Brevard political operative, founder of Space Coast Rocket faces battery, tampering charges

A Brevard political operative was charged Tuesday with witness tampering, battery and trespassing in connection with a workplace confrontation last month with one of his longtime critics over social media comments she made about his children.

Robert Burns III on Tuesday turned himself in in Orange County on warrant charges issued by Brevard and Seminole County State Attorney Phil Archer.

Burns is the founder of the self-styled news site Space Coast Rocket and a political consultant who has run campaigns for Republicans and Democrats in Brevard County. He has disputed the charges.

The 43-year-old traveled to Orlando and surrendered at the Orange County Corrections Department after learning that warrants had been issued. He was booked into the jail at about 2 p.m. on a Brevard County warrant for tampering with a witness, a third-degree felony, misdemeanor battery and trespassing an occupied structure.

He was held on a $3,000 bond, but was already released from the facility early Wednesday, jail records show.

It is the latest legal chapter set against a backdrop of ongoing, often contentious — and polarizing — political wrangling between Burns, State Rep. Randy Fine, Melbourne Mayor Paul Alfrey and other figures in Brevard County's power sphere.

The charges stem from an Aug. 10 incident after Karen Colby, a supporter and campaign volunteer for Fine, posted a comment on Alfrey's Facebook page, asking whether would Alfrey and Burns would allow drag queens to "touch" their children. The comment was in apparent reference to ongoing battles in which Fine has been deeply involved over LGBTQ events in the city.

Burns confronted Colby over the post at the Melbourne rental car agency where she works, in a tense encounter that Burns filmed on his cell phone and uploaded to the Space Coast Rocket YouTube page, according to Burns and police.

The information filed by prosecutors reports that Burns attempted to "knowingly intimidate, threaten, use physical force against, engage in misleading conduct towards or offer pecuniary gain" to Colby to prevent her from calling police during an unauthorized visit to the Avis Car Rental office in Melbourne, the report reads.

Archer's office filed the documents to charge Burns after Melbourne police submitted the complaint to prosecutors for review.

The video, which was initially viewable by all but later made private, appears to show Burns ignoring Colby's repeated demands to leave the property. At one point, Colby picks up a landline phone, which Burns appears to jostle before she drops the receiver and uses her cell phone to call 911.

More: Brevard consultant failed to report political contributions, gambled with PAC funds

"Take the (expletive) down and make sure that (expletive) doesn't happen again, or you're going to have some serious problems, do you understand that? That's a promise," Burns shouts at Colby during the nine-minute clip, referring to her Facebook comment.

In the 911 call, Colby says she was never touched by Burns. She later told police he reached over and hung up the phone when she attempted to call them on the landline, according to a sworn complaint filed with the court.

Burns published a column to his website on Tuesday, detailing the pending arrest and disputing the charges against him.

"It’s disheartening that the Office of the State Attorney has chosen to press charges," Burns wrote in the column, published Tuesday to his website. "They’ve accused me of tampering with a witness (despite the video showing I encouraged Colby to contact the police and didn’t interfere with her 911 call), trespassing (even though AVIS is publicly accessible), and battery (despite Colby repeatedly admitting to the 911 operator that I never touched her)."

More: Melbourne mayor hired private eye to follow political consultant, state report shows

Burns, who is being represented by Brevard County criminal defense attorney Jessica Travis, said in the column he would "cooperate fully with the authorities and the courts. However, rest assured, I will vehemently contest these baseless charges."

Travis also pointed to records gathered by Melbourne police. "Toward the end of the video, you can hear the 911 dispatcher ask her if he has touched her. Colby says no...also in her injunction she never mentioned a touching," Travis says.

In the column titled, "From Defender to Defendant: My Voluntary Surrender for Protecting My Daughters’ Innocence," Burns said Colby and Fine had conspired to push what he called false allegations against him.

“These two individuals have targeted my family and me ever since I founded The Space Coast Rocket and dared to criticize Fine’s motives and politics," Burns wrote. "For years, Colby and Fine have used social media to label me a convicted felon, rapist, and child abuser, and claimed that I had my gun rights revoked. None of these allegations are true."

Colby said in a statement to FLORIDA TODAY: "I have no comment on the ongoing situation, but I have faith in our legal system, and I believe that justice will be done."

Burns also accused Fine of "pushing" the warrant, publishing a string of private text messages that appeared to show Fine saying that he was "dealing with this personally" and wanted to see Burns "rot in jail."

Fine called on the Melbourne Police Department to investigate or arrest Burns for the incident in an Aug. 11 Facebook post. However, he "unequivocally" denied pressing Archer to charge Burns, telling FLORIDA TODAY that he had not communicated with anyone in the state attorney's office about the incident.

Todd Brown, a spokesman for Archer's office, declined to comment, citing an active investigation.

Fine confirmed that the text messages saying he was "dealing" with the incident were genuine, but said he meant that had been personally talking to Colby about the encounter.

"I am thrilled to see State Attorney Phil Archer filed felony charges against Robert Burns over his violent assault of Karen Colby," Fine said in a statement late Tuesday.

"Mr. Burns was arrested because of what he — and he alone — did," the statement read. "He has no one to blame but himself."

Fine restated previous criminal accusations he and others have made against Burns, including reference to a sexual assault allegation from a fellow soldier during Burns' time in the U.S. Army that Burns has long denied.

Burns has fought accusations about the 2011 incident, often mentioned by Fine and other critics, for years. He was investigated by military police on charges of sodomy without consent over the incident, but the count was later dropped and Burns pled guilty to a lesser charge of adultery. He has maintained the encounter was consensual.

Burns' name as a political operative began to surface ahead of the 2018 election, during his successful efforts to get community organizer and Burns' cousin, Kenny Johnson, elected to the Palm Bay city council. He also managed the campaign for Marcie Adkins, Fine's 2020 primary challenger for state House. Fine won the race, but the campaign was particularly nasty.

Burns founded the Space Coast Rocket in 2019 and has used the online publication to write about his political rivals.

In February, Burns faced a litany of election law violations from the Florida Elections Commission over electioneering and a defunct political action committee he used during the 2020 election cycle. Investigators said Burns failed to file months of finance reports involving his Friends of Florida PAC and did not properly disclose thousands of dollars in contributions, according to case files presented to the commission.

Some of the complaints that led to the commission's investigation were filed by Fine.

No trial date has been set in Tuesday's case.

J.D. Gallop is a criminal justice/breaking news reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Gallop at 321-917-4641or jgallop@floridatoday.com. Eric Rogers is a watchdog reporter for FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Rogers at 321-242-3717 or esrogers@floridatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Space Coast Rocket founder Robert Burns charged with witness tampering