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David Garcia -
Arroyo, Garcia, Knox
A former Putnam County Sheriff’s Office corrections deputy has been arrested for hitting an inmate and a supervisor and assisting in smuggling drugs into the Putnam County Jail, officials say.
The State Attorney’s Office charged David Garcia, 23, with one count of battery, two counts of introducing contraband into a facility and one count of using a two-way device to commit a crime.
On Monday, the State Attorney’s Office issued the warrant to arrest Garcia, who was given $100,000 bail, authorities said. Garcia paid the money and was released from jail before he could even be placed in a cell, according to sheriff’s office officials.
“Just to be abundantly clear, what this individual did was criminal. Our inmates deserve the respect that is due to every resident in our community,” Sheriff Gator DeLoach said Tuesday. “Garcia does not even deserve to ever wear a badge or represent law enforcement.”
The agency hired Garcia in 2019, according to the sheriff’s office’s Facebook page. He resigned in 2021 for personal reasons, DeLoach said, and was rehired as a corrections deputy in October 2022.
After getting into a verbal dispute with an inmate because the inmate kept kicking his cell door, Garcia hit his immediate supervisor on Jan. 6, 2023, an investigation report states. Garcia, reportedly angry with the inmate, began slamming the door multiple times. Garcia’s supervisor attempted to stop Garcia from slamming the door, the investigation states, which led to the two officers “shoving each other” and Garcia slapping his supervisor “on the right side of the face with an open fist.”
The next day, an inmate kicked the cell door and demanded to be placed in another cell, but refused to comply, the report said.
As Garcia and other deputies escorted the inmate to the booking area, authorities said, Garcia pushed the inmate “face-first into a secured door” and caused a contusion on the inmate’s forehead.
Garcia later struck the inmate in the mouth after the inmate was said to have made racist remarks toward Garcia, according to the report. Investigators said the hit caused one of the inmate’s teeth to puncture his lip.
In an interview with sheriff’s office personnel later that month, authorities said, Garcia admitted to striking the inmate.
“He informed detectives that he knew it was a bit excessive, but he had to do something because (the inmate) made him look bad in front of everybody on his shift,” the report states.
Garcia was informed Jan. 11 that an investigation was taking place and he would be put on administrative leave, according to the sheriff’s office. Upon learning the news, Garcia was instructed to return his agency-issued firearm, badge, ID and access card.
Garcia allegedly threw the ID and access fob at a sheriff’s office captain. The report states he also tried to enter a secured area of the jail facility after returning his card, screamed at one of the corrections officers and slammed open the facility door, which damaged the wall and caused $100 worth of damage.
The investigative report also states Garcia accused another corrections deputy of causing him to get in trouble and, after being fired Jan. 12, texted that deputy an expletive-filled message.
Upon Garcia’s dismissal, another inmate, Francisco Arroyo, told another deputy that when Garcia returned to work for the sheriff’s office in October 2022, he began bringing weed, MDMA, commonly known as “molly,” and cigarettes into the jail.
Arroyo, a member of the Latin Kings gang, has been convicted of attempted murder and charged with the 2021 murder of Crescent City resident Mark Arbelo Jr.
The sheriff’s office’s Drug and Vice Unit detectives dug deeper into the accusations and linked Garcia, Arroyo and Seville resident Maleah Knox, 25, to possible contraband entering the jail, DeLoach said Tuesday.
On Feb. 9, Arroyo was transported from the Putnam County Jail to the St. Johns County Jail, where he is awaiting his murder trial, DeLoach stated. He added that the agency transferred Arroyo out of caution because Arroyo was getting too comfortable approaching some of Putnam’s corrections officers.
Knox was booked into the Putnam County Jail on Feb. 7 and charged with bribery of a public servant, smuggling contraband into a detention facility, smuggling contraband into a prison and using a two-way device to facilitate a felony, according to the jail log.
Knox was released on bail a few hours after being booked in February.
DeLoach said Garcia had not shown any signs of aggressive behavior before he was hired. Garcia also had no familial or friendly relationship with Arroyo or Knox, the sheriff added, though Arroyo and Knox had some relationship.
“His conduct is a blemish to the expectations I have of all of our agency members,” DeLoach said about Garcia. “He's acted in a criminal manner not once but multiple times. And it's my intention to pursue these charges to fruition and to seek the maximum penalty allowable.”
DeLoach added Garcia came up through the sheriff’s office Police Athletic League’s boxing program.
“David Garcia had a wonderful opportunity to be a shining star in our community and overcome a significant amount of adversity that led him to ultimately becoming a corrections deputy with us,” DeLoach said. “It saddens me and it breaks my heart, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to be held accountable for our own actions and that is certainly the case here today.”