A friend and supporter of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has reportedly committed suicide amid a probe investigating possible sexual misconduct.
Kent Stermon, 50, of Jacksonville, Florida, was a significant financial supporter of Ron DeSantis and other key leaders in the State. According to The Florida Times-Union, his body was found in a truck parked outside the Atlantic Beach post office on Thursday evening at approximately 8 p.m.
Police announced they were investigating the death as a suicide.
🚨NEW: Kent Stermon, a politically well-connected megadonor and adviser to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), was under investigation over allegations of sexual misconduct in the weeks before his suicide.
— The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) December 10, 2022
First Coast News noted that Stermon’s wife Christie reported her husband missing after an alert system signaled his heart monitor had stopped earlier that day.Â
Sheriff T.K. Waters of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office reported to the Times-Union that Stermon was under investigation for “alleged sexual misconduct” at the time of his death, but did not provide additional details on the death or the investigation.
Stermon had a history of supporting key GOP candidates, including Mayor Lenny Curry and former Sheriff Mike Williams. In 2022, Stermon reportedly made a $50,000 gift to a political action committee tied to DeSantis.
In recent days, much has been made of his unusual amount of swipes of his “access card to the sheriff’s office headquarters and other locations,” which was reportedly used “hundreds of times” in recent years, according to WJXT .
Speaking about the access Stermon had to sheriff records, a spokesperson from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office told First Coast News that Stermon’s card access was terminated when Waters took office in late November.
Stermon was a defense contractor with Total Military Management and sat on the state university system’s Board of Governors.Â
On Friday, a spokesperson for DeSantis told Politico  the governor and his wife were “shocked and saddened to hear of Kent’s passing” and were unaware he was the subject of an active investigation. Â
Noting the impact of Stermon’s support, Florida politics reporter A.G. Gancarski told First Coast News:
“You wouldn’t have Ron DeSantis as governor without Kent Stermon. He was big with everything … in the state party.”
Some are questioning why Stermon had virtually unfettered access to sheriff department records. Former sheriff’s office candidate Lakesha Burton told First Coast News that it was no secret that “Mr. Stermon had high-level security access privileges to JSO facilities for years. He made his heavy involvement in the inner workings and politics of the agency well known to all ranks.”
Retired sheriff’s office detective Kim Varner agreed, saying to the outlet:Â
“You give that badge to the wrong person, and they’re connected to somebody out there who is doing the wrong thing, then you can walk in the building, do what you want to do, and go back and give them information.”Â
Varner added: “John Q. Citizen can’t walk in there and get a badge to come in and leave when he pleases, so I do think that creates an issue.”Â
Stermon’s attorney, David Barksdale, has not replied to a request for comment.
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