FLORIDA – Gov. Ron DeSantis issued two executive orders Tuesday that said the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office and the Baker County Sheriff’s Office.
The executive orders did not provide details about the investigations.
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Brian Kramer, the state attorney in the 8th Judicial Circuit, recommended DeSantis to initiate the investigations, according to the executive orders.
READ: Executive order to investigate Alachua County | Executive order to investigate Baker County
Alachua and Baker counties are in the 8th Judicial Circuit.
The executive orders reassigned the investigations to other state attorneys: the Alachua County probe to State Attorney John Durrett of the 3rd Judicial Circuit and the Baker County probe to State Attorney Melissa Nelson of the 4th Judicial Circuit.
The executive orders said Kramer disqualified himself because he had publicly endorsed Alachua County Sheriff Emery Gainey and Baker County Sheriff Scotty Rhoden in their election campaigns. In identical wording, both executive orders said Kramer disqualified himself and sought appointments of other state attorneys “to avoid a conflict of interest or any appearance of impropriety.”
After learning about the investigation, Baker County Sheriff Scotty Rhoden sent an email to all BCSO employees which reads in part:
“Let me go on record stating this is a POLITICAL STRATEGY to not only divide our BCSO family, but to also bring negative attention to our county. We all know that in Baker County we are family, and we always work together to support one another to ensure all of our county operations put the people of our community first. As your Sheriff, I will not back down to these tactics as I take my position in this community very seriously. You are my family and I have proudly served next to each of you for over three decades in the community that we all call home. Join me in welcoming these investigations so that we can show everyone that our Sheriff’s Office is a first-class operation,” Rhoden wrote.