A Port St. Lucie man was arrested on charges alleging he tried to extort State Rep. Meg Weinberger by threatening lawsuits and ethics complaints unless she publicly apologized and supported government audits, including in St. Lucie County. The allegations against Anthony Pizzarelli, 50, are outlined in a Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office probable cause affidavit.
Pizzarelli faces charges of extortion, using a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony, and harassing an elected official, according to the affidavit. He told investigators he viewed his communications as good faith notices and denied using them to leverage Weinberger. He said he wanted an apology over an incident involving an email on which she had been copied and was seeking her support for his complaints. He is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Investigators say Pizzarelli emailed Weinberger on Feb. 9, offering to leave her out of planned lawsuits and ethics complaints if she issued a swift public apology. He proposed wording for the apology. In an April 6 email, he allegedly renewed the threat and urged her to help with his audit campaign. According to the affidavit, he wanted audits of Palm Beach and St. Lucie counties and investigations into government contracting.
The affidavit says Pizzarelli sent a voice memo directly to Weinberger's personal cell phone on May 18, 2026. Among his statements were “I'm an angry person, so I'm not being nice,” and “you don't know what I can do.” Weinberger told investigators she viewed the messages as threats and feared for her safety and her family's safety. A first-term Republican, she represents Florida House District 94, which is entirely within Palm Beach County.
In 2025, Pizzarelli was arrested after being accused of sending threatening emails to St. Lucie County commissioners. Deputies said the communications escalated in tone and content, raising concern among officials. In the current affidavit, Pizzarelli told investigators that all charges from that case had been dropped.
Weinberger's campaign also faced a separate voter intimidation case during the 2024 election involving Nicholas Farley, not Pizzarelli. Farley was arrested after a campaign volunteer said he yelled antisemitic slurs at her and drove threateningly near early voters outside the Acreage Branch Library.