An Atlantic City bar owner who recently announced a bid to run for City Council talked about a 2020 charge filed against him for the first time this week.
But Johnny Exadaktilos' explanation on "Off The Press with Scott Cronick" wasn't exactly accurate, according to paperwork obtained by BreakingAC months ago.
"I haven't been criminally charged," he told Cronick on Newstalk 1400-AM WOND, 92.3-FM. "I've just got to go to court."
"So there's no indictment or anything like that?" the host then asked.
"No," the Ducktown Tavern owner replied.
That was not true.
Exadaktilos was indicted May 10, 2022 on a charge of third-degree terroristic threats, according to the filing obtained by BreakingAC showing the grand jury approving the charge.
"The indictment is defective," Exadaktilos' attorney, Lou Barbone, told BreakingAC in answer to the discrepancy. "A motion to dismiss is pending argument."
A now-retired city inspector first alleged in a criminal complaint signed July 13, 2020, that Exadaktilos grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him as he tried to post a stop work order at the site.
"I built the Duck Hut before I pulled my permits, and I got into an argument with the building inspector," Exadaktilos told Cronick on Tuesday's show.
The inspector alleged Exadaktilos then threatened to shoot him "or any other a--holes from the city (who) come back to this property."
Exadaktilos claimed the inspector misunderstood what he said.
"I yelled out of anger and it was about 115 degrees outside when the guy came to visit," he recalled. "I said, 'Are you trying to kill me and small business? Get off my property.'
"Three days later, I get a complaint of physical manhandling and he said I threatened his life," he added.
Exadaktilos claimed the three-day wait was while Mayor Marty Small and others coached the inspector to file the claim.
The original complaint indicates otherwise. The date of the incident is listed as the same date the complaint was signed: July 13, 2020.
It is also no longer the only charge that will bring Exadaktilos to court.
He's due in Atlantic City Municipal Court next week on disorderly persons claim of cyber harassment filed July 5, 2022 in reference to an incident that happened 11 days earlier. But the local court has not yet responded to a request for specifcs on that claim.
The Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office was also just sent another case in which he allegedly harassed the mayor online.
Exadaktilos has posted several Facebook Live videos that have criticized Small's administration.
The Jan. 23 complaint claims Exadaktilos used his Aug. 29, 2022 broadcast to threaten Small.
"I will go toe to toe with you any day of the week, physical/verbal, name the time. Name the place," the complaint says Exadaktilos said. "I will mop the floor with you, you dumb son of a b----es. You're going to get annihilated."
It was the contentious relationship between the mayor and the bar owner that seems to have sparked Exadaktilos even talking about his pending charge.
During a news conference earlier Tuesday, Small talked about former-ally-turned-foe Councilman George Tibbitt's call for the county to take control of the city.
He claimed it was an attack by Tibbit "and four other disgruntled, irrelevant white men."
While Small didn't name them, Exadaktilos said that the mayor's description of "a disgruntled, criminally charged irrelevant business drunk bar owner" was aimed at him.
For his part, Small would not comment.
"I’m aware of the case," he said. "It involves a city employee. As much as I would want to say something I’m always consistent that I don’t comment on others' legal situations."
