February 13, 2023

C&L’s own Ed Scarce has already written up the recent discovery of Luna lies that inevitably bring up comparisons to GOP colleague, George Santos. She even seems to have lied about having Jewish roots.

A 2022 article by Jacob Engels outlines what he describes as a history of abusing the legal system. I wouldn’t go that far but her behavior certainly warrants more scrutiny.

Before diving into the particulars, I will point out that Engels is a Roger Stone protegé who joined him in siding against Luna in the bizarre feud in the Florida primary for the seat Luna ultimately won. In other words, Engels is hardly my kind of go-to guy for information.

But Engels has included in his article court documents that at least raise questions about Luna’s character and at worst suggest an abuse of the legal system.

First up are Luna’s two complaints against females she claimed threatened to beat her up. In 2006, she got a temporary restraining order against a high school mate she said assaulted and threatened her. The same document shows the case was dismissed because of Luna’s failure to appear at a hearing.

In 2013, Luna made similar claims against another woman who, according to Engels, her husband had once been involved with. Luna accused both females of calling her a b*tch and threatening to beat her a**.

I’m fortunate enough not to know how common this kind of threat is nor do I make light of threats to anyone. But I do know that after an investigation, the sheriff and the Florida State Attorney’s Office concluded the 2013 charges were unfounded. Also, as Engels wrote, it’s odd for someone who supposedly fears for her safety not to show up at her own restraining order hearing.

Next was a 2021 temporary stalking injunction against what the Tampa Bay Times called a “short-lived opponent” named William Braddock, apparently a Roger Stone fan. Braddock really did make threatening remarks but that case was dismissed because the judge said it did not meet the legal definition of stalking, the Times reported. However, the paper also pointed out that in her paperwork, Luna accused two other political rivals of working with Braddock but never sought injunctions against them.

Finally, there’s the 2020 case in which Luna sought a protective order against her uncle, Edward Mayerhofer. Engels goes into detail about the case which I won’t go into here. But a few things stand out. One, Luna’s own counsel states, “This case deals with nothing more than an estranged uncle’s personal attacks on his niece.” The lawyer goes on to describe the alleged stalking but it looks more like a matter of Luna not liking what he said about her. As The Washington Post put it, Luna’s uncle “publicly raised inconsistencies in Luna’s biography on social media during her first bid for Congress. In response, Luna filed a request for a stalking injunction against him.” It’s not clear how or if it was resolved.

Luna also claimed her uncle’s “obsession” with her was “racially motivated.”

So it’s no surprise that after The Washington Post published its in-depth article calling into question many of her claims, she responded by accusing WaPo of being “incredibly racist” and threatening to sue.

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