JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – An officer with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office was arrested Thursday in Nassau County and accused of multiple charges, including kidnapping with a firearm, written threats to kill or do bodily harm and aggravated stalking.
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters held a news conference Thursday evening to announce the “serious and deplorable” charges against current JSO officer Brian Housend, 42.
“I wanted to be clear that this agency stands in solidarity with the victim of these horrible crimes, and I’ve said many times before, no one is above the law, no one,” Waters said.
The arrest of the officer marks the 13th employee of the agency to be arrested in 2024.
Waters said Housend was suspended and put on leave without pay and will eventually be fired.
The charge of armed kidnapping is a first-degree felony punishable by life in prison. He was being held on a $1 million bond.
Waters declined to share details of the case against Housend saying any information would come from the investigating agency, the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office.
A heavily redacted arrest warrant for Housend made clear the charges involved a woman who he was previously in a relationship with.
His accuser told investigators Housend sent her threatening emails and messages.
“Brian you threatened to kill me. It is reasonable that I should not take you back. [Redacted] saw you take the rifle out of the gun safe that night in February when you hurt me. You can’t undo that,” one email from the victim to Housend reads.
The woman said on Tuesday, she saw what she believed to be a green laser shining into the window of her home and thought it was the kind of laser that could be attached to a gun. She said Housend has a large collection of guns that he owns for personal and professional use.
In another incident in July, the woman said Housend came to her house uninvited in his marked JSO patrol car, wearing his uniform and began banging on the back door. After an argument when the woman refused to get back with him, Housend threatened to kill her and was “snapping and unsnapping the holster carrying his service pistol in an overtly threatening manner,” she told investigators. The woman was able to record the incident on her phone, according to the warrant.
Housend was originally hired by JSO in 2005 and since that date, Waters said, he left JSO to work for other agencies, and then he was rehired on two separate occasions. At one point Housend became a lawyer and is still a member of the Florida Bar.
Waters said Housend was involved in a few situations with internal affairs that “didn’t rise to the level of termination” but did not give details on those complaints.
Last month, a JSO officer was arrested and accused of boating under the influence.
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In June, an officer was accused of domestic battery after a neighbor reported hearing “screaming and calls for help.”
