Thirteen months after Eric Flowers was sworn in as Indian River County’s 11th sheriff, the upper tier of the Sheriff’s Office is in turmoil.
First came the reports, according to multiple reliable sources, that Flowers had been caught having an extramarital affair with a married woman after the jilted husband placed a GPS tracking device on his wife’s car.
Then last week, Flowers had his No. 2 in the Sheriff’s Office suspend his No. 3 – Deputy Chief Milo Thornton, the highest-ranking Black law enforcement official in the history of Indian River County – for reasons not clear.
Flowers, meanwhile, tried last week to ride out the growing public buzz about whether he would take a leave of absence or even resign.
While he ignored efforts to contact him by Vero Beach 32963, at a Republican luncheon he was overheard asking invitees if they had “heard the rumor,” and saying that he was getting divorced.
Sources said Flowers also confessed the affair to his Sheriff’s Office leadership team and apologized, saying he had “messed up” and “let you down.”
“A lot of people who supported Eric think adultery is a big deal and they’re very disappointed,” said one of the sources, who agreed to speak only on the condition he remain anonymous. “A lot of them are p—ed off, too.”
They should be.
Flowers has failed to meet the higher standard of conduct that he promised during his campaign and set for the Sheriff’s Office in his first speech after his swearing-in ceremony, at Holman Stadium, where he equated the deputies’ oath of office to marriage vows and said he expected them to reflect his values.
In so doing, the 41-year-old sheriff forfeited the moral high ground needed to hold his deputies accountable for failures.
Making matters worse, Flowers seemed to be flailing desperately with his decision last week to suspend with pay Thornton, the third-highest-ranking member of the agency, pending an in-house investigation into allegations that he created a hostile work environment at the County Jail.
The timing of the suspension – coming only three days after Flowers’ wife was informed of the affair – was certainly curious, leading cynics to wonder whether the allegations against Thornton were concocted to distract the community from Flowers’ behavior and, at the same time, discredit a potential challenger in the 2024 race for sheriff.
The Sheriff’s Office would not confirm Thornton’s suspension or any related Internal Affairs investigation. Contacted earlier this week, Thornton said he “can’t comment” on his situation.
It was telling, however, that Flowers lacked the mettle to directly inform Thornton of the suspension, delegating the unpleasant task to Undersheriff Thom Raulen, who sources said did not provide Thornton with specific allegations or identify who filed the complaint.
“Milo was handed tough conditions at the jail, and he addressed them,” another source said. “Maybe he was too demanding, but there’s something about this suspension that doesn’t feel right. It’s too convenient.”
For now, we can only wait and see how Flowers, who many of us predicted would be our sheriff for years to come, plans to address a crisis that could end his public career.
Certainly, it prompts the question: Should elected powerful local officials resign, or even be removed from office, if they become enmeshed in a scandal?
We asked this question of several.
County Commission Chairman Peter O’Bryan compared this kind of situation to the controversy spawned by now-former Jacksonville Jaguars coach Urban Meyer, who was caught on video behaving inappropriately in an Ohio bar with a woman that wasn’t his wife.
“It wasn’t an affair, but his behavior impacted the people around him, including the way he was viewed by his players,” O’Bryan said. “And you know what they say: If you lose the locker room, you lose the team.
“So while an extramarital affair might not rise to the level of having to be removed by the governor,” he added, “it might be better to step down.”
“I’m not going to say they should resign or not, because it’s their choice, but you’ve got to be careful to do the right thing,” said Vero Beach Mayor Robbie Brackett.
“I know what I would do – not try to hide from it,” he added. “You need to own up to it, be honest with your constituents and decide what’s best for the people you serve.”
School Board Chairman Teri Barenborg said she has a “hard time with affairs” because they point to the wrong direction on her moral compass, but she acknowledged that they “might not matter to some people” if the illicit behavior doesn’t occur during business hours and affect job performance.
“As publicly elected officials, though,” she added, “we should be held to a higher standard.”
Deryl Loar, who served three terms as sheriff and is now running for O’Bryan’s District 2 seat on the County Commission, said the impact an affair “has on the office or agency” should come before any personal concerns.
Loar, you’ll remember, groomed Flowers to be his successor as sheriff, accelerating his promotions – he skipped from lieutenant to major without serving as a captain – and putting him in a position of prominence as the agency’s public information officer.
Clearly disappointed, Loar declined to comment publicly on Flowers’ situation. But he said if a public official is a constitutional officer that heads an agency, such conduct can erode respect and make it difficult to lead.
According to sources, Flowers’ affair had been going on for months before it was exposed by the woman’s husband.
It was two Saturdays ago that the jilted husband finally told the sheriff’s wife of the affair, the sources said, and she immediately called Flowers, who was attending a Florida Sheriff’s Association conference in Jacksonville.
Since then, the husband who discovered the affair went to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Fort Pierce office to file a complaint in hopes that an investigation would publicly expose Flowers’ conduct and protect him from retaliation and harassment.
However, an FDLE spokesman said Monday the allegation “did not meet the standards” necessary to begin a criminal investigation. The FDLE reviews complaints only to determine if there was any criminality.
A source close to the jilted husband said he still hopes to reconcile with his wife – they have three children – and save their marriage. Meanwhile, sources said, Flowers and his wife have contacted attorneys and appear headed for a divorce.
This whole affair is not what any of us expected when Flowers demanded his deputies and other Sheriff’s Office staffers embrace his lofty standards, think and act as he does, and conduct themselves honorably, even when off duty. We expected better.
We expected Flowers to be a man of his word, set the best possible example for the men and women serving under him, and keep his oath.
At a minimum, we should expect a public explanation and an apology.
