Senior JDF officer due in court after Florida arrest

A senior Jamaican military officer embedded with a United States (US)-based international counter-narcotics task force is facing a criminal charge after being arrested with a person under the age of 18 inside a vehicle, according to his attorney and online arrest records.

The military officer was arrested in Florida on July 4.

He was initially charged with cruelty towards a child, a third-degree felony described as “abuse without great bodily injury”, and driving under the influence, a second-degree misdemeanour, according to records posted on an official law enforcement website in the state.

However, the cruelty-to-a-child charge has since been nolle prossed, or dropped, according to the court's office in the county in which he was charged and the military officer's attorney, Patricia Gibson.

During a brief telephone interview with The Gleaner yesterday, Gibson disclosed that her client has pleaded not guilty to the remaining charge of driving under the influence and is scheduled to appear in court on July 30.

Court records allege that the senior JDF officer had a blood-alcohol level of “0.15 or higher” at the time of his arrest.

The legal blood-alcohol limit in Florida is 0.08.

“I wasn’t there. You can read the police report,” Gibson said, when asked to provide details of the circumstances that led to the military officer's arrest.

“That should be online as well, right where you looked and saw that one charge was nolle prossed. The police report should be there as well,” she continued, before adding, “Oh, maybe not because there was an individual under the age of 18, so it may not be public records.”

The JDF has not responded to questions submitted by The Gleaner last Wednesday.

livern.barrett@gleanerjm.com

The questions that were submitted include:

Is the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) aware that one of its senior officers ... was arrested in the United States on July 5, 2026?

If the answer to question 1 is yes, kindly disclose what action(s), if any, has been taken by the JDF relative to [the military officer] and this matter?