JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – An officer with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office who faces serious accusations including armed kidnapping and threatening to kill a woman received multiple complaints, both internally and from citizens, during his tenure with the agency, records show.
Brian Housend, 42, is accused of harassing and threatening a woman that he was once in a relationship with. The Nassau County Sheriff’s Office, the arresting agency, said Housend is accused of making repeated threats toward the woman who contacted investigators because she feared for her life.
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Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said Housend was suspended after his arrest on Thursday and put on leave without pay and will eventually be fired.
The most serious charge Housend is facing is armed kidnapping, a first-degree felony punishable by life in prison.
Waters said while with JSO, Housend was the subject of multiple internal affairs investigations that “didn’t rise to the level of termination.”
News4JAX obtained a copy of Housend’s employee administrative investigation history and it shows six total complaints. He received three complaints from citizens and three complaints from people within JSO. Of the six complaints, only the two from JSO were sustained and he received written reprimands for unbecoming conduct and improper action, according to JSO records.
- November 2013, Citizen Complaint: Unnecessary force, exonerated
- December 2013, Citizen Complaint: Unbecoming conduct, not sustained; Failure to take appropriate action, not sustained
- March 2014, Citizen Complaint: Bias-based, exonerated; mishandling property/evidence, exonerated
- February 2015, In-House Complaint: Failure to conform to work standards, not sustained; Improper action, not sustained
- Aug. 2022, In-House Complaint: Unbecoming conduct, sustained, written reprimand
- Sept. 2023, In-House Complaint: Improper action, not sustained; Improper action, sustained, written reprimand
Housend’s investigation history handed out by JSO does not give details about each of the internal investigations.
Waters said Housend was originally hired by JSO in 2005 but left to work for other agencies and was rehired twice.
Waters said while working at JSO Housend got a law degree and later began practicing. Records show he was admitted as a member of the Florida Bar in April 2015.
A spokesperson for the State Attorney’s Office said Housend was a prosecutor and assistant state attorney under the Angela Corey administration starting in May 2015 and left when current State Attorney Melissa Nelson took over in January 2017.
Housend has been booked into Nassau County jail and is being held on a bond exceeding $1 million.
