Sheriff’s Office assists Nassau investigation

Last week, St. Johns County Sheriff’s investigators were requested by Nassau County Sheriff Tommy Seagraves to assist the agency in conducting an internal investigation, according to reports received by Historic City News.

Seagraves is the subject of an ongoing federal probe, according to televised news reports that were aired in December. Assistant State’s Attorney Wes White told reporters, at that time, that his office has “nothing to do with the investigation; it is being done exclusively by the FBI.”

Often the Florida Department of Law Enforcement exercises investigative authority over other law enforcement agencies in the state, and, it is not unheard of for one law enforcement agency to ask another for assistance in investigating the internal affairs of that agency.

According to a news report broadcast yesterday by Jackelyn Barnard from Jacksonville’s First Coast News, an unnamed representative of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said “it is up to Seagraves to decide which agency helps in an investigation”.

There were inferences in the broadcast that somehow a campaign donation from St. Johns County Sheriff David Shoar and his wife had some bearing on how the internal investigation will be handled. The donations were made to Seagraves’ election fund in 2008; according to records of the Supervisor of Elections office in Nassau County.

The Sheriff’s Office here says that contribution is “not an issue” to the work being done by the investigators involved — the FDLE source mentioned in the broadcast appeared to sustain the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office position saying, “Campaign donations don’t raise a red flag for the agency.”

“This is not a St. Johns County investigation,” Sheriff Shoar told Historic City News. “This is a Nassau County internal investigation aided by members of this agency.”

No details were released regarding the federal investigation or the internal investigation being conducted by Nassau County; nor was there any information that the two, separate investigations are related.

Photo credits: © 2011 Historic City News staff photographer