By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
A candidate running for a seat on the Otter Creek Town Council Tuesday has an extensive criminal arrest record in Alachua County, according to official records.
Zim Padgett’s criminal past has never been exposed to public view and while it doesn’t appear that he was ever convicted of a felony, he was charged with serious crimes and pled to lesser offenses in many cases.
He is a former town council member.
Voters will cast their ballots at Town Hall. There are 99 voters in the town. Polls will open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. The town uses paper ballots but no voting machines.
Padgett’s arrests range from multiple domestic violence cases to molesting a juvenile, kidnap and false imprisonment of an adult, indecent exposure in public, drunken driving, damaging property and criminal mischief.
Most of the six domestic battery arrests were resolved through civil action rather than criminal court. One domestic violence case went to deferred prosecution, the lightest form of probation.
A 2003 lewd and lascivious molestation charge on a juvenile, age 12-16, was dismissed for lack of evidence.
In 2007, he was found guilty of driving under the influence, a first-degree misdemeanor. In the same case, he was charged with resisting or obstructing an officer without violence but pled to other counts.
A charge of kidnap-false imprisonment of an adult in October of 2008 never went to court. The case was closed.
In a November 2008 case, he was found guilty of domestic battery, a first-degree misdemeanor, but charges of obstructing justice and harassing a witness or victim were dropped when he pleaded to other counts in the same case.
In April of 2011, charges were dropped for battery and obstructing justice, intimidating or threatening a witness when he pled to other counts. In the same case he adjudged guilty of damaging criminal mischief, a second-degree misdemeanor.
He was adjudicated guilty of indecent exposure-in public and disorderly conduct in October of 2010. Indecent exposure is a first-degree misdemeanor and disorderly conduct is a second-degree misdemeanor.
In July of 2012, a second-degree misdemeanor burglary of an unoccupied dwelling charge was transferred to another court.
He was acquitted of charges of larceny-petit theft, and trespassing structure or conveyance. A third charge of damaging property-criminal mischief was dropped for insufficient evidence.
Political candidates are often judged on their personal character and integrity. That’s why Padgett’s criminal arrest history is of interest in Tuesday’s election.
The run-up to the election hasn’t been without controversy.
Hostile phone calls to Otter Creek Town Hall and wild social media posts have become part of the approaching town election.
It is indeed getting a bit wilder in Otter Creek politics this year.
Four of the five Otter Creek Town Council seats are up for grabs and 9 candidates are listed on the ballot, which means about 10 percent of the city’s population is running in the municipal election.
The four incumbent town council members, longtime Mayor Russell Meeks, Sr., Gail Lamb, Daniel G. Shannon, and Stuart Stewart, are on the ballot.
Other local candidates include Darrell Severino, son of Councilman Don Severino. The elder Severino isn’t seeking re-election.
Laura Mott, a former Otter Creek councilwoman who resigned to run for the Levy County Commission in 2022, is running for a council seat. She is the daughter of the late Dr. William Mott, a medical doctor.
Shannon was appointed to serve the remaining term of Mott on the Otter Creek Town Council and hopes to keep his seat.
The council candidates aren’t running for a particular seat. It is an at-large election. The top four vote earners will take a seat on the town council.
The other council candidates are Therese Granger and Lynette M.L.A. Preston.
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Enterprise Reporting March 31, 2023; Posted April 1, 2023
