SHERIFF ED DEAN

In November 1998 Governor Lawton Chiles announced the appointment of local attorney, Ed Dean as Sheriff. 

Sheriff Ed Dean was sworn into the office by Judge William Swigert on November 18, 1998. He was a new type of Sheriff: educated, and with a business background. Although he had never held public office before, he was a natural at the politics, and quickly immersed the Sheriff’s Office into social causes which previously had always been considered the job of other agencies. Sheriff Dean was very personable yet formal.   

Ed Dean grew up in Michigan where he and his two siblings were raised by their parents who happened to be deaf. His upbringing gave him unique insight into people with disabilities, and he remained sensitive to the special needs of his constituents throughout his administration. He graduated from Michigan State University and moved to Florida to attend Law School at the University of Florida. He practiced law with other firms, eventually heading up his own practice with his brother and son.  Dean had also been in management with Townley Industries of Candler, Florida. Ed Dean did work with many community organizations and was involved with local Democratic politics. 

 Immediately he recognized that he had to get the agency back to work and focused.  He instituted programs to not only check accountability, but to also educate himself on the duties and responsibilities of the office and of law enforcement itself. 

The government surplus program was halted, and much of the property was disposed of.  Sheriff Dean initiated a series of meetings held quarterly with all functions of the Sheriff’s Office, to keep informed of what was happening in their respected areas. He also started an “Eagle Eye” award not only to recognize the good works of the employees, but to learn what experiences they encountered in the field on a daily basis. 

Steve Binegar was kept in the administration with the rank and title of Chief of Staff. Dan Henry’s title was also changed to Chief of Staff and was co-equal with Binegar. Everyone else retained their previous rank and title. The agency was still solid with great employees. Sheriff Dean realized that he had to essentially get the agency back to work and out of its low morale.

Sheriff Dean initiated a Citizens Advisory Panel to look at various policies, programs, and ideas. During a once-a-month lunch meeting information would be presented to the group and feedback accepted. This opening of the office to feedback from the public was new in the law enforcement world. Over the fourteen years Sheriff Dean was in office many of Marion County’s most prominent citizens served on the board.  

Sheriff Dean proved to be a master politician and maintained good relations with the press. He won election three consecutive times, being the only Democrat to hold office during a period when the county had become strongly Republican.

Sheriff Dean established a County Inmate Work Farm under his Jail-to-Work initiative where sentenced inmates would grow crops and work livestock in order to offset daily feeding costs of the jail population while being exposed to work intensive programs designed to develop employable skills. 

In 2000, Ed Dean won election to his own term as Sheriff. Former Captain Keith Fender and Former Major John Pauls challenged Sheriff Dean for the Office of Sheriff. With the readymade workforce and fund-raising machine that comes with being the sitting Sheriff, Sheriff Dean easily won.

Sheriff Dean created the Special Investigative Unit and spearheaded the development of Florida’s first Statewide Commercial Vehicle and Cargo Theft Task Force. This was in response to a major cargo theft problem facing both the state of Florida and the nation. As a result of this initiative, cargo theft in Marion County went from approximately 16 million dollars in loss from 1999 through 2001, to a 100% cargo theft arrest rate with the recovery of all stolen cargo over an eighteen-month period between January 2002 and June 2003. 

Following September 11, 2001, Sheriff Dean created the Terrorist Intelligence Unit to focus on Homeland Security issues for Marion County, and assigned a Deputy to the F.B.I. Joint Terrorism Task Force in Jacksonville, Florida. Sheriff Dean was instrumental in the development of the Marion County Unified Command, a cooperative effort between law enforcement, fire, emergency management, medical services, health department and the private sector to combat the threat of terrorism through a united strategic initiative. 

There were seven task forces throughout Florida which were responsible for the preparedness and response to any possible act of terrorism throughout the state.  Sheriff Dean was appointed by Governor Bush to Chair the North Florida Regional Domestic Security Task Force.

With the retirement of Chief Dan Henry and the departure of Chief Steve Binegar, Towles Bigelow and Fred LaTorre were promoted to Chiefs of Staff.

Sheriff Dean was always interested in programs for the children of Marion County and through his efforts came the formation of the Marion County Children’s Alliance. This organization is comprised of several agencies from throughout the County who focus on ensuring all children have a safe, healthy and nurturing environment in which to grow.  

In 2003 Major Robert Douglas retired and announced his intentions to run for Sheriff in 2004. His announcement almost a year and a half away from the election signaled a new practice - election years were now longer than a year. Robert was a well-liked and respected deputy and supervisor. The election split the office; employees lined up on both sides. Both sides raised over two hundred thousand dollars towards the election. Douglas put up a good challenge, but after the votes were counted, he fell short by about two percentage points. Sheriff Dean was reelected to a second full term.

On Saturday morning February 7, 2004, Deputy Brian Litz, and Deputy David Tuman responded to Pine Run, a retirement community, reference a routine wellbeing check on 74-year-old Ivan Gotham. When the Deputies approached the house, Gotham met them at the front door with a handgun. The deputies backed off to reassess the situation and notify their supervisor. Deputy Litz was attempting to cross under the front window to gain a better observation point. Unknown to Deputy Litz, Gotham was looking out the window just above him. Gotham fired his pistol downward at almost point-blank range striking Deputy Litz in the neck, he immediately went down. 

Other deputies arriving on the scene had no idea whether or not Deputy Litz had survived the gun shot. While the house was being surrounded by law enforcement from various agencies Lieutenant John Vowinkle and Sergeant Bob Campbell grabbed protective shields (issued equipment for supervisors) and retrieved Deputy Litz. After dragging him out of the line of fire it was discovered that Brian was already dead. 

Simultaneous with the rescue attempt Captain Mike Deen and deputies David White and Warren Timmreck attempted to cover the house and gain entry. Captain Deen at one point saw the suspect and fired at him through a window. As Deputy David White attempted to break out a window with his shotgun, Gotham grabbed the barrel causing the shotgun to go off killing Gotham.   

Deputy Brian Litz was 35 at the time of his murder. He was survived by his wife, Cherie, and 5-year-old son, Brian Jr.  In memory of Deputy Litz a statute of Litz and his K9 partner was created and still stands in front of the Sheriff’s Office Southwest District Office on SR 200. 

In 2004, Mother Nature also dished up an epic hurricane season. Within six weeks Florida was struck by four major hurricanes. Marion County had to prepare for three of the hurricanes and was struck by two. For almost two months the office was either in a response mode or a recovery mode for the storms. 

Chief Latorre retired in 2005. Major Tom Wilder and Staff Attorney Dan Kuhn were promoted to Chiefs of Staff. Bringing the total to 3 Chiefs of Staff.

In the election of 2008 Sheriff Dean was once again challenged. This time from a local investment counselor named Paul Truesdell. Sheriff Dean won reelection by a great margin.   

Sheriff Dean’s administration was plagued by the biggest economic downturn since the great depression of the 1930s. For several years starting around 2007 and lasting the rest of Sheriff Dean’s tenure the budget was constantly under attack from the county commission looking for dollars to fund other county functions while keeping taxes low. Sheriff Dean’s main stated goal during that period was to keep everyone working. The Sheriff’s Office work force shrunk from over 900 employees to the 700’s, not from layoffs but from attrition. As people left or retired, jobs were eliminated and combined. The Sheriff took over juvenile custody for the county, and other nontraditional approaches were tried to make ends meet. He consistently turned back money to the County Commission to try to build the next year’s budget.

As Sheriff Dean left office, he had attained his main goal with only the loss of personnel being the Communications Center which was absorbed by the county in 2010. But over the recession years the funding and manpower for the agency had been drastically affected. 

For the first time in agency history a union was voted in by the patrol deputies to represent them in collective bargaining with Dean’s administration. Deputies voted to form a bargaining unit with the Fraternal Order of Police.

Probably the biggest impact Sheriff Dean would have on the future of the agency would be in the infrastructure of the agency. In 2007 a new Jail expansion was completed doubling the size of the jail with new booking, medical pod, kitchen, and additional inmate housing. A new communications center, and a new Emergency Operations Center for the county were completed in 2009.  Several new district offices were also completed during Sheriff Dean’s term. 

Shortly after Sheriff Dean was sworn in for a third term, he started working on setting up his own replacement. There were a couple of interested people within the organization, but eventually he settled on Dan Kuhn.

Dan Kuhn was raised in Ocala, graduated from Forest High School and then earned his undergrad degree from the University of Florida. Dan Kuhn earned a Juris Doctoral from the University of Florida Law School. He had been a prosecutor and had his own practice when he was put on retainer to do the legal work for the Sheriff’s Office. He was hired as a full-time legal advisor in 2002. 

Sheriff Dean promoted Kuhn to Chief of Staff in 2005 and he was sent to the Law Enforcement Academy in Gainesville to become a sworn officer. In 2009, Kuhn was also sent to the F.B.I. National Academy. In 2012 Sheriff Dean promoted Dan to Undersheriff. 

The campaign for Sheriff to replace the retiring Dean kicked off in the spring of 2011. Chris Blair, a retired Major filed to run along with Undersheriff Kuhn. Both were on the Republican ticket. Bernie DeCastro, a local activist, ran as an Independent. The campaign was hard fought, and both had significant support throughout the county.  Both Republican candidates, Kuhn and Blair, raised over two hundred thousand dollars each. When the votes were totaled in the August primary Dan Kuhn had edged Chris Blair and would face DeCastro in the general election in November. 

However, on October 1, 2012, allegations of misconduct were brought against Dan Kuhn. Subsequent inquires confirmed the improprieties. The exposure caused Dan Kuhn to withdraw from the race leaving the Republican Party without a candidate. 

The Republican Party met to decide who would represent the party in the November election. After a packed meeting with several people vying for the nomination, Chris Blair emerged and was elected. Blair beat DeCastro handily in the general election.  In an election oddity, because Kuhn had won the Republican primary before withdrawing from the election, his name remained on the ballot for the general election and, by operation of Florida Statute, a vote for Dan Kuhn counted as a vote for Chris Blair.