Republican state Rep. Jackie Toledo is suing former staffer Fred Piccolo, claiming she suffered emotional stress as a result of sexual text messages.
Piccolo, who served as campaign manager for Toledo’s congressional campaign, denied the allegations in an interview with Florida Politics, saying the messages attached as evidence lack context.
He said Toledo often steered conversations into sexual territory and would act suggestively in person. On one occasion when Piccolo was visiting to discuss campaign matters, she answered the door in nothing but her underwear.
Piccolo said he and Toledo have “known each other for 10 years and often bantered back and forth as friends do.” He also said that Toledo’s lawsuit does not jibe with the power dynamic of their professional relationship.
Though he maintains he never acted inappropriately, Piccolo said that since Toledo was his boss and had authority over him, she could have raised objections at any point.
Piccolo said that one text message — a picture of him in the shower — was sent inadvertently. The text thread between him and Toledo and the one between him and his wife were next to each other in his phone because they were the two most recent people he had texted, he said.
In addition to lurid sexting allegations, the suit claims Piccolo abandoned his duties as campaign manager two weeks before the Republican Primary Election for Florida’s 15th Congressional District, which Toledo lost by 30-points to former Secretary of State Laurel Lee.
Toledo’s lawsuit accuses Piccolo of shirking his duty to her campaign after he accepted a communications consulting contract related to Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren’s suspension. It suggests he did so in an attempt to get fired from the campaign, after which his contract stipulated he would receive a $100,000 early termination payment.
“That’s ridiculous,” he said, adding that he never stopped doing his job.
“Jackie started to run her own campaign in the last few weeks of the election. She didn’t listen to me and she didn’t listen to her other consultants,” he said.
Piccolo said he has been preparing to file a lawsuit against Toledo and that he believes this was a preemptive strike. He declined to provide details on the substance of his lawsuit before it is filed, but he said he believes Toledo “got wind that I intended to file a lawsuit against her through her attorney Dale Swope.”
See Toledo’s full complaint below:
TOLEDO v. PICCOLO by Andrew Wilson
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