A former staffer for a Georgia senator who briefly made headlines when he was arrested and jailed following a fundraiser on the Vineyard in the summer of 2007 has filed a lawsuit against the Vineyard Gazette and The Boston Globe.

Michael S. Duga Jr., a resident of Florida who claims to be the former chief of staff for former Sen. Max Cleland, is charging defamation and libel in the complaint against the two newspapers over their accounts of the events surrounding a fundraiser for John Edwards in August 2007, which Mr. Duga attended. The fundraiser was at a private home in Chilmark. The day after the event Mr. Duga was arrested by Chilmark police after he was found on Menemsha Coast Guard property without permission. He was charged with breaking and entering, trespassing, larceny and possession of marijuana. In March 2008 Mr. Duga pleaded guilty in Edgartown district court to trespassing and breaking and entering; charges of larceny and marijuana possession were dropped. He was sentenced to two years probation.

The libel complaint was filed in Suffolk County Superior Court in late August. The Gazette was served with the complaint on Tuesday this week.