Rielle Hunter: the Ocala Connection

Frankly, when scandal or murder happens in America, there is usually a Florida connection.

Well, in the Edwards scandal, Ocala is front and center.

The Ocala Star-Banner headline says it all:

Edwards' mistress raised in Ocala

Well, it ALMOST says it all. You have to read this article, but here's the first 4 paragraphs:

OCALA - Before she was former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards' mistress, before she was Rielle Hunter, before she was the face splashed on national television networks, she was the teenage equestrienne Lisa Druck of Ocala.

In a story already spawning countless tabloid headlines, here's another - Hunter was familiar with controversy long before she slipped into bed with the former presidential candidate.

Hunter's father, James D. Druck, a successful Ocala lawyer representing insurance companies during the 1980s, was implicated in a scam that involved a local man, Tommy "The Sandman" Burns, who electrocuted horses for their owners to collect the insurance money. One of Burns' first victims was the show horse Lisa Druck rode, Henry the Hawk.

Burns said in a 1992 Sports Illustrated interview that James Druck showed him how to electrocute Lisa's horse using a stripped extension cord and a wall socket. Burns said Druck showed him the scam so Druck could collect $150,000 in insurance. Burns' arrest in 1991 drew national attention. Druck died of cancer in the Tampa area in 1992.

Hunter was born Lisa Jo Druck in Fort Lauderdale on March 20, 1964. By the time she was a teenager in the late 1970s, the family had moved to Ocala, where her father started his law practice.

Okay, Ft. Lauderdale gets a mention, but this is our local story.

And we're so proud.