Bawdy pictures have emerged of a South Florida sheriff partying half-naked alongside topless ladies sporting pasties — photographs that surfaced this week because the lawman is working for reelection.
Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony, who was appointed in January 2019, has accused his political opponent, former sheriff Scott Israel, of leaking the pictures to dam him from profitable the 2020 election, the South Florida Solar-Sentinel reported.
The now-sheriff, who on the time was a sergeant on the Coral Springs Police Division, was seen in photographs at two occasions organized by a promoter for “erotic theme occasions, pool events, strip and swing membership invasions and group holidays,” the outlet reported.
The snaps, which have been taken in August 2015 and April 2016, have been first reported by the political weblog Purple Broward.
Within the pictures, Tony was sporting tight-fitting swim shorts, sun shades and no shirt at Bliss Nightclub, which describes itself because the “primary personal social gathering group, on the planet, for younger, match, enticing bi-sexy ladies and {couples}.”
The pictures emerged amid new revelations that he killed a person in self-defense when he was a youngster, in keeping with the report.
“That is one other try by Scott Israel to smear Sheriff Tony’s identify and repute,” his marketing campaign mentioned in an announcement. “He tried to depict Sheriff Tony as nothing greater than a black child with a gun, nevertheless it backfired as a result of most individuals see his struggles rising up amongst violence as an inspirational story of what you may accomplish with arduous work and dedication regardless of the place you begin.
“Now, Israel is stooping even decrease by releasing photos that as an alternative of simply attacking the sheriff, embody his spouse in an try to embarrass and slander her. Broward County voters will see previous these disgraceful political ways.”
However Israel — who was relieved of his duties earlier than Tony took workplace — denied that he was behind the leak of the pictures, in keeping with the report.
“The primary time I even heard of those pictures was when somebody despatched me a hyperlink to them posted [on a blog],” he mentioned. “I do know nothing about their origin.”