Joel EngelhardtAt 13, Scott Gilow found a dead body, at 19 he participated in a burglary, at 50 he is running for City Council.
When Scott Gilow was 13 he stumbled into a crime scene.
He and a friend showed up to help another friend move furniture and wandered around the dim apartment for 10 minutes before realizing the guy sleeping on the couch was dead, a victim of murder.
A year later at age 14, Gilow testified in the murder trial. His friend “was halfway downstairs before I started running,” the Green Bay (Wis.) Press-Gazette quoted him as saying in January 1989.
A few years later, at age 19, Gilow went to court as a defendant. He pleaded guilty to felony burglary and served 20 days in jail after he and some friends broke into a ski lodge and took ski equipment, police reported.
Thirty years later, the county information tech who builds custom bicycles and co-owns an Abacoa bike store, is challenging incumbent Marcie Tinsley for a seat on the Palm Beach Gardens City Council.
Gilow is one of two candidates with court records in the city’s March 11 election, its first contested election since 2021. The other is Chuck Millar, who is running for an open seat against John Kemp.
Gilow is not a traditional candidate. With an uncropped red beard straight out of ZZ Top, he filed for office on the last day possible when he saw that Tinsley would otherwise go unchallenged.
He is barely campaigning or raising money in a long-shot campaign that started with his objections to the city’s decision to convert Plant Drive Park into an ice-rink complex, where he often rides his jump bike.
He loaned his campaign $2,000, enough to cover the filing fee. As of year-end, Tinsley had raised $31,000.
Gilow, 50, talks about his past matter-of-factly.
Witness to murder at 13? “Not a pleasant experience. But it didn’t change me.”
The burglary 10 days before his 20th birthday in 1994? His friends broke in but police charged everyone.
In an interview with a detective, Gilow said the four teenagers drove in two vehicles and one of the other boys broke in the door with a tire iron.
Items reported missing: 15 pairs of Rossignol skis; 15 pairs of ski boots; ski poles, ski bindings, leather ski gloves, ski hats, ski goggles, a boot dryer, sweaters, socks and a ski bag.
Gilow said he had no interest in stealing skis: He was a snowboarder and his board was in the truck. Police, however, said Gilow admitted taking part.
Gilow’s son was born in 2000 and nine months later Gilow and his wife divorced.
Wisconsin court files show that he was found guilty of misdemeanor disorderly conduct in 2002, an incident he said stemmed from him returning to his home after he had been charged in an argument with his girlfriend at a bar. The court barred him from his own home because the girlfriend had been staying there.
While still in the Green Bay area in 2005, he and a girlfriend faced a $2,069 judgment for eviction. He moved to Palm Beach County in 2007.
He found himself in two court actions in Palm Beach County.
His ex-wife sought to enforce payment of child support in 2012 after job changes threw payments off. Gilow disputed the amount and the court agreed, rescinding a judgment against him.
A year later his domestic partner filed to terminate their partnership and claimed Gilow tried to force her out of her Wellington rental home. Gilow argued that he shared the home with her at her invitation and he did not try to force her out. Two weeks later, the court dismissed the case.
He is involved in a new domestic partnership, his son is 24 and lives in Milwaukee and he custom builds mountain bikes that sell for as much as $5,000. He co-owns the store, Draco Bikes, with his domestic partner, Louise Manning.
Like Tinsley, he lives in the Evergrene community at Military Trail and Hood Road.
His name has not appeared in Palm Beach County court records since 2013.
“I was an overactive child. I’ve grown up,” Gilow said. “You can look at my record. … It’s in my past. It’s not my future.”
Tinsley, who is in her second stint on the City Council and works as a property and construction manager, refused to discuss her opponent’s past.
“I don’t want to comment on anyone’s record but my own,” she said.
Read Stet’s story about Chuck Millar’s court record here.
Joel is a founder, reporter and editor at Stet News. His award-winning newspaper career spanned more than 40 years, including 28 years at The Palm Beach Post, which he left in 2020. Joel lives with his wife in Palm Beach Gardens. He volunteers on the board of NAMI Palm Beach County and the Palm Beach Gardens Historical Society.
