A Jacksonville police officer resigned Thursday after a Sheriff’s Office’s Internal Affairs investigation recommended his termination following multiple complaints sustained against him, including soliciting prostitutes.
Officer Joseph M. Legard’s administrative investigation history, released Thursday, shows internal affairs also sustained in-house complaints for failure to conform to work standards, falsification of documents, failure to take action and departure from the truth.
All of these complaints were filed Nov. 8, 2018, the report said. The case was originally investigated by the Sheriff’s Office’s Integrity Unit to determine any violations of law, then presented to the State Attorney’s Office. But “due to the limited probability of a conviction,” the State Attorney’s Office decided not to prosecute, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Internal Affairs then began investigating for any administrative policy violations and found multiple, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Sheriff Mike Williams and Undersheriff Pat Ivey agreed with the findings and recommendation for termination, and Legard was made aware of that, the Sheriff’ Office said. But he resigned Thursday, effective immediately.
Legard’s employment record does show some previous issues.
A July 2009 citizen complaint claiming improper action was sustained, and he received formal counseling, the record showed. An in-house complaint for failure to conform to work standards was sustained in late 2016, also resulting in formal counseling. He was exonerated in a 2017 citizen complaint for unnecessary force, as well as another last year for failure to take action and conform to work standards, the report said.
