Fort Meade Vice Mayor arrested for Aggravated Stalking
On Tuesday, February 26, 2019, detectives from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office arrested the Vice Mayor of Fort Meade, 59-year-old Maurice Nelson Campbell, and charged her with Aggravated Stalking (F3).
The arrest followed an investigation of a complaint from the victim, who told detectives that the two women had known each other for years, and Campbell had repeatedly harassed her, accusing the victim of having an intimate relationship with Campbell’s husband.
According to the arrest affidavit, the victim had contacted law enforcement about the harassment in the past, but refrained from pursuing criminal charges after Campbell would stop harassing.
The victim told detectives that on Friday, February 8, 2019, she received calls at 4:46 P.M. and 7:13 P.M., from a phone number belonging to Campbell’s husband, which she did not answer. A third call was made at 11:55 P.M., and the victim answered, and she immediately recognized the voice on the phone as being Ms. Campbell, so she disconnected. At 11:59 P.M., she received a call from the victim’s phone number, and two more from Campbell’s phone at 12:49 A.M., which she didn’t answer.
The victim turned her phone off for the rest of the night, then awoke to find three missed calls from Campbell’s phone, along with three voicemails from Ms. Campbell (two from her phone, and a third from an unknown number), all from the early morning hours of February 9, 2019.
The voicemail messages contained a variety of profanities used frequently, and made a threat to cause the victim physical harm. During one of the messages, the Vice Mayor stated, “And this is Maurice Campbell, and I approve that (expletive) message, and you can believe that.” In another excerpt, Campbell said, “I’ll beat your (expletive) (expletive) down, you trifling (expletive), stinking (expletive) (expletive). You rotten (expletive), you rotten (expletive)!”
The victim told detectives that she believed the threat was credible, and that the frequent harassment has caused her undue stress and anxiety. She believes that the Vice Mayor uses her position on the Fort Meade City Commission to intimidate her.
“The victim has put up with this harassment for quite some time, and she finally reached a breaking point. This is not proper behavior for anyone, let alone an elected official. Leaving the voicemails, especially one that sounded like the end of a campaign commercial, wasn’t good judgement either.” – Grady Judd, Sheriff
Maurice Nelson Campbell was arrested and transported to the Polk County Jail. Her prior criminal history includes charges of Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon (Jacksonville), Shoplifting (Orlando), and Petty Larceny-Failure to Appear (Orange County).
