Anthony T. Constantino paid a man charged with murder in Nevada about $20,000 to talk to his campaign supporters last year.
According to Federal Election Commission filings, the Constantino for Congress campaign has paid Alec Flores, of Incline Village, Nevada, more than $20,000. The most recent payments were made in January this year.
It appears that Flores was being paid to work as a “support agent” for the campaign. Constantino had put out a solicitation for applications for such a job in July 2025, asking for someone who can reply to inbound messages to the campaign’s email, social media accounts and text messages. The requirements for the job included “great writing skills,” and a desire to “make New York great again.”
On X, formerly Twitter, an account owned by Flores “WhyTrashEarth” said they’d submitted a cover letter. A few weeks later, campaign finance records show Flores was being paid biweekly at the rate of $22 per hour, with a $1,000 bonus for signing up for the job.
But just about a year earlier, Flores was in the custody of Washoe County, Nevada, sheriff’s deputies and facing a charge of murder.
According to a release from the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, deputies had initiated an investigation in June 2023 when they discovered a dead man in a residence in Incline Village. In May 2024, deputies arrested Flores as a suspect in the murder of 54-year-old Jeffrey McCunn.
Court records indicate that law enforcement believes Flores had slashed or stabbed McCunn in the throat with a knife. He’s been charged with “open murder,” a charge specific to Nevada that allows a jury to decide if the defendant is guilty of first- or second-degree murder, or voluntary or involuntary manslaughter.
Court records indicate there were witnesses to the incident, which was allegedly started after McCunn and Flores started arguing. It’s not clear how the two men knew one another. In a statement to police after he was arrested, Flores claimed he was defending himself.
“I genuinely feared for my life and thought I was gonna die,” he told a Washoe County Sheriff’s Office detective. “I think we’ll leave it at that.”
Court records indicate that the case is ongoing. Flores posted bail and has been active on social media, engaging regularly with Constantino and his company, Sticker Mule, online. He has traveled around Nevada, attending video game conferences and posing with people well-known in the competitive gaming world.
Between Aug. 8, 2025, and Jan. 13, 2026, Constantino’s self-funded campaign paid Flores $20,037.48.
The Watertown Daily Times did not contact the Constantino campaign for comment directly on this article. After threatening this reporter and attempting to get his employment terminated following prior coverage of his campaign, Constantino’s campaign lawyer sent the Times a “cease contact” request on April 9, formally declaring that the campaign would sue the newspaper and the reporter if any further attempts to contact representatives of the campaign were made.
Attempts to reach Flores for comment were unsuccessful.
On social media, Constantino tried to diffuse the situation and appears to have shared false information after the Albany Times-Union broke the news on Flores and his relationship to the campaign. On X, Constantino alleged that his political opponents were bringing up old news in an attempt to discredit his campaign.
“The swamplings are bringing up old news about a guy we hired for an entry level position to answer emails and promptly fired (with severance) 1 year ago,” he said.
But Flores was not employed with the campaign a year ago, according to FEC filings. The only records of Flores receiving money from the Constantino campaign indicate that payments started last August and ended in January.
Flores is not the only person in Constantino’s orbit with a questionable legal past. His chief press aide, Paul C. Antonelli, was charged with grand larceny after Montgomery County sheriff’s deputies alleged that he’d taken more than $3,000 from the Amsterdam Cal Ripken Baseball League in 2020. Antonelli was charged in Amsterdam City Court, and eventually pleaded guilty to petit larceny. He was sentenced on Jan. 13, 2021, to three years of probation and ordered to pay restitution as well as fines and surcharges. That case is now closed, according to the Amsterdam City Court.
The face of Constantino’s business, Sticker Mule, on social media is currently a rapper who goes by the name Stitches, real name Phillip Katsabanis. Katsabanis was arrested in Miami on felony weapon and drug charges in 2017, although the charges were later thrown out.
Constantino is locked into a particularly sharp-elbowed primary battle against Assemblyman Robert J. Smullen, R-Meco. While Constantino has been campaigning for Congress for over a year now, first for an expected special election that didn’t happen and now for the general election, Smullen entered the campaign earlier this year. The two men have since leveled strong attacks against one another; Constantino calls Smullen “slimy” and alleges he’s trying to uphold the establishment, while Smullen says Constantino is unstable and unfit for Congress.
While Smullen has secured most of the institutional support, earning the endorsement of most of the 21st Congressional District’s local Republican committees, the state GOP itself and every Republican member of the state Assembly, Constantino has maintained pressure and managed to secure the endorsement of President Donald J. Trump.
Constantino and Smullen will appear on the Republican primary ballot on June 23.