Anthony Pedicini, Richard Gentry land big win against Anthony Sabatini client claiming slander

Richard Gentry.

A defamation case against Republican political consultant Anthony Pedicini, along with other plaintiffs, has been dismissed.

The complaint accused Pedicini, his consulting firm Simwins, now-Rep. Richard Gentry and the Make America Great Again political committee affiliated with Pedicini and Gentry of spreading “false and defamatory claims” against Steve Chives, a former candidate for House District 27 in Ocala who ran against Gentry in the 2024 GOP Primary.

Former Rep. Anthony Sabatini, a far-right firebrand in GOP politics, represented Chives in the lawsuit. Sabatini endorsed Shives in his House race.

The complaint pointed to one claim that “stood out as far more egregious and untrue” than others — political mailers and other campaign communication such as digital videos and texts that claimed Shives had “pocketed” money from a church where he served as a minister.

At issue was time Shives spent serving as pastor of Lighthouse Christian Ministries in South Carolina.

One of four mailers sent during the Primary included a claim on one side that Shives “pocketed over $200,000” by, according to text on the other side, “selling a home he bought from his church for one dollar.”

The complaint against Pedicini, Gentry and the political committee explains that the church gave him “an acre of land to live upon while he ran the church, and upon which he could build a home.”

“They used the term ‘pocket’ in order to imply to voters that the money was stolen, thieved, misappropriated, and that Shives ripped off the church,” the original complaint reads.

The complaint calls the claims “salacious lies” and blames them for his loss by nearly 4 percentage points to Gentry.

Citing “enormous damage” to “his good name and reputation,” as well as a loss of customers to Shives’ business, the complaint sought $500,000 in relief. Shives owns Runaway Mini-Campers in Summerfield.

The complaint also includes copies of a mailer making four points about Shives: that he was the pastor of Lighthouse Christian Ministries, that he “stole someone else’s property and was arrested by the police,” that he was convicted of larceny in York County, South Carolina, where the church was located, and that he purchased the home he built on the land the church gifted him for $1, later selling it at a profit of $200,000.

Each claim includes a citation. At issue for Shives is the implication that his arrest was related to the land from his church and the home he built and sold on the property.

Court records show Shives’ larceny conviction stemmed from a 2007 arrest after his car broke down and he took parts from a nearby car. Shives left a note with his phone number offering to repay the owner for the parts he took, but when he was contacted he reportedly refused, leading to his petty larceny conviction. Shives elected to pay $465 in fines rather than serve a 30-day sentence.

The dismissal, from Circuit Judge Dan Mosley, found that Shives had failed “to allege sufficient facts that the purported defamatory statements were made with actual malice.” The motion to dismiss was granted in January, and the 10 days allotted for Shives to amend his complaint has long passed.

Shives ran for House largely on his own dime, contributing at least $127,000 to his race through a candidate loan. He faced some backlash last August after he accepted $500 from the Vote Men PAC, a controversial group that exclusively endorses men running against women.

Shives defended the contribution, telling Florida Politics at the time that he accepted “the check because they sent it to me, no strings attached,” adding that he did little research before taking the funds.