More than 30 JSO police and corrections officers arrested in last three years

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Nine Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office police and corrections officers signed on to uphold the law but fell short of following the law themselves. They are now facing felony and misdemeanor charges after being arrested in 2022.

Though they account for a tiny percentage of the overall force, JSO police and corrections officer arrests have occurred with greater frequency during the last three years.

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Jacksonville resident Destiny Jordan said there is a positive and negative side to said arrests.

“The fact that they are holding their police officers accountable can definitely create a sense of trust,” Jordan said.

Read: Clay County father’s mic cut off at school board meeting while reading high school library book

This year, JSO arrested seven of the officers themselves.

• Police officer Dennis Hampton was arrested for falsifying secondary employment.
• Corrections officer Deven Reed was arrested on charges of burglary.
• Corrections officer Brooke Mulcahey was arrested on domestic battery.
• Police Officer Max Hovey was arrested for trespassing at the home of a former girlfriend.
• Police officer Robert Parrish was arrested for illegally using a secure JSO database.
• Most recently, corrections officer Zachary Kovach is facing charges for lewd molestation of a child.
• Corrections officer Matthew Lee was also arrested and charged with DUI, leaving the scene of a crash and careless driving.

The Clay County Sheriff’s Office arrested JSO police officer Alejandro Carmona for allegedly sending explicit images of himself to teen boys.

According to JSO, eight police and corrections officers were arrested in 2019, nine in 2020, and 13 in 2021. That makes 39 total arrests from 2019 to 2022.

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These numbers account for arrests made by JSO and other agencies.

Our Action News Jax law and safety expert Dale Carson said the increase in arrests may be because people are more confident reporting law enforcement.

“I think that people are much more comfortable disclosing misconduct by law enforcement to law enforcement in a way that they never were before,” Carson said.

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We requested the names and incident reports of the other arrests.

JSO said they are always proactively monitoring employees and strive to hold them accountable on and off duty.

We’re told there are around 1,800 police officers and 725 corrections officers employed at JSO.

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