Jail supervisor fired following harassment allegation

BROOKSVILLE –
The sheriff’s office suspended a jail employee without pay before it had taken over the facility.

On Wednesday, it was announced the employee was subsequently fired.

Allegations were made against Sgt. Guy Prevatt of workplace harassment by a female co-worker during training.

The complainant told an internal affairs investigator she was “scared” of Prevatt, according to a report made public this week by the Hernando County Sheriff’s office.

The woman, whose name is not being released by Hernando Today, said she was “concerned” and “frightened” by Prevatt’s behavior after he had touched her inappropriately on two occasions and made a derogatory comment to her, the report showed.

The comment was “unsettling” to her, she said. After he said it, he took his hand and massaged one of her shoulders, according to the sheriff’s office.

Prevatt also had hugged the woman without her consent earlier that week, she said. The victim told the investigator that the incidents occurred Aug. 1-11.

An employee at the jail said she saw “ongoing and persistent visits” made by Prevatt to the victim, according to the report.

Sgt. Donna Black, a sheriff’s spokeswoman, said efforts were made to contact Prevatt prior to his firing.

Prevatt provided his employer with a number and an address, but he still could not be reached. The address he gave to his bosses was that of a mobile home in Bushnell, but it was vacant due to renovations, according to the report.

Prevatt’s parents were contacted and then later his attorney, the report showed. He also never came in to speak to the investigator, Black said.

He was notified through his attorney he had been fired.

On Aug. 26, Prevatt sent an e-mail after he was let go by Sheriff Richard Nugent.

In it, he stated the accusations against him were false and that employees at the jail had harassed his parents during their efforts to contact him.

“It is in the best (interest) of my mother’s health and my family that I resign at this time,” Prevatt wrote.

He also stated in his e-mail that he had been “insulted” by other employees at the jail. He said they poked fun at his Southern heritage and upbringing and made references to the film “Deliverance” on at least one occasion.

The sheriff’s office took over jail operations Aug. 27.

Reporter Tony Holt can be reached at 352-544-5283 or [email protected].