar “got into an altercation, which then became physical.”

Carol said in a witness statement that Millar grew enraged after she asked him to help her mow the lawn. She said he pursued her through the house and into the backyard, where he “continued to yell and berate me … in front of everyone.”

After she told him she had reached her limit and intended to divorce him, he began gathering her belongings and throwing them out of the house, demanding she leave immediately.

Carol said that at some point, Millar pushed her, and she called Millar’s mother for help. The arrest affidavit said, Millar “did actually and intentionally grab, push and throw the victim against her will.”

Millar pleaded no contest to one first-degree misdemeanor count of battery. He received one year’s probation, agreed to no contact with Carol, completed a batterer’s intervention program and paid a series of fines.

Carol filed for divorce on July 9, 2009, the proceedings of which went on for three years. She told Judge David Harper in a letter that she could no “longer be an enabler and let this violent alcoholic verbally abuse and control my life and (redacted; likely “child’s”) life.”

“God willing with the help of counselor’s (sic), church and family he will get the help he needs to recover and become a reliable and sober (redacted; likely “father”),” she wrote.

Millar caught another DUI, again with a child in the car and after rear-ending another vehicle, on June 6, 2011.

Florida Highway Patrol Trooper K.J. Wallace arrived at the scene at midnight to find Millar — who was 50 at the time — unable to stand straight or “put together complete sentences.” Wallace noted Millar had bloodshot, watery eyes and reeked of alcohol.

Again, Millar agreed to a field sobriety test and failed it. He later declined to take a breath, blood or urine test, telling Wallace, “You’re off the hook, man, but I don’t want that.”

Wallace arrested Millar and left the car to Millar’s mother, who was at the scene. The deputy’s arrest report included no mention of an underage passenger, but amended information added to the case in 2011 does.

Millar again pleaded no contest to a first-degree misdemeanor count of driving under the influence with a passenger under the age of 18 and property damage. He did the same for a first-degree misdemeanor charge of refusing to submit a breath, blood or urine test.

At Judge Darren Steele’s orders, Millar completed a month-long therapy program at the Palm Beach Institute addiction treatment facility in West Palm Beach. He also attended a DUI school and victim impact panel.

Steele also sentenced Millar to a month in jail and 12 months of probation, during which he was ordered to consume no alcohol. He also had to pay a fine and additional court fees, investigatory costs and install an interlock device on his vehicle.

On June 11, 2012, Millar was found to have broken his parole for not paying his fines and legal fees. His probation officer ordered Millar to complete 188 hours of community service instead of paying the fines.

His probation ended without issue five and a half months later.

Millar stayed out of trouble, at least in Martin or Palm Beach counties, for almost six years until a woman he’d been dating ended things, citing his volatile temper. In the weeks that followed, he sent her a barrage of unsettling texts and emails until she sought legal action.

More on that here.

A land use, zoning, planning, and real estate research professional, Millar switched his voter registration from Democrat to Republican in 2016, according to state records. He faces 47-year-old Republican firefighter John Kemp for the City Council’s Group 4 seat.

The Palm Beach Gardens election is on March 11. In the race, incumbent Commissioner Marcie Tinsley and her lone challenger, John “Scott” Gilow, are also on the ballot.

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While President Donald Trump granted clemency last week to more than 1,500 people involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, at least two Florida men who were among those defendants have yet to celebrate.

Jeremy Michael Brown, 50, of Tampa, who received a seven-year sentence for owning illegal weapons and possessing a military-classified document, was being held at an Atlanta federal prison with an expected release date in December 2027, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons. He was previously held without bond at a detention center in Leitchfield, Kentucky.

White House officials heard details of his case over the weekend, according to Carolyn Stewart, Brown’s attorney. She declined further comment. Prosecutors also declined to comment.

Brown’s mother, Lisa Brown, and girlfriend, Tylene Aldridge, did not return phone messages or emails.

Another Jan. 6 defendant, Daniel Charles Ball, 39, of Homosassa, who also hasn’t been released, now faces charges of possessing a gun and ammunition as a convicted felon. The charges were filed on Jan. 22, two days after Trump’s sweeping pardons.

Federal agents said they found the items after he was arrested in connection with the Capitol attack. Ball was awaiting trial on multiple charges related to the insurrection, including assaulting an officer, entering restricted grounds and using fire or an explosive to commit a felony. A judge dismissed those charges last week.

Amy Collins, Ball’s attorney, said Wednesday he was being transported from federal custody in Washington to Florida for a detention hearing on the gun case.

Ball and Brown are among a handful of Jan. 6 defendants who haven’t been released due to Trump’s sweeping action. A man from Georgia with ties to the insurrection also hasn’t yet been released because of a DUI charge from 2023, while a man in California is also being held after his conviction for illegally owning eight firearms, including an AR-15 rifle and more than 500 rounds of ammunition.

In 2007, Ball was found guilty of aggravated assault. Ball was also convicted in June 2017 of domestic battery by strangulation and October 2021 of battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting law enforcement with violence, as described in a federal indictment.

Eric Ball, Daniel Ball’s father, said guards at a prison in Petersburg, Virginia, hit and spit on his son upon arrival. He said the defendants’ family members considered mounting legal battles after release. “I’ve gotten to know loads of people in this advocacy movement, and parents and spouses of the hostages, we call them, they’ve gone through hell,” he said.

Per Daniel Ball’s request, he won’t be sent back to the Petersburg facility.

Brown’s case had drawn attention on social media from conservative pundit Lara Logan, the website whoisjeremybrown.com, and Cathi Chamberlain, Brown’s campaign manager, when he ran to represent Florida House District 62 in 2022.

“All of us who got our pardons are celebrating, and we’re joyous, but his situation is still a very hot topic going on,” said Paul Allard Hodgkins of Tampa, who served eight months in prison after he pleaded guilty to obstructing an official proceeding. During the assault on the Capitol, he entered the building and walked onto the Senate floor holding a “Trump 2020” flag.

Brown, who previously served in the Army Special Forces, was arrested in September 2021 in Tampa on two charges related to the Capitol attack, entering restricted grounds and disruptive conduct, according to the Justice Department. He was identified by his military helmet, vest and radio. Later on Jan. 6, he wrote in a Signal chat that he was shot in the neck with pepper balls and hit in the forearm with a nightstick attempting to shield unprotected civilians, according to a statement of facts from the Justice Department.

In a home search the day of Brown’s arrest, federal agents said they found unregistered and modified weapons that violated federal law: a 10-inch barreled AR-15 rifle, a sawed-off shotgun, and two grenades. Agents also said they found a military report with classified information about a soldier who had been missing in Afghanistan. He was found guilty by a federal court jury in December 2022 and charged with possession of unregistered short-barrel firearms, possession of unregistered explosive grenades, improper storage of explosive grenades, and retention of classified information.

Among the Florida defendants released late last week were Olivia Michele Pollock, 34, and Joseph Hutchinson III. They were accused of assaulting law enforcement during the insurrection and were arrested in 2021. While awaiting trial in 2023, they removed the ankle monitors that tracked their location and fled. The two were found last year on a ranch in Groveland with Jonathan Daniel Pollock, Olivia Pollock’s 25-year-old brother who had been missing since his indictment over two years earlier related to the Capitol attack. His case was also dismissed last week.

On the family’s online donations page earlier this month, Olivia Pollock posted from prison about being captured by the FBI. “With the dew of the night seeping through my jeans to my knees, I didn’t know the next time I would have the chance to hug my brother’s neck or even speak to him.”

She said that her own government “had their guns trained on my chest and had labeled us terrorists, wanting to bury us in prison for something that every American should have the right to do; Protest a Wrong! And in our case, a Stolen Election.”

The family’s page has raised more than $8,000.

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Lauren Brensel and Diego Perdomo reporting; produced by Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. The reporter can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected]. You can donate to support our students here.

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The Florida Legislature passed an immigration bill named after President Donald Trump. Gov. Ron DeSantis said he will veto the bill because it would limit execution of Trump’s immigration agenda.

So why hasn’t Trump weighed in the matter that has sharply divided Florida Republicans?

Questions to the White House from Florida Politics went unanswered, and many close to the process suspect the President will not weigh in.

But sources say Sen. Joe Gruters, the Sarasota Republican who introduced the Tackling and Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy  (TRUMP) Act (SB 2B), spoke to Trump personally on two occasions before the Legislature passed the bill, and also had separate calls with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.

Gruters declined to discuss any communications, but maintained his legislation was “the strongest immigration bill in the country.”

“The fact anyone says we are going backward is ludicrous,” he said.

DeSantis, who also said he has spoken to Trump about the bill, has chiefly objected to the reassignment of immigration enforcement from his office to Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson.

“One of the main issues I ran on was curtailing illegal immigration,” DeSantis said. “So to strip it from the Governor, and I think part of this is petty, but to do this is ridiculous. And just be honest with ourselves— one of the magnets from illegal immigration is illegal low wage farm labor.”

Gruters disagrees, and said the hospitality industry likely hires far more undocumented workers, while more ranches in his district rely on migrant workers operating legally under work visas.

Regardless, most agree the entire debate over which bill adequately executes Trump’s agenda could be settled easily by one Truth Social post from the President.

That likely won’t come, though. One lawmaker said the Florida Legislature would likely embrace any public direction from the President, but presumes Wiles wants him out of the rhetorical war currently being waged between the Governor and Speaker Daniel Perez, along with Senate President Ben Albritton. In part, that’s to avoid any fallout from the current Republican infighting. But many also suspect Trump has no interest in humiliating the Governor by siding with the Legislature.

Lawmakers who supported the legislation have largely stuck together defending the bill as strong. One notable exception, Rep. John Temple, voted for the Trump Act, but said he disagrees with the Agriculture Commissioner move and would not vote to override a veto.

“In the original bill, it was also required for all law enforcement to work with the feds,” Temple posted on X. “We still have the opportunity to take this good bill and make it great.”

But many lawmakers have openly questioned why DeSantis should be seen as the most natural advocate of the Trump agenda. The Governor last election cycle ran against Trump for the Republican nomination for President, after all.

“I won’t take lectures on how to support Trump from someone who a year ago told us all why Donald Trump shouldn’t be President,” said Sen. Randy Fine, now the Republican nominee for Congress in Florida’s 6th Congressional District.

A flurry of press conferences by DeSantis in various corners of the state also seem to have had little effect. Some lawmakers suggested it only inspired further resolve. One even suggested the Legislature should evaluate funding for the Governor’s travel and communications team if those resources are only used to criticize lawmakers. “I don’t think he will have that plane much longer,” one said.

But DeSantis does seem to be inspiring federal officials to side with him. U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, who DeSantis just appointed to an open Senate seat, posted in support of the Governor’s proposals.

“I cannot stress enough how important it is that any state that genuinely wants to help with this unprecedented challenge and secure its communities must ensure participation by local and state law enforcement cooperating with the federal government, which is included in the legislative proposal from Gov. Ron DeSantis,” she wrote.

But House members allied closely with Trump have also chimed in. U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna has slammed the Legislature’s bill, citing material distributed by DeSantis and his office. “This ‘act’ undermines everything Trump is standing for in DC,” she said. “So it is MY BUSINESS. I don’t know what is happening in the Florida Legislature but this is unacceptable.”

And U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, a Republican who appears to be organizing a gubernatorial campaign with Trump consultants, also criticized the plan to give Simpson immigration powers. “The police powers around the immigration czar, if you will, have to reside with the Governor,” he told influencer Dave Rubin.

DeSantis has utilized party resources, as has Perez, to reach leadership. But those on calls say much of the party faithful sides with DeSantis as well. Still, one party leader blamed that on misinformation around the bill being spread by the Governor.

For example, he noted both the Governor’s and Legislature’s proposals allow local and state law enforcement to interact directly with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and to establish their own partnerships, but DeSantis has repeatedly said the Legislature’s bill requires any enforcement receive a sign-off from the Agriculture Commissioner.

Simpson, for his part, has publicly balked at DeSantis’ demonization of his agency and the agriculture industry during the fight.

“I’ve worked since day one to support President Trump and his immigration policies,” said Simpson, who had Trump’s endorsement when he ran for Agriculture Commissioner. “Florida’s conservative legislature will decide who is best to support President Trump and his team. I’m not the one who opposed and ran against President Trump. Gov Ron DeSantis’ routine attacks on farmers don’t sit well here in Florida — and apparently not with folks across the country either.”

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