NORTH LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Deputies arrested North Lauderdale City Commissioner Regina Martin on a domestic battery charge over the weekend.
Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies working out of the city took her into custody on Sunday, jail records show.
Details regarding the circumstances of her arrest weren’t immediately available as of Monday morning. Jail records list her charge as a felony, while Broward court records list it as a misdemeanor.
Martin, 42, is also the senior pastor at Embassy Church of South Florida in Oakland Park, according to her official biography, which describes her as “the first African-American Caribbean woman to be elected to office” in the city.
It’s not the commissioner’s first time in hot water: In 2022, investigators with the Broward Office of the Inspector General found that she violated campaign finance laws in 2020.
Local 10 News has requested a copy of Martin’s arrest report and has contacted the city’s mayor seeking comment.
A representative from Martin’s church had no comment Monday.
Martin is running for re-election for the city’s District C.
One of her neighbors described what she saw over the weekend.
“Last night I saw BSO. There was a lady walking on the sidewalk on the phone being loud,” Sonia Arevallo said. “Like, I was thinking I was going to vote for her, but now it is making me think twice.”
As of Monday morning, the commissioner was being held at BSO’s Paul Rein Detention Facility in Pompano Beach with no bond listed.