CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – On Sept. 15, 2024, Willie Davis Jr. was stopped by a Clay County deputy at the intersection of Blanding Boulevard and Wells Road during a suspected hit-and-run and DUI investigation.
However, according to a report, the 21-year-old deputy had never done a DUI investigation, so he called for help.
His colleague arrived moments later to help the deputy, considered the primary deputy in the investigation, with Davis’ arrest.
Four months later, Davis’ traffic stop and arrest led to an administrative investigation by the Clay County Sheriff’s Office. The investigation looked into the 21-year-old deputy’s actions after Davis reported that approximately $4,000 had been stolen from him during his arrest.
(News4JAX obtained a copy of the Clay County Sheriff’s Office Internal Affairs report that includes the details of the traffic stop and the investigation that followed.)
During Davis’ arrest, deputies found a “significant” amount of cash in his pocket and counted the money twice while at the scene.
According to the report, both deputies agreed the money equaled $4,000 — an amount that was also documented in Davis’ arrest report.
The money was then placed in a yellow property bag and transported to jail with Davis, the report states.
Once at the jail, the primary deputy was told he needed to recount the money and complete an inmate property form.
The 21-year-old deputy wrote $2,900 on the form, and “did not report the discrepancy with anyone,” according to the report.
On Sept. 16, Davis was released from jail.
During his release, investigators said Davis refused to accept the cash card for the amount of $2,868 offered to him by the jail staff, and he informed them he had more money than that when he was arrested.
That’s when the jail staff looked at the booking sheet and discovered the discrepancy, according to the report.
Based on that discrepancy, an integrity case was started.
On Jan. 23, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office began an administrative investigation into the deputies involved in Davis’ traffic stop and arrest.
During the investigation, the detective in charge interviewed all those involved, reviewed videos and looked at the results of polygraph exams.
Davis was among those interviewed during the investigation and told the detective his version of events, starting with the traffic stop.
According to the report, Davis stated that one of the deputies reached into his pocket and pulled out his money, and added he knew he had $4,200 with him.
Davis also told the detective he had asked the deputy to turn on his body-worn camera, but that he responded, “luckily we don’t have body worn cameras in Clay County,” adding that he also “giggled” as he said that.
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Davis also told the detective he had a money bag in the center console of his truck on the night of his arrest, but that he was unsure of how much money was in the bag.
He also said he did not know if “one or both deputies took his money.” However, he said that he was missing approximately $4,000 total between the money that was in his pocket and his money bag.
The detective also reviewed the polygraph exams conducted on both of the deputies involved in the incident.
The polygraph exam asked the following questions:
- Did you take any of that money?
- Did you take that $1,000?
- Were you the one that took the money?
According to the report, the deputy who helped the 21-year-old deputy in the traffic stop passed the test. But the 21-year-old deputy did not.
The report says that when the detective who conducted the polygraph exam was asked if he believed the deputies were honest with him, he stated “he believes [the primary deputy] knows more about the money than he is admitting.”
The investigation found the primary deputy violated two general orders regarding code of conduct and failed to follow the policy relating to the collection and/or preservation of evidence.
On May 15, the 21-year-old deputy was fired.
“Our investigation has established that the member’s actions were inappropriate and contrary to the general orders and policies of the Sheriff’s Office,” a Clay County sergeant wrote in a letter addressed to Davis.
Now, Davis is pursuing legal action against both of the deputies who were involved in his arrest.
“We don’t know who actually took the or kept the money, but both of them indicated that they stood there and counted it out twice, each one of them. And so we’ve asked each one of them to pay a combined $12,000 to resolve the civil theft claim,” Daniel Faherty, Davis’ attorney, told News4JAX.
Faherty also said he made a demand on the sheriff’s office to pay the statutory maximum of $200,000 for Davis’ false arrest, arguing that the deputies did not have probable cause to arrest him.
“What we’re really interested in doing is making sure that our client gets some measure of justice for having gone to jail for nothing and having his cash and his vehicle seized for nothing,” Faherty said.
Faherty said he hopes the sheriff’s office will negotiate a claim before filing a lawsuit.
News4JAX reached out to the Clay County Sheriff’s Office for comment and received the following statement:
“We hold all of our deputies and employees to the highest standards and this probationary deputy failed to meet those standards,” Sheriff Michelle Cook said.