Florida House Candidate Filed 24+ Motions in Suit Against Gaetz Victim

Republican congressional candidate Mike Beltran filed more than two dozen court filings between April 2023 and August 2024 in a defamation lawsuit against a woman who a House Ethics Committee probe found had sex with former congressman Matt Gaetz in 2017 when she was a minor, court records show. Beltran is running this cycle against Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor in Florida's 14th Congressional District.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Chris Dorworth, a former Republican state legislator and lobbyist, and alleged the woman, identified in filings as A.B., defamed him in statements to federal law enforcement officials. It sought damages from her and from the family of Joel Greenberg, who pleaded guilty in 2022 to a child sex trafficking conviction involving the same victim. Beltran filed more than two dozen motions, responses and notices in the case. The suit was dropped in 2024, the same month Beltran was replaced as Dorworth's counsel.

Dorworth's home was the site of the July 2017 party described in the House Ethics Committee's 2024 report, which found substantial evidence that Gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old who had just finished her junior year of high school and was paid by Gaetz for the encounter. Neither Gaetz nor Dorworth has been charged with a crime, and both deny wrongdoing. Beltran has not been accused of wrongdoing in the matter.

Beltran campaign spokesman Will Hampson said Beltran was carrying out his constitutionally mandated duty. "Our country was founded on the bedrock that everyone is innocent until proven guilty and entitled to a defense in a court of law," Hampson said. The campaign says Beltran has had no involvement with Dorworth since 2024.

Dorworth is one of three defendants named in a civil lawsuit filed in Florida earlier this month. The complaint alleges Gaetz, Dorworth and Greenberg coordinated the recruitment of young women for sex, with drugs, between 2017 and 2019. Gaetz said in a statement to the Miami Herald that he would defend himself in court.

Beltran served three terms in the Florida legislature before declining to seek reelection in 2024. The race for the Tampa-area district, which voted for Donald Trump by 11 points in 2024, is polling close ahead of the midterm elections.