Longtime deputy Milo Thornton on Thursday filed the required paperwork to run for sheriff in 2024. Currently a captain in the agency in which he has spent the past 25 years, he is the third candidate to enter the race.
Thornton joined Fellsmere Police Chief Keith Touchberry as a candidate in the August 2024 Republican primary. Deborah Cooney, who has no party affiliation and was the sheriff’s-race runner-up in the 2020 general election, has also filed to run.
Incumbent Eric Flowers has not yet filed, but he said in an interview last spring he planned to see re-election. If Flowers follows through, Thornton will be challenging his boss.
Thornton’s filing did not yet include any contributions to his campaign.
As of Thursday, Touchberry’s campaign had received $41,024 in contributions and $5,489 in expenditures. Cooney had taken in $5,400 and spent $4,006.
Thornton, who currently oversees the Sheriff’s Office’s school safety division, was promoted from major to deputy chief – the highest rank held by a black law enforcement officer in the county’s history – when Flowers unveiled his initial command staff in January 2021.
However, Flowers demoted him to captain in April 2022, following an 11-week in-house investigation into complaints about Thornton’s management style. The investigation cleared Thornton of any wrongdoing, but the sheriff still imposed the reduction of rank and pay, as well as a reassignment to the school safety division.
Thornton, 45, began his law enforcement career as a corrections deputy in St. Lucie County. He then spent four years as a Vero Beach police officer before joining the Sheriff’s Office here.
In addition to his agency duties, Thornton serves on the Indian River State College board of trustees and on the boards of several local nonprofit organizations. He also coached football at Vero Beach High School.
