PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — The Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections said their background checks on poll workers only review an individual’s criminal history from the past 10 years.
WPTV learned about the policy after learning John Panicci, the man arrested over the weekend for stealing election equipment, faced multiple theft charges in Martin County more than two decades ago. Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sartory Link said they would have not hired Panicci if they knew about his criminal past, but a background check conducted by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) didn’t notify them about his past.
WATCH BELOW: 'We have to question Wendy Link,' GOP activist Willy Guardiola
Instead, election officials said Panicci worked three elections (2016, 2018 and 2024) over an eight-year period. Sartory Link said he was invited back to work a special election held last week but was terminated after they suspected he stole an encryption key after it was reported missing and reviewing surveillance cameras.
Willy Guardiola, a GOP activist, said he’s constantly defended Sartory Link after hearing various concerns from other people. However, he said this time he has serious questions over the department’s vetting process as the midterm elections are less than a year away.
“We have to question Wendy Link,” Guardiola said. “And say ‘How did you have this guy, who is a criminal…Do you not vet these people?’ How do you allow this guy to come in here and have access to your whole computers and the whole election."
According to the criminal complaint, Panicci didn’t work during the most recent special election. The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office also said the key he had was for training purposes only and the Supervisor of Elections made no changes to their security protocol for the election. Sartory Link also said the arrest had no affect on election.
Suspect accused of stealing computer equipment
Yet Guardiola said the arrest will make it harder for some people to believe Rep.-Elect Emily Gregory, Fla. D, legitimately defeated Jon Maples, Fla. R, to flip an open house seat last week after an almost 20 point swing in a state house district where Republicans also held a voter registration advantage over Democrats by around 15,000 voters.
“Number one, people were shocked when this Emily Gregory won District 87,” he said. “And then number two, when we found out this gentleman with a criminal record, I go ‘Wow, hold on a second.' Let’s connect the dots here that a lot of people are doing right now and piece everything together and see how did it come out to affect this election.”
WPTV isn’t aware of any direct evidence the election result for the most recent election, or any other election Panicci worked as a poll worker, was incorrect. Sartory Link also said the arrest didn’t compromise the most recent special election.
“There were no adverse comments or no adverse incidents with him back in 2024,” she told WPTV’s Samantha Gutierrez. ”He did not work in 2026 at all and the check-in database and check-in procedure is completely independent from our election results. So in any instance, nobody who's doing check-ins can affect an election result or those numbers.”
WATCH: Supervisor of elections says key only contained training data
According to the criminal complaint, the incident occurred during a volunteer training session on March 19 for the March 24 election. While the stolen key was configured only for training databases, officials expressed concern that someone with technical knowledge could reverse-engineer the encryption and reintroduce it into a voter registration kiosk for malicious purposes.
The theft was reported to authorities on March 27, prompting an investigation by Palm Beach County detectives. After identifying Panicci as the suspect and establishing probable cause, investigators obtained both an arrest warrant and a residential search warrant.
During the search of Panicci's home, detectives recovered the stolen items along with a substantial amount of electronic and digital storage devices. Panicci was transported to the Palm Beach County Jail and booked with a felony count of offenses against users of computers, computer systems, computer networks, and electronic devices, as well as a misdemeanor charge of petit theft.
WPTV did reach out to FDLE about their background checks late Monday, we didn’t hear back by publication.
Read more of WPTV's coverage below:
Palm Beach County
Why did elections office wait more than a week to report poll worker theft?
Palm Beach County
