In a long-standing lawsuit filed against Okaloosa County Sheriff Larry Ashley, the court has required all parties to enter into mediation in an attempt to settle the dispute.  One of the three deputies who filed the claim, Former Deputy Rick Hord, was fired by Ashley on what Hord claims were politically motivated causes, thus resulting in illegal termination.  Hord also claims that the Sheriff’s department under the direction of Sheriff Larry Ashley was “a systemic policy failure … which indicated likely ongoing gross mismanagement, malfeasance, or misfeasance.”

Stating that he will fly in from his current hometown of Virginia in order to be present at the mediation hearing occurring this Thursday, Hord is anxious for resolution in the case.  According to the lawsuit, Hord, Jon Bush and John Lee, who were all sergeants at the time, were told by Ashley on Nov. 8, 2010, that they should avoid coming to a ceremony for which they assumed they would be taking oaths of allegiance as deputies of the newly elected Sheriff.  Following that announcement, the next day, all three sergeants were informed that their services were no longer needed in the department. 

After the announcement of the firing of the three sergeants, there was a great deal of public and intra-office outcry over the event.  In response, the Sheriff offered to allow the sergeants to come back to work but they would be placed at a lower rank and receive less salary than they had previously received while working for the Sheriff’s office.  Bush, Lee and Hord also state in the lawsuit that Ashley made derogatory comments to them at the time he offered them the option of returning.  Instead of accepting the offer, they hired Erick Mead as their attorney and sued the Sheriff in the Okaloosa County Circuit Court. 

According to the lawsuit, Hord did not vote for Ashley for Sheriff when he was running, thus prompting the politically motivated termination.  In addition, the lawsuit states that Hord found lab reports that had been ignored by the Sheriff while he was conducting inventory of the evidence room within the Sheriff’s office. 

Similar claims by Lee and Bush are part of the lawsuit—primarily, that they found information in doing their job that did not reflect positively on the Sheriff and his office.  According to the prosecution, these three men were doing their jobs well and were subsequently punished for it.  In such, the lawsuit requests that Ashley be found in violation of Florida law and the deputies receive awards for damages “incurred by the violation.”