Lauderhill vice mayor campaigning for commission seat appears in Broward bond court after arrest

Richard Campbell, who has served as Lauderhill’s vice mayor since he was elected in 2022, appeared in Broward County bond court on Tuesday morning in Fort Lauderdale. Campbell, 69, stood before Broward County Circuit Judge Corey B. Friedman after Lauderhill police officers arrested him on Monday afternoon for alleged domestic violence on Aug. 3.Attorney Eric Schwartzreich represented Campbell, a physical therapist who served as commissioner from 2018 to 2020, and has been campaigning for the commission’s seat four.“We deny these allegations, we refute them,” Schwartzreich told Friedman in court. Before his arrest, Campbell said his accuser was an ex-girlfriend who refused to move out of his home for months, and he described the domestic violence case as a smear campaign ahead of the Nov. 3rd election. There were “nine agents in an investigation into what was a misdemeanor battery that wasn’t recorded,” Schwartzreich told Friedman in court. Schwartzreich also told Friedman that Campbell was never served the restraining order mentioned in the case affidavit. Campbell faced charges of harassing a witness, a first-degree misdemeanor, and domestic battery, also a first-degree misdemeanor. Friedman ordered Campbell to stay away from the victim in the case and her family, and he set his bond at $7,500. Related report: Lauderhill vice mayor accused of domestic violence as he campaigns for commission seat