JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Action News Jax is working to get answers about the access one political power player had to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
Kent Stermon was a businessman and considered by some to be a Republican king maker, with ties to Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
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Stermon was found dead last Thursday amid news of a criminal investigation into sexual misconduct.
Stermon wasn’t a law enforcement, as far as we have been able to find, and had no contracts with either the City of Jacksonville or the Sheriff’s Office that would explain his access.
Yet he had a key card that gave him access to JSO headquarters and substations.
Read: Jacksonville businessman Kent Stermon found dead in Atlantic Beach, was being investigated by police
Each swipe of Stermon’s key card is an unanswered question. There are 624 of them dating back to 2017.
We’ve asked the Sheriff’s Office who granted him that access and why he was given it. They have yet to respond.
We did find he donated to former Sheriff Mike Williams’ campaign, who was sheriff at the time of Stermon’s first swipe.
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Stermon has never run for office, but has contributed heavily to those who have and won, donating nearly $200,000 to Republican candidates -- $197,522.96 in total from 2011 to 2018 according to the Federal Election Commission.
In addition to Williams, he’s supported Curry, DeSantis and new Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters.
He posed for pictures with them as recently as this month.
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But none of those relationships explain why a man with no official connection to the Sheriff’s Office would have access to its facilities.
This raises the question: What other civilians have access to JSO who don’t have official business there?
Action News Jax asked that question of JSO on Monday afternoon and we will update this story when we get an answer.
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