Glen E. Sapp
1981 - 1985
1986 - 1989
Republican
Glen E. Sapp came into office in 1981 fresh from an 11-week FBI course on professional law enforcement methods. Sheriff Sapp was responsible for starting the School Resource Officer program at the Sheriff's Office.
In 1985, a grand jury indicted Sapp on charges of grand theft involving the sale of an airplane to a corporation that sold it to the sheriff's office.
Democratic Governor Bob Graham at first appointed J.M. "Buddy" Phillips, a Tallahassee Democrat, to serve as the "interim" sheriff. Graham subsequently replaced Phillips with then-Lee County Sheriff's Captain John J. McDougall.
Sapp was convicted in 1986, but the conviction was overturned on appeal.
Sheriff Sapp was returned to his position as Sheriff in 1986. On the day he returned to the Sheriff's Office, he found the entire driveway entrance lined with off-duty deputies, patrol cars and civilian employees cheering his return.
Sheriff Sapp completed his second term of office, but lost his bid for a third term when Richard H. Worch, Jr. defeated him in the Republican primary.