Lauderhill Vice Mayor Richard Campbell was released from a Broward jail cell Tuesday afternoon, a day after his arrest on charges of misdemeanor battery and witness tampering.
Defense lawyer Eric Schwartzreich said the prosecution of Campbell, coming in the midst of a re-election campaign, appears to be politically motivated as it stems from an Aug. 3 dispute with his girlfriend and the investigation that followed.
Schwartzreich told Broward County Judge Corey Friedman during a bond hearing Tuesday morning that Campbell denies the allegations against him and plans to refute them in court.
“The underlying allegation is an unreported, or significantly delayed, claim of misdemeanor battery that allegedly occurred inside Richard Campbell’s home back on August 3,” Schwartzreich said in a statement issued later Tuesday. Schwartzreich pointed out that Campbell told his girlfriend to call police and that he told another potential witness he had acted in self-defense.
Friedman set bond at $5,000 for the witness tampering charge and $2,500 for the battery.
Three candidates are listed on Lauderhill’s website as running against Campbell. They are Jalecia K. Mack, Madline Noel and Mary Smith.
Details about exactly what happened have yet to be released. Police and the State Attorney’s Office released an arrest warrant, but it was not accompanied by the nine-page affidavit Schwartzreich mentioned. That document typically outlines the investigation, summarizes witness interviews and explains why probable cause exists to arrest the defendant.
The warrant itself contains none of that information. “The suspect, Richard Campbell, knowingly used intimidation with the intent to cause the victim,” whose name is redacted in his arrest warrant, “to withhold testimony” or other evidence from the investigation, according to the warrant.
The unreleased affidavit also refers to a restraining order that, according to Scwartzreich, had never been served on Campbell.
The judge ordered Campbell on Tuesday not to have any contact with the victim or her family.
During Monday night’s Lauderhill City Commission meeting, Mayor Denise Grant led the other commissioners to join her in prayer “for our colleague and our friend.”
“As we are sitting here on this dais, one of our colleagues is not here. We ask for your protection, Lord God, that you would protect him in this time, that you would give him what he needs to have peace that surpasses all understanding,” she said in part. “Whatever the circumstances, Lord, that you would give him the insight and the wisdom to be able to maneuver this and to navigate through it, Lord, and we pray that he will have the support that he needs at this hour.”
Campbell, 70, was most recently elected to a two-year term on the Lauderhill City Commission in 2024 and will be up for reelection on Nov. 3. A physical therapist, he is chief executive officer of RICHAB Physical Therapy, Inc. He previously worked as a teacher of Spanish and physical education in Jamaica, and as a social worker in New York and Florida.