News and Investigations

Polk County Sheriff’s deputies arrested two DCF employees a day apart during unrelated incidents in unincorporated Polk County.

The first incident occurred around 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, August 18, 2024: the Polk County Sheriff’s Office responded to a single-vehicle crash on Saddle Creek Road, near Saddle Creek Park in Lakeland. The driver of the vehicle was 47-year old Evelyn Ross of Auburndale. 

The responding deputy made contact with Ross in her vehicle, which had collided with a utility pole and was still running. It was immediately apparent to the responding deputy that Ross was intoxicated; her eyes were bloodshot and watery, and he detected the strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on her person. She admitted to the deputy that she had made a bad choice and had had a lot to drink. After failing field sobriety tests, she was arrested and transported to a local hospital to be checked out. She was treated and released, then transported to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office Processing Center without further incident.

Ross’ two BACs (blood alcohol concentration, which is the amount of alcohol in a person's bloodstream) were 0.197 and 0.190. The legal threshold is .08. She was subsequently charged with DUI over 0.15 (M2) and DUI with Property Damage (M1).

The second incident occurred around 1:00 p.m. on Monday, August 19, 2024 on Highway 17 in Bartow. A deputy initiated a traffic stop on a vehicle after learning the registered owner of the vehicle (Jayla Rae Robinson, 22, from Lakeland) had a suspended license.

When the deputy asked Robinson for her license, she gave it to him and stated that she knew her license was suspended, as she had just been pulled over two days before and given a citation for the same violation. She was arrested for Knowingly Driving While License Suspended or Revoked (M2) and transported to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office Processing Center. In the vehicle with Robinson was a 15-year old child whom she told deputies she was transporting to court. Another DCF worker was contacted to come pick up the 15-year old passenger to transport her to court.

“We take DUI and DWLSR offenses very seriously, especially when the suspects are people in a position of trust in the community. Driving children around for work after already being cited for driving with a suspended license is irresponsible. And driving and crashing a car under the influence of alcohol sets a very poor example.” – Grady Judd, Sheriff

Please refer any questions about their employment to the DCF.