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Polk County Sheriff’s Phone# 863-298-6200
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Welcome to the Polk County Sheriff's Office News Room, where the Public Information Officers (PIO's) post all of the information that they release to the news media. PIO's act as liaisons between news media organizations and the Sheriff's Office. The PIO's routinely release timely and accurate information and Crime Stoppers bulletins, and respond to routine and "breaking news" media inquiries. News releases and Crime Stoppers information can be found on this page.
PCSO's full-time Public Information Officers are Brian Bruchey, Carrie Horstman, and Alicia Manautou. The Public Information Officers can be reached by sending an e-mail collectively at PIOs@polksheriff.org.
The recent news releases sent out by the PIOs can be found here, and archived releases (older than 2017) can be found here.
On Tuesday, April 9, 2019, PCSO school resource deputies conducted “Operation Pop Top”— an ongoing effort to enforce laws related to the sale of alcohol to minors. Deputies send high school teenagers into stores to see if they can buy alcohol. The students are PCSO Explorers, which is a program designed for students who are interested in learning about law enforcement careers.
During the operation, 31-year-old Jonathan Rodrigues of Bartow, was the on-duty clerk at the Marathon convenience store located at 1660 South Lake Shipp Drive in Winter Haven. He sold an alcoholic beverage to our underage Explorer. Rodrigues was taken into custody without incident and transported to the Polk County Jail. He’s charged with selling alcohol to a person under 21.
The following stores were found to be in compliance with Florida beverage laws:
1. Circle K 1000 1st Street S, Winter Haven, FL
2. 7-Eleven 1099 1st Ave South, Winter Haven
3. WaWa 1490 3rd Street SW, Winter Haven, FL
4. Mobil 1200 3rd Street SW, Winter Haven, FL
5. RaceTrac 11023 US Hwy 17 N, Eagle Lake, FL
6. Chevron 558 N 5th Street, Eagle Lake, FL
7. Sunoco 1502 Recker Hwy, Winter Haven, FL
8. Superway 2950 Recker Hwy, Winter Haven, FL
9. Holy Land Grocers 329 26th Street SW, Winter Haven, FL
10. 7-Eleven #32788 4000 Recker Hwy, Winter Haven, FL
11. Dels Go Shop 90 Coleman Rd, Winter Haven, FL
“We are going to hold store employees accountable for selling alcohol to those under 21 years old. It’s their responsibility to check ID’s at all times. The stores and employees found in compliance did a great job following the law. We congratulate them.” – Grady Judd, Sheriff