Monitor Editor
STARKE— A lawyer for Bradford County Commissioner Kenny Thompson said his client is fighting a false allegation that he engaged in misconduct at his auto repair shop in Lawtey.
Attorney Dan Sikes said he does not know the specific claim against his client, but he believes the victim is using the criminal investigation as a pretext for civil litigation.
“Somebody is trying to create an opportunity for a civil suit,” he said.
Sikes added that another party involved in the allegation is an auto parts supplier that has a motive to damage the commissioner’s reputation.
“He has not been using their business for a while,” Sikes said of Thompson, “and there is a history of fighting and disagreements between Kenny and them.”
Bradford Sheriff’s Col. Brad Smith said his agency received the initial complaint regarding Thompson, but immediately handed the investigation over to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which has a special unit that investigates elected officials.
Smith declined to comment on the details of the investigation, citing the ongoing inquiry.
One law enforcement source said the claim involves Thompson groping a delivery person from an auto parts store.
Sikes said the allegation hinges on Thompson and the alleged victim being alone in the commissioner’s office, a circumstance Sikes believes is unlikely.
“Anybody that has gone in Kenny’s office knows that people are in and out of that office all the time,” Sikes said. “That office is open to his family 24/7. I have been in that office often and have never seen the door locked.”
Sikes described his client as “livid” about the claim and said Thompson intends to fight the allegation “tooth-and-nail.”
