On March 27, 2026, detectives responded to the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office, located at 4301 Cherry Road, regarding the reported theft of sensitive computer equipment.

The investigation revealed that on March 19, 2026, the Elections Office conducted a training session for volunteers assisting with the election scheduled for March 24, 2026. During this session, the suspect identified as John Panicci stole an encrypted access key from a voter registration terminal. While the key was configured solely for training databases, there was concern that a knowledgeable individual could potentially reverse engineer the encryption and reintroduce it into a voter registration kiosk for malicious purposes.

After identifying Panicci and establishing probable cause, detectives obtained both an arrest warrant and a residential search warrant. On March 28, 2026, the search warrant was executed at Panicci’s residence, where he was located and taken into custody.

During the search, detectives recovered the stolen items along with a substantial amount of electronic and digital storage devices. Panicci was transported to the Palm Beach County Jail and booked on the charges listed below. He is scheduled to appear for first appearance this morning.