An Apopka mayoral candidate once filed a police report against the incumbent mayor’s wife for allegedly pushing him — a move that nearly two years later, amid an already heated campaign, has led the mayor to endorse another candidate as his successor.
Apopka Commissioner Nick Nesta, then 34, told police in July 2024 that Deborah Nelson, the then-66-year-old wife of Apopka Mayor Bryan Nelson, had twice pushed him on the chest while the two spoke at a local event, according to a police report. Nelson told police she had poked Nesta once with her finger. No charges were filed.
This year, Nesta ran against both Bryan Nelson and Orange County Commissioner Christine Moore in the Apopka mayor’s race. But Nelson was eliminated after coming in last during the March 10 election, leaving Moore as Nesta’s sole opponent in the upcoming April 14 runoff.
Nelson quickly endorsed Moore as his successor over Nesta, despite the fact that he had previously sued to have her removed from the ballot over an alleged residency issue, which she has denied. Nelson dropped the suit against Moore after his elimination.
He said his endorsement of Moore was motivated in part by Nesta’s previous allegations against his wife.
“It’s worse than unacceptable. It boggles my mind that anybody would do that,” Nelson said. “But here we are. We’ve got somebody who could be the next mayor. That’s the way he operates.”
Bryan Nelson provided the Orlando Sentinel with several records cited in this story, including the arrest report, Nesta’s communications with law enforcement and internal police emails.
A spokesperson for Nesta declined to comment on this story.
The incident stemmed from a 2024 city commission meeting in which Nesta read Deborah Nelson’s home and personal email addresses into the public record. Deborah Nelson pulled Nesta aside at a later ribbon-cutting ceremony for a local restaurant to explain why she was upset by what he did.
She told Apopka police that when she felt Nesta wasn’t listening to her point, she poked him once on the chest to get his attention. Nesta told police she twice pushed on his chest while saying he needed to listen to her. The altercation was not caught on camera, according to a police report.
A few weeks later, Nesta would send an emailed letter to Apopka’s then-police chief, Michael McKinley, asking why legal action hadn’t been taken against Deborah Nelson. He said the department had ignored multiple threats against him and would have acted differently if his and Deborah Nelson’s roles were reversed.
In an email, McKinley told the department’s legal counsel he felt Nesta was trying to intimidate him by repeatedly emphasizing his position as a city commissioner, public records show.
“[The letter] carries a tone that I perceive as attempting to intimidate and influence both myself and the police department’s handling of the case,” McKinley said in an email. “As a Commissioner, Nesta holds a position of authority that could potentially affect my current and future employment, which is concerning to me.”
Apopka police referred the case to the Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office, then led by Andrew Bain. Nesta reached out to prosecutors several times for updates, during which he would describe the alleged battery’s enduring impact on him.
“I continue to navigate my day-to-day activities as best I can in fear for myself, my family and others since this criminal act happened so brazenly and boldly,” he said in an October 2024 email to the State Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors ultimately decided not to prosecute — a decision the police officer who investigated the incident agreed with — because they “cannot prevail on a ‘poke battery’ in Orange County.” Other factors included the prospect of political motivation being used as a defense at trial and Nesta being a younger man and Deborah Nelson being an older woman, according to prosecutors’ notes.
The State Attorney’s Office called Nesta about five times beginning in August 2024 to update him on the case, but he didn’t have a voice mailbox set up and didn’t pick up. Prosecutors finally spoke with Nesta on the phone in November of that year, according to their notes, during which he reacted poorly to the news that no charges would be filed.
At times Nesta interrupted prosecutors, saying he wanted to speak with higher-ups at the agency and mentioned the press. When Nesta “continued wanting to argue,” prosecutors told him they’d be hanging up.
This year, Nesta also had an altercation with Moore just prior to a Feb. 5 mayoral debate.
According to police records reviewed by the Apopka Chief, two people who aren’t named alleged Moore “became aggressive” when speaking with Nesta. One of the two said she placed her hand between Moore and Nesta to de-escalate the situation. Mateo Schulte, one of Moore’s volunteers, then “bucked up” toward them, and said “hit me” and “let’s take this outside,” leading them to fear violence.
Both individuals made statements to police but declined to press charges, and officers were unable to contact Moore or Schulte at the scene, according to the Chief. Apopka police said Thursday that the case was closed.
Moore told the Sentinel that she had gone to speak with Nesta before the debate about his alleged treatment of fellow Apopka Commissioner Nadia Anderson, who has accused Nesta of helping draft a residency lawsuit against her and a complaint against her real estate license.
When Moore went up to Nesta and said, “I’m deeply disappointed,” Moore said Nesta’s mother put her hands up in Moore’s face, causing her to feel threatened. Schulte then came over and told them not to touch Moore, and then everyone went outside and 911 was called.
At a March 4 city commission meeting, Anderson accused Nesta of being involved in a “troubling” and “deeply concerning” pattern of using criminal charges and legal complaints against women in prominent roles in Apopka, including herself, Moore and Deborah Nelson. Nesta did not respond to her comments at the meeting when given an opportunity, which she claimed could be considered an admission of guilt.
“Residents deserve leadership focused on improving our community, not secret meetings, emails, coordinated complaints and taxpayer resources being used to intimidate others,” Anderson said at the meeting.
It is unknown if Nesta was involved in contacting the police or filing the report against Moore in the February incident. Apopka police had not yet fulfilled a request for the report as of Friday.