Sheriff fires 40-year-old Keys deputy accused of passing information to 19-year-old 'drug dealer' boyfriend

KEY WEST, Florida. — A Florida Keys deputy sheriff who faced 19 felony charges after her own agency accused her of illegally accessing deputies' databases to pass information to her teenage boyfriend, a “drug dealer,” was set to be fired Wednesday night, her employer said.

Monroe County Sheriff's Office spokesman Adam Linhardt said in a news release Wednesday that the agency plans to fire Deputy Jennifer Ketcham, who was placed on leave following her arrest on computer crime charges in late July, effective 5 p.m.

Ketcham, 40, of Cudjoe Key, was accused of passing information about police raids, her colleagues and informants to a 19-year-old man she was dating who, she said in a WhatsApp message, “dealt drugs.”

MCSO investigators found that Ketcham, who has been employed by the agency since 2021, illegally accessed the Florida Criminal Information Center and National Criminal Information Center – known as F/NCIC – as well as the driver and vehicle information databases – known as DAVID – at least 19 times from February 2023 to June of this year.

“Transparency is one of my highest priorities in this agency,” Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay said in Wednesday's press release. “I am committed to keeping the community informed of all important events within the sheriff's office and holding employees accountable.”

Ketcham is scheduled to be arraigned in Monroe County Court on Thursday, according to online records.