Legal entanglements ding Vince Nowicki

Pinellas County Republicans’ hopes to unseat county Commissioner Charlie Justice, considered vulnerable because of his very narrow 2020 re-election win, have taken a hit because of past legal entanglements of their candidate, Vince Nowicki.

Among those problems: Nowicki was fined $3,500 plus $461 in investigative costs after a 2018 state complaint of unlicensed activity as a general contractor, presenting someone else’s license as his own, according to Department of Business and Professional Regulation records. Under the terms of the settlement of the complaint, he did not admit or deny the charges.

Nowicki’s real estate license is currently listed as on probationary status; he told the Tampa Bay Times that’s because of a failure to update his business address in state records.

The packet also mentions theft and forgery charges against Nowicki 11 years ago in Baltimore. But prosecutors declined to pursue those cases, and Nowicki has said the charges were the result of false accusations against him by a former employee he had fired.

He told the Times the employee accused him of withholding his final paycheck.

Nowicki was also the target of a lawsuit filed in 2020 by Brett Vickers and his wife, Lisa Speer Vickers. The couple are real estate agents and philanthropists, and she is the daughter of the late Roy Speer, a wealthy entrepreneur who founded Home Shopping Network.

The Vickers alleged that Nowicki failed to account properly for $50,000 they had invested in a business deal he proposed. He denied the accusation; the lawsuit was settled with a nondisclosure agreement on the terms.

Documents about some of these issues are part of a packet of “opposition research” that has been circulated about Nowicki, partly by his former opponent in the Republican Primary for the seat, David Leatherwood.

Justice, a former Senator, has held the county seat since 2012, but won re-election in 2020 by less than a percentage point against a lesser-known, lesser-funded Republican, Tammy Sue Vasquez.

After failing to respond to phone calls, emails and text messages Wednesday and Thursday, Nowicki on Friday asked for a list of questions on the subject to be emailed to him. This story will be updated with his responses.