JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A powerful political player in Jacksonville who took his own life in an Atlantic Beach parking lot last year was under investigation for a “bizarre and fraudulent scheme” involving the lure of Taylor Swift tickets at the time of his death, according to the State Attorney’s Office.
Kent Stermon, 50, was found dead in his car at the Mayport Post Office in Dec. 2022. Investigators said he took his own life.
According to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, Stermon was the subject of an “active investigation” that started a few weeks before his death, but for months, it hasn’t been entirely clear exactly what that investigation involved.
But on Friday, the State Attorney’s Office (SAO) released a summary of its investigation into Stermon who faced possible charges of false imprisonment and solicitation for prostitution.
According to the summary, it all started with a series of social media messages and telephone calls between an unidentified young woman and Stermon in which Stermon claimed that he could get tickets and VIP access for her to a Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour concert in Tampa.
Investigators said Stermon set up a fake email account and pretended to be a backstage security staffer who was a gatekeeper for VIP access to the concert. Stermon, pretending to be the staffer, then coerced the woman, who he knew, into sending provocative photos of herself and answering a series of personal questions, according to the SAO.
While this was going on, Stermon was also talking to the young woman through his personal cell phone. He later told the woman to buy the concert tickets and said he would reimburse her, the investigation found, and then told her to come by his office to get the money for the tickets.
According to the final report, when the woman showed up at Stermon’s office in November, Stermon would not let her leave his office until she showed him her breasts.
The woman said she eventually told her father what happened and he confronted Stermon before the two reported the incident to police on Nov. 29.
Because investigators found Stermon used a fake Yahoo account to contact the woman, he also faced potential charges of unlawful use of a two-way communication device.
Following Stermon’s death, the investigation into Stermon continued for 10 months, but no evidence was found indicating there were any other victims.
The woman, whose age and identity were not disclosed, issued a statement through the State Attorney’s Office:
“This has been a traumatic event, but I am grateful for the support of my family, friends, and those who have helped me over the past ten months.
I am thankful the investigation confirmed my experience, and I am relieved no one else has or will have to go through what I did. My hope is that my experience provides reassurance to victims in other similar crimes that they will be heard and seen.
Despite this ordeal, my and my family’s heart breaks for the Stermon family. Psalms 31.”
Stermon served as a board member of Florida’s State University System. According to the board website, Stermon was president of Total Military Management and also served on the Florida Highway Patrol Advisory Council and was chair of the Governor’s Public Safety Transition Advisory Committee.
A long-time friend to Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry, Stermon was a well-connected political consultant for the Duval County GOP. A photo from 2019 posted by former State Senator Rob Bradley is an example of Stermon’s potential influence in the GOP. The photo shows him with Gov. DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence.
In 2015, Stermon was named Citizen of the Year by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
Stermon also had badge access to Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office headquarters and multiple other locations for five years, according to documents obtained by News4JAX, which is not common for civilians, police said. According to a log from JSO obtained by the I-TEAM, Stermon’s access card stopped being used just a few weeks before his death. According to data from JSO, Stermon swiped his JSO access card hundreds of times, including 140 times at JSO headquarters, since 2017.
“For Kent, two of his biggest priorities were higher education in students and law enforcement, also very strong and close relationships with law enforcement in North Florida, particularly former sheriff Mike Williams,” News4JAX Political Analyst Rick Mullaney said. “He certainly never ran for office so you wouldn’t see him that way, he wasn’t on television and he wasn’t in the media but behind the scenes, he was very, very active.”
On Nov. 4, 2022, just days before the midterm elections, Stermon contacted the woman on Facebook Messenger and said he would put in a “good word” for her with the president of a university, asked about her dating situation and asked about her father, according to the SAO.
A few days later, the woman asked Stermon if he could get Taylor Swift concert tickets for her. The woman said she was trying to get presale tickets, but Stermon told her he could do better and get her backstage tickets and a meet-and-greet with Swift, the investigation found. This was around the time of the chaotic rollout of Swift concert presale tickets that resulted in fans waiting for hours on Ticketmaster where many walked away empty-handed.
Stermon then gave the woman two fake emails, SAO said.
The woman later got an email from a supposed Swift associate that included a “survey,” and a series of questions including questions about her sexual orientation and degree of promiscuity, SAO said.
The sender also asked if she was “comfortable turning it up a notch” by sending additional pictures, the summary said. She was eventually asked to send photos of her naked breasts, but she refused and told the emailer that was her “boundary,” according to investigators. She separately informed Stermon of her decision and he replied to her, “Proud of you buddy,” according to the summary.
Stermon later told the woman to purchase the concert tickets and that he would reimburse her. She bought the tickets on Nov. 15 for $1,400. Three days later, Stermon asked her to come to his office on the Southside.
When she got there, she was escorted to Stermon’s office and found herself alone with the door closed, SAO said. Stermon was behind his desk wearing sweatpants, a t-shirt and no shoes, she told investigators, and Stermon handed her $1,500 cash. She said Stermon explained that the extra $100 was so “she could get her nails done.”
The woman then said a “weird and sexually explicit conversation” followed that included Stermon offering $10,000 in exchange for a “lap dance.” She told investigators she declined so Stermon then offered her $5,000 in exchange for “Facetime sex.”
After refusing both, Stermon allegedly said, “You can’t leave here without giving me something” and, “It has to be more than 30 seconds.” He then demanded she expose her breasts to him, the woman told investigators. The woman said she was scared and wanted to leave but did not believe she was free to do so.
“I just wanted to get out of there. I was very frightened because he’s a bigger guy, and I am a small woman. I was unsure of what might happen,” she told investigators.
Stermon then handed her his cell phone and told her to set a timer for 30 seconds before he ordered her to take off her overalls and top to expose her breasts for 30 seconds before leaving, she told investigators. After she complied, Stermon escorted her out of the back entrance of the building and said, “You’re that uncomfortable you can’t even give me a hug goodbye?” according to the summary.
Over the course of the following week, the woman said she told her mother and her boyfriend about the incident. Finally, on Nov. 28, 2022, she told her father what happened, SAO said.
The next day, her father confronted Stermon at a Panera restaurant. Stermon apologized to the father, according to the investigation, but the father got angry and told Stermon he had “f***** with the wrong family” and said he would “bury” him. The father then threw about $1,500 in cash at Stermon and stormed out. The father and the woman then reported the incident to law enforcement.
The State Attorney’s Office said investigators eventually got a search warrant for Stermon’s phone, but Stermon died by suicide before the warrant was served. Law enforcement’s attempts to access Stermon’s device after his death were unsuccessful, investigators said.
“Because the investigative objectives have been met, and in light of Stermon’s death, we will be taking no further action in this matter,” SAO wrote in its investigation summary.
Photos obtained by News4JAX following his suicide included a picture of Stermon’s truck where his body was found, a gun and an apparent suicide note Stermon wrote to his sister and another person whose name was redacted.
“I love you both too much to put you through this. You are better without me,” the note reads. “Go find your version of [redacted] and be happy!”
While the name on the handwritten note is redacted, a police report identifies that person as Jackson Short. Short is an investigator for the State Attorney’s Office and a retired member of JSO. Short has no role in the Stermon investigation, SAO said.
The State Attorney’s Office told News4JAX that Short and his family were personal friends with the Stermons for many years.
“Short started at the State Attorney’s Office in January, after this incident. Short has not been involved with the investigation in any way; given his non-involvement, there is no conflict of interest,” a spokesman said.
Due to Stermon’s close ties to JSO in the past, News4JAX reached out to JSO for a statement following the release of the report but did not immediately hear back.
Curry issued a statement about the report Thursday afternoon:
“The investigation and report demonstrate that someone I thought I knew as a friend was instead a predator of an innocent victim. The report sickens me. I am enraged by his despicable behavior and sad for the young woman who was hurt by it. I will keep this young woman and her family in my thoughts, and I applaud the courage it took for them to report this terrible event. I am also thinking of Kent’s wife and daughter. The report of these events are one more terrible tragedy they must also face. I hope all who were hurt by this awful circumstance find peace and strength moving forward,” Curry wrote in an email to News4JAX.
