ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – Three former St. Johns County deputies are out of a job and facing jail time after they were charged with domestic battery.
Two resigned and corrections officer was fired, the sheriff's office said.
Investigators said the cases are not related, but they all involve the deputies' wives at home.
“To have three, from December of last year to this August, is an anomaly, and it isn't something that we normally see,” St. Johns County Sheriff's Office Cmdr. Chuck Mulligan said. "We hold ourselves to a higher standard."
Fellow deputies arrested Cpl. Timothy Robertson last weekend after his wife claimed he slapped and shoved her while their child watched.
Robertson, a 20-year veteran at the agency, resigned on Monday, telling the sheriff that “after much thought, I’ve decided to resign … to spend more quality time with my family.”
About two weeks earlier, another veteran traffic deputy, Kevin Nickmeyer, resigned. He was charged with domestic battery after his wife said he hurt her during a fight, which the couple’s daughter recorded on camera.
The fight happened in December, but Nickmeyer's wife just recently reported it. In a letter to the Sheriff, Nickmeyer wrote:
“It is with deep regret that I have to make this decision but I feel that, at this time, it is in my best interest, and that of the agency, that I resign.”
And July 19, the sheriff fired corrections deputy David Nogowski after an internal affairs investigation.
“He met with the deputy and the deputy's supervisors and terminated him on the day that they reviewed the findings,” Mulligan said.
Nogowski was arrested after his wife accused him of holding her down and hurting her to get her car keys.
Mulligan said violence isn’t tolerated, no matter who you are.
"These cases were handled in the same way that they would have been handled if we responded to someone's home that we did not know," Mulligan said. "As those individuals find themselves in these circumstances, they are treated the same by the sheriff's office, and I think the facts of this prove out."
The criminal cases against all three of the men are still open, so right now, they are only charged with the crimes. They have not been convicted.
Prosecutors assigned to their cases said they couldn't talk about the details because the cases are still pending.