Charlotte County Sheriff's Office history

Arthur F. "Fred" Quednau, a Punta Gorda native, defeated Sheriff J.H. Lipscomb in the 1940 election.

Sheriff Lipscomb served until 1941 when he was succeeded by Sheriff Arthur F. “Fred” Quednau, who held office for 16 years with a force of only two deputies.

Travis Parnell, Sheriff Fred Quednau's Chief Deputy and former jailer, ran against Quednau's other deputy, Ira Atkinson in 1957 when Sheriff Quednau decided not to seek re-election.

One of the biggest crimes to occur during Parnell's term as sheriff happened on July 18, 1963 -- an attempted jail break.

In 1964, he ran for sheriff against Sheriff Travis Parnell.

By 1965, the county's population had grown to 12,000.

Governor Claude Kirk, a Republican, appointed Jack Bent, a fellow Republican, to complete Sheriff Richard Stickley's term of office as Sheriff in 1967.

Sheriff Clement had served in various positions from road patrol to chief investigator under Sheriff Alan LeBeau in the 1970's.

He first worked in Norfolk County Massachusetts before joining the Lee County Sheriff's Office in 1974.

In 1976, LeBeau ran against Sheriff Bent and defeated him by some 700 votes.

In 1977, Alan L. LeBeau won the election at the young age of 26, making him the youngest Sheriff to serve our community to this day.

Sheriff Davenport began his law enforcement career in 1978 when he became a corrections officer at the Sheriff's Office.

LeBeau was defeated in his 1980 bid for re-election by Glen E. Sapp.

Bill Cameron began his law enforcement career at the Fort Myers Police Department in 1982 where he worked on road patrol, in narcotics and as a training officer.

Sheriff Sapp returned to office in July 1986.

In 1987, he joined the Lee County Sheriff's Office.

In 1988, Worch ran against Sheriff Sapp and defeated him.

After 12 years in office, Sheriff Worch was defeated in the 2000 election by Democrat William E. Clement.After the election Richard Worch went on to become a command officer at the Pasco County Sheriff's Office.

In November 2004, John Davenport was elected to be Sheriff of the agency where he had started his law enforcement career almost 27 years earlier.

When Sheriff Davenport took office in January 2005, he noted that he had been able to work his way up the ranks within the agency and he wanted other employees to feel like they could do the same thing.

In November 2008, Cameron was elected as Charlotte County's Sheriff, making him one of the few people who have ever been both appointed and elected to the office of Sheriff.

He was sworn in as Sheriff on January 6, 2009.

Prummell won election in August 2012 to become Charlotte County’s next Sheriff.