Peggy Noland Denies Son's Involvement in Campaign High Jinks

Deerfield Beach mayoral candidate Peggy Noland is beating back an 11th hour campaign scandal -- early this morning her son 20-year-old son Thomas, a Deerfield Beach firefighter, was arrested on charges of criminal mischief for stealing campaign signs of ex-Mayor Al Capellini and others.

I reached Noland just a few minutes ago. "He was not arrested," she said of her son Thomas. "He did not spend the night in jail."

That's half right. Deerfield Beach Police did arrest Thomas Noland, but he was cited -- not taken into custody.

According to the police report, an officer observed four young men parked in the alley on the east side of 328 E. Hillsboro Blvd jumping on top of campaign signs. As the cop approached, two of the men yelled to the two others, who fled on foot. The officer arrested both Anthony Scott Russo and James Robert Rosa, but the other two men got away. Police have since charged both Noland and Jake Dighton, age 20, in connection with the incident.

Peggy Noland claimed today that though her son was cited he was not involved in the incident. I asked her if that's the case, then on what grounds was her son cited? She said, "because he was with (the other suspects) earlier in the night." Was he one of the two men who fled from the scene? "He was not there," said Noland.

Rosa told police that he and the others had decided to destroy signs for every mayoral candidate but their favorite, Peggy Noland.