OKEECHOBEE —In the highly contested Okeechobee County sheriff’s race, rumors are flying, and accusations have been made involving each of the candidates.
In the case of Jon Folbrecht, some of the accusations have been backed up by documents from official agencies. These documents were obtained through record requests by concerned citizens.
Folbrecht was accused of:
Folbrecht said he knew TrueCore’s contract had not been renewed and the facility would soon be shutting down. HE said because he did not want to be a part of letting all his staff go, he resigned. However, paperwork has surfaced detailing Folbrecht’s suspension from his position in November 2018. The document states 11 youth from the facility were arrested for a series of incidents including fighting and assaulting staff. The regional director stated he was not notified of the arrests until many hours later. In addition, Folbrecht was accused of not reporting to the facility in a timely manner and instead staying home until he was directed to report. The suspension notice states, “Mr. Folbrecht’s behavior, inattention to duty, or reluctance to interrupt his weekend falls well short of the expectations for a facility leader.” It concludes with a recommendation for his termination.
Folbrecht defended himself by saying he lives an hour away from the facility and had indulged in some drinking on his day off. He did not feel it was safe for him to drive and communicated with staff throughout the incident.
Folbrecht claimed he resigned from the position. However, Lori Santos, vice-president of Human Resources for TrueCore wrote, “He was employed from Jan. 3, 2018-Nov. 6, 2018 and terminated from employment with us for poor performance.”
Folbrecht said, “I disputed the termination and reached an agreement with TrueCore regarding my separation... What I told you was accurate under the agreement. The Vice President at the time agreed that my statement may be used to explain my separation since the facility would be closing.”
Folbrecht did not directly answer this question but answered the second half which was, “or been sued.” To this, he replied he had been part of a legal proceeding regarding financial accounts which were now paid in full. A document from the Jupiter Inlet Colony Police Department has surfaced regarding a disciplinary action recommendation involving Folbrecht. According to this document, Folbrecht was hired in April 2019 on a part-time basis. During a Freedom Run on 4th of July, a resident of Tequesta complained that Folbrecht was unprofessional. He was written up and it was agreed he would no longer work events or special details within the village of Tequesta.
When asked about this document, Folbrecht said, “It was my understanding that this document had been removed from my file. I was told by the lieutenant at the time it would stay in my file for a year and then be removed if there were no other complaints. Since there were no other complaints, I believed this had been removed and therefore I did not disclose it. Throughout my career, I have received counseling and training, but they are not considered discipline.”
