Political consultant sentenced for sending false texts in 2022 Polk School Board race
A campaign consultant for a 2022 Polk County School Board race has been sentenced to 11 months of probation for sending false texts that claimed an incumbent School Board member and her husband were under criminal investigation.
James Earl Dunn Jr. was sentenced Thursday in Bartow after pleading guilty to seven counts of violating election laws regarding text-message disclosures. He received 11 months of probation for each count, though the sentences will run concurrently, according to a spokeswoman for the Polk County Clerk of Courts.
As part of the conditions for probation, the judge ordered that Dunn may reside in Texas. The charges against Dunn were first-degree misdemeanors with a maximum penalty of one year in prison.
Dunn, a Texas resident, was the campaign consultant for Jill Sessions, an opponent of Polk County School Board member Lisa Miller, in the 2022 election. He was charged after an investigation into anonymous text messages sent about Miller during that campaign.
Polk County voters received text messages in June 2022 falsely alleging that Miller and her husband, Bob Miller, were under criminal investigation, The Ledger previously reported. Miller was involved in a three-way campaign for the School Board’s District 7 seat with Sessions and Dell Quary.
The text messages did not identify the sender. State law requires that campaign messages do so. The State Attorney’s Office said that Dunn sent the text messages between June 20 and July 1.
Miller, seeking a second term, finished first in the August election but failed to win a majority. Sessions finished second. Miller prevailed in the runoff by 11.2 percentage points.
In her victim statement to the court, Miller referenced Dunn's previous run-ins with the courts, saying "his crimes have been well documented."
Dunn served time in prison in Texas after pleading guilty in 2008 to submitting fraudulent claims against the government. And according to a Ledger story in 2022, two companies directed by Dunn in Texas failed to pay court-ordered judgments after being found in breach of contract. A church had sued them for failing to deliver contracted services.
"As an elected official, I recognize that I open myself to attack by criminals like Mr. Dunn," Miller said in the court statement. "However, to attack my husband and our family business was shocking and damaging. Some citizens in Polk County will always question my husband and our business and the work we do because of Mr. Dunn’s lies and text messages – even after law enforcement has acted to set the record straight."
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: James Dunn sentenced for sending false texts in Polk School Board race
