Tamarac City Commissioner Elvin Villalobos said former colleague Elberg Mike Gelin grabbed him around his neck during an altercation Villalobos captured partially on video Thursday.
The incident, which is being investigated by the Broward Sheriff’s Office Public Corruption Unit, happened around 6 p.m. outside the Tamarac Library at 8701 W. Commercial Blvd. while early voting was underway.
Villalobos said he was passing out campaign literature to a voter outside the north side of the building when “[Gelin] screams out, ‘he’s a woman beater. He got arrested.’”
“I pulled out my camera, and I said, ‘I’m going to record you,'” Villalobos said.
Video shared by Villalobos with BSO and Tamarac Talk captured part of the encounter.
“What were you saying, Mike?” asked Villalobos, turning his phone on Gelin.
Gelin, who served as Tamarac’s District 2 city commissioner from 2018 to 2022, is heard on the recording stating: “That’s fine. I’m speaking the facts.”
“What were you saying?” Villalobos asked again.
“You’re a wife beater,” answered Gelin.
“And where’s your wife and your girlfriend?” asked Villalobos.
“You were arrested. You were arrested,” Gelin said.
“And your wife. Your wife knows?”
Moments later, Gelin stated: “I don’t want to be recorded.”
“I already told you I was recording,” Villalobos said, stepping backward as Gelin appeared to reach for his phone.
“Don’t touch my … I already told you you were being recorded.”
“Don’t record,” Gelin said.
The footage then appears to show Gelin striking the phone with his hand.
“Dude! I already told you,” Villalobos said.
“Fuck with me, fuck with me, fuck with me,” Gelin is heard repeating.
That’s when the camera lens shifted away from the action, failing to capture what happened next.
Villalobos said the footage went shaky because Gelin struck his camera and “grabbed my whole neck with his left hand … I would say for a couple of seconds.
“His whole hand was on my neck. He was gripping my neck.”
“Then he kind of let go a little bit, and we both looked at each other, and I think that’s the moment he realized he’d messed up,” Villalobos said. “So he immediately left [in his vehicle].”
When the incident turned physical, a woman outside the library was heard on the video asking, “Why, why?” while a man observing the altercation said, “You deserve it.”
Villalobos said he called 911, and BSO deputies responded to the scene. The commissioner, campaigning for reelection, said multiple witnesses to the incident spoke with BSO.
Responding to Tamarac Talk’s request for information about the incident, BSO spokesperson Carey Codd said in an email Friday that deputies responded to an incident at the library around 6:18 p.m. Thursday.
“The preliminary investigation revealed that an altercation occurred between two adult males outside a polling place,” Codd said. “BSO’s Public Corruption Unit is currently investigating the circumstances of the incident, and the investigation is active and ongoing.”
Gelin did not respond to text messages seeking comment Friday.
The former commissioner has remained active in political circles since his election defeat in November 2022. That year, Gelin withdrew from the District 2 race to challenge Tamarac Mayor Michelle Gomez, a race he lost. Defeated, Gelin also had to give up his commission seat.
Gelin recently founded Tamarac News, which he described in an online biography as a “local news blog dedicated to providing insider perspectives on the city’s stories and events.” Gelin said he has lived in Tamarac for over 18 years.
Gelin has been the subject of law enforcement scrutiny in the past.
BSO arrested him in July 2015 on a charge of resisting/obstructing an officer without violence – an incident that also involved phone-recorded video footage.
Gelin had been recording an incident in Tamarac when a BSO deputy took exception to his documenting the event, eventually leading to Gelin’s arrest.
Prosecutors said the audio on the recording didn’t support the deputy’s account in his arrest affidavit, and they later dropped the charge against Gelin.
Four years later, as a city commissioner, Gelin confronted the same deputy during a ceremony honoring him at Tamarac City Hall with a Deputy of the Month Award.
“You probably don’t remember me, but you’re the police officer who falsely arrested me four years ago. You lied on the police report,” Gelin told the deputy. “I believe you’re a rogue police officer, you’re a bad police officer and you don’t deserve to be here.”
Villalobos, too, had a prior run-in with law enforcement. He was charged with battery and careless driving in connection with a dispute following a car accident and sentenced to probation in 2012.
Adjudication was withheld in the case and the case records sealed.
Thursday’s incident marked the second time in less than two weeks that BSO has responded to an incident related to the upcoming election in Tamarac.
On Saturday, Oct. 12, Tamarac Commissioner Marlon Bolton was involved in a dust-up over his political signs after a city employee and union member removed five of the cardboard advertisements—signage the man said was displayed without permission.
Bolton pursued the man in a vehicle and showed up at his home around the same time as deputies. Bolton had called BSO to report the signs stolen.
Like Villalobos, Bolton is up for reelection and facing a challenger in the Nov. 5 contest. The commissioners have been locked in a bitterly personal dispute for months.
Villalobos said Gelin, a political ally of Bolton, was among a group of Bolton supporters standing outside the library when Thursday’s incident became physical.
“I’m pressing charges,” Villalobos said Friday.
It was not clear whether any charges would be filed in the case.
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