Anybody who was involved with Dean for America, Democracy Fest, or Blog for America certainly knows the name Charlie Grapski, the Florida-based Democratic activist.

Well, Raw Story is reporting that he’s been formally charged with felony wiretapping because of his efforts to investigate the possibility of election fraud in the state of Florida.

Miriam Raftery writes…

Grapski is charged with felony wiretapping for making an audiotape of his efforts to obtain documents at City Hall. Those documents related to a lawsuit alleging fraud in the canvassing of absentee ballots in the election of Commissioner James A. Lewis, who won by 18 absentee votes.

“This is not the first time that sitting Commissioners who are candidates for an election have won by absentee votes. This seems to be a chronic problem here and nobody takes it seriously,” Thomas said. “Suddenly absentee ballots disappear. It’s outrageous.”

Grapski audiotaped City Manager Clovis Watson, who commented on the fact that he was being taped, consented, and kept talking, Thomas noted. Subsequently Watson, who also serves as Police Commissioner (an apparent violation of Florida law that prohibits officials from holding more than one public office at a time), ordered Grapski arrested.

“He didn’t do anything a newspaper reporter doesn’t do every day. It’s absurd,” Thomas said. “While he was being arrested, the editor of a newspaper was in there audiotaping this.” A third person, Green Party representative Michael Canney, was also present making audiotapes. Canney and Grapski have been threatened with additional charges, but the newspaper editor has not, Thomas said.

I had heard a while ago about this potential legal trouble from folks over at Howard Empowered, but I’m surprised that it’s gone this far. Check that site for updates, either in the comments, or in main blog posts.

Without knowing really any of the details, this Raw Story piece certainly makes the charges seem absurd.