Ron DeSantis and Kent Stermon's Relationship Explained
A top Republican donor and friend of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis who died in December 2022 was under investigation at the time over sexual-misconduct allegations involving a minor, according to reports.
Kent Stermon, 50, of Jacksonville, Florida, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on December 8 in a car on Atlanta Beach.
Stermon was being investigated over allegations he attempted to coerce an underage girl to show him a photo of her breasts by offering her Taylor Swift tickets, according to a report from the U.K. news website DailyMail.com. There is no indication or suggestion that DeSantis was aware of the allegations involving Stermon.
The girl then arrived at Stermon's office to return the tickets. Stermon then allegedly demanded that showed him her breasts in person and refused to allow her to leave until she did so.
The teenage girl was eventually allowed to leave, and she told her father about the incident. Stermon then allegedly offered to pay a five-figure payment to keep the incident a secret, which the father refused. Stermon was found dead a few days later.
Stermon, an executive at Total Military Management, was known to be a close ally of DeSantis. He donated tens of thousands of dollars to the Republican's campaigns over the years, including when DeSantis was first running for congress in 2012.
In 2018, Politico reported that the then-congressman DeSantis stayed in a condo co-owned by Stermon after the politician was forced out of his congressional district in 2016 because of redistricting.
Stermon continued to support DeSantis as the politician ran for governor in 2018, and later served on his transition team.
In December 2022, following the donor's death, Florida Politics reporter A.G. Gancarski told First Coast News: "You wouldn't have Ron DeSantis as governor without Kent Stermon."
In March 2019, DeSantis appointed Stermon to the Board of Governors, which is responsible for Florida's public university system. The 50-year-old also served on the Florida Highway Patrol Advisory Council and was chair of the Governor's Public Safety Transition Advisory Committee.
It had already been reported before his death that Stermon was the subject of an "active investigation" by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, prior to his death. The Florida Times-Union and First Coast News reported that the probe involved alleged sexual misconduct.
In a December 2022 statement, DeSantis' office said the governor and first lady were "shocked and saddened" to hear of Stermon's death. A spokesperson for DeSantis added that the governor's office had "no knowledge" of the investigation.
Newsweek has emailed the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office for comment.
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