She wants Anna Paulina Luna expelled. She was arrested outside a fundraiser.

An operative running the campaign for Miami Democratic U.S. House candidate Phil Ehrle was seen Tuesday at an event in Wynwood where he was raising money for another Democrat running for a Congressional seat in the Tampa Bay area. arrested.

Vanessa Brito, who was announced as Yale’s campaign manager last month, was arrested by Miami police just before the scheduled end of a fundraiser for Democrat Sabrina Busbar at Gramps Wynwood, according to an arrest report. Video of the arrest obtained by the Miami Herald shows Brito being taken into a police vehicle outside Gramps.

Brito was arrested on an outstanding warrant related to petty theft charges for shoplifting $118.24 worth of clothing, household goods and other items from a Target department store in Midtown Miami in 2017. An arrest warrant was issued in early 2018 after Brito failed to appear in court.

A Miami Police Department spokesman said the arrest was made in response to an anonymous 911 call reporting Brito’s location, and noted that there was an active warrant for her arrest. After officers verified the warrant, they asked Brito outside, where they explained the situation and took her into custody.

Ale, a Navy veteran who unsuccessfully challenged Rep. Matt Gaetz four years ago, is the only Democrat running this year to unseat Rep. Carlos Gimenez in Florida’s 28th Congressional District.

Boothbar is one of a handful of Democrats running for the nomination to challenge Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who represents a Pinellas County-based congressional district.

Calls to Mr. Ale and Mr. Brito were not returned Wednesday. Ale’s campaign did not respond to the Herald’s request for comment about the arrest.

A campaign spokesman said neither Boothbar nor his staff were aware of the circumstances surrounding Brito’s arrest, and that while Brito was one of the fundraiser’s co-organizers, he did not purchase a ticket to the event and had never previously worked with or donated to the campaign.

A longtime political operative, Brito is best known for his involvement in the historic 2011 recall effort that led to the ouster of then-Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez and County Commissioner Natasha Seijas. He was paid at least $10,500 by Yale’s campaign. According to campaign finance records. She also worked on former Miami-Dade Area Councilman Johnny Farias’ unsuccessful 2023 state House campaign.

Brito’s bail was set at $3,500, according to the arrest report.

Other issues

Tuesday night’s arrest marked Brito’s most recent run-in with the law. Just months after being arrested for shoplifting in 2017, she was arrested again in Daytona Beach and charged with trespassing at a Walgreens store. She pleaded no contest to the charge and was fined $223, according to court records. Adjudication was withheld.

Brito also faces a lawsuit in Broward County, where he is accused of embezzling $30,000 from GoFundMe to pay for the attorney’s fees in a class action lawsuit seeking to reinstate an extension of federal unemployment benefits that the state terminated before it expired.

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The lawsuit was filed by attorney Scott Behlen, who claims Brito was never paid for his work on the case. Brito has been found in contempt multiple times in the case for failing to comply with court requests for information. The judge ultimately ordered Brito to pay Behlen $29,000 plus an additional $2,624 in attorney fees and court costs.

In a brief phone interview Wednesday, Behren said he had not yet received payment from Brito and was looking for other ways to recover money from her.

Tampa Bay Times reporter Kirby Wilson contributed to this report.