Kent Stermon, the influential Republican donor who was under criminal investigation when he died last month, was issued five separate badges giving him access to Jacksonville Sheriff's Office buildings, starting in 2013 under former sheriff and current congressman John Rutherford.
Records obtained by Jacksonville Today show Rutherford was the first of three Republican sheriffs to allow Stermon access to JSO buildings. About 400 people not employed by the city have been granted access to the Sheriff’s Office over the past decade. Most are contractors and interns, but Stermon was one of nine classified as part of the “sheriff’s circle.”
Stermon used his badges to access multiple sheriff’s office substations, JSO aviation facilities and investigative areas. He had access, for example, to one area the Sheriff’s Office has refused to disclose under a Florida law that protects “surveillance techniques or procedures.”
Read the rest of this story at Jacksonville Today, part of WJCT Public Media
