Second defamation lawsuit filed over past leadership of Veterans Council of Indian River County

By Elliott Jones (Contact)

VERO BEACH — A second defamation lawsuit has been filed over past leadership of the county-supported Veterans Council of Indian River County.

Former Veterans Council transportation director Arthur Perotti’s lawsuit contends that former council president Larry Wapnick, 68, of Indian River Shores, defamed and maligned him to force his firing from a $40,000-a-year post in late 2005.

Also, the lawsuit names former County Veterans Service Officer Ronald Tesnow as a defendant – allegedly for aiding Wapnick, according to court files.

The council is an independent nonprofit group the county currently pays $74,940 a year to transport military veterans for medical care to the Veterans Affairs Hospital in West Palm Beach.

Wapnick and Tesnow “underwent a campaign to tarnish the reputation of the plaintiff (Perotti) and to also terminate his employment,” attorney Wade Hardie wrote in the lawsuit filed on Perotti’s behalf.

The lawsuit claims Wapnick went after Perotti to “conceal improper reimbursements he had received from the Veterans Council,” according to the lawsuit.

Perotti is seeking unspecified financial damages. He wants a jury trial.

Wapnick’s attorney, Richard Brown, says “the allegations are completely groundless and have no basis in fact.”

Wapnick left the post in September 2007. In 2008, several council leaders went to Vero Beach Police and alleged that Wapnick misappropriated thousands of dollars.

This year, Wapnick replied with a defamation lawsuit against the nonprofit veterans assistance organization and several of its past leaders, Daniel Stanley, John Matthews and Paul Teresi.

That case is pending in Indian River Circuit Court, Brown said.

Wapnick was the “subject of vicious and personal attacks” alleging financial mishandling that turned out to be groundless, according to Wapnick’s lawsuit. But by then, “the damage was done,”according to the lawsuit.

Some of the council leaders made public statements alleging that Wapnick overspent about $48,566. According to Wapnick’s lawsuit, that was a write-off for depreciation of transportation costs. The money “was never really missing,”Brown wrote in the lawsuit.

Wapnick contends the defendants’ “hatred for the plaintiff resulted in all of the named defendants going to police and filing a criminal complaint.”After an investigation, police didn’t file charges. The State Attorney’s Office concurred.