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    • Lawmakers arrest West Palm man accused of intimidating voters at the polls
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    Lawmakers arrest West Palm man accused of intimidating voters at the polls

    Harry Posted on

    Investigators say Nicholas Farley, 30, of West Palm Beach, has a history of racism and aggression.

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    WEST PALM BEACH — Deputies arrested a man accused of yelling anti-semitic and racial slurs towards a woman campaigning outside early voting site in Loxahatchee, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.

    Nicholas Farley, 30, faces up to 10 years in prison on two charges of voter intimidation and interference. According to the arrest report, Farley shouted obscenities while driving a white van through the parking lot of the Acreage Branch Library on Thursday, Oct. 24.

    When questioned by lawmakers, Farley denied knowing early voting was taking place. He then named a pro-Nazi website and launched into a racist lecture, repeating and completing slurs that witnesses accused him of using in the library parking lot.

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    The officer who arrested Farley said Farley “liked” to talk about his hatred of the Jewish and African-American communities.

    During his interview, recorded with the lawmaker’s body-worn camera, Farley said he used the slur to describe any person he disliked, including “those who commit crimes and do not support America and patriots like him.”

    “When I asked Mr. Farley how a patriot like him didn’t know when early voting was, he said he was a different kind of patriot,” the lawmaker wrote.

    Elizabeth Loudon, 25, who Farley is accused of targeting outside the library, was campaigning. Republican candidate Meg WeinbergerWho is running for the Florida House. Loudon told investigators he didn’t immediately record Farley’s comments because, as a campaign supporter, he had “a lot of unhappy people yelling at him.”

    He and other witnesses said Farley began speeding across the library car park to derogatory music, heading towards campaigners and swerving at the last moment. Loudon, who said he planned to stay longer and vote, left in fear.

    West Palm Beach deputies say man accused of intimidating voters has history of racism and aggression

    Sunday’s arrest was not Farley’s first.

    West Palm Beach police officers arrested Farley in July for allegedly threatening a biracial couple with a gun while they were walking in downtown West Palm Beach. According to the couple’s statement, Farley approached them in his van and began shouting racial slurs.

    The woman, who is white, said Farley told her he was “committing genetic suicide.” When her boyfriend asked her to repeat what she said, witnesses said Farley pointed a gun and threatened to shoot her.

    Police charged Farley with aggravated assault with a firearm. Prosecutors closed the case within two weeks of his arrest due to lack of evidence.

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    About two months later, a woman called 9-1-1 to report a man yelling racial slurs at her African American children and others playing at Acreage Park in West Palm Beach. The witness said that when he confronted the man, later identified as Farley, the man called him a “race traitor.”

    Deputies investigating the library incident also identified Farley as a man who called the West Palm Beach Police Department multiple times in June and made racial slurs at the officer.

    Farley was appointed public defender and remains in the Palm Beach County Jail, where he was booked on his birthday. State records show he is registered as an unaffiliated voter.

    Hannah Phillips covers criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at: [email protected]. Help support our journalism and subscribe today.

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