Alachua County Today’s review of public records reveals a months-long timeline of records requests, payroll questions and communications that preceded Chief Antoine Sheppard’s administrative leave.
HIGH SPRINGS – Public records obtained by Alachua County Today provide the clearest picture yet of how the complaint that placed High Springs Police Chief Antoine Sheppard on administrative leave originated – and who was behind it.
Sheppard was placed on paid administrative leave June 23 by then-City Manager Jeremy Marshall pending an investigation into payroll discrepancies.
The action ignited widespread community support for Sheppard and became a central issue which ended with the City Commission voting to terminate Marshall’s employment.
Complaint Began with Outside Attorney
City Attorney Kiersten Ballou publicly described for the first time at the July 23 commission meeting how the complaint reached the city.
According to Ballou, attorney Bobi Frank contacted the city’s attorneys, Folds and Walker, on June 8 requesting a meeting at Frank’s office to present documents she believed demonstrated wrongdoing by Sheppard.
Ballou and attorney Danielle Adams met with Frank on June 16. The materials included both source documents and summary documents assembled through public records requests, centered primarily on payroll discrepancies.
Ballou told commissioners that some issues presented had already been identified internally and required no further investigation. The remaining allegations proceeded through the disciplinary process.
Ballou’s written investigatory timeline, obtained by Alachua County Today, documents Frank’s role.
Records Requests Began Months Earlier
Frank did not stumble onto anything in June.
On Feb. 13, 2026, her law office submitted a public records request seeking Sheppard’s employment contract and 12 months of payroll records.
Three days later, the office was back, requesting additional records dating to 2023.
Those requests predated the complaint by nearly four months.
Investigation Narrowed
A predetermination hearing on July 1 was attended by Sheppard, his attorney, Marshall, Ballou and City Clerk Angela Stone.
Six of the original 11 allegations were dismissed following the hearing.
Marshall reinstated Sheppard on July 7 with a final written warning.
Residents who had gathered outside City Hall for a prayer rally instead celebrated his return. The commission meeting scheduled for that evening was canceled because of an elevator malfunction that left the building out of ADA compliance.
Earlier Legal Dispute
The June complaint was not Frank’s first point of friction with Sheppard.
In 2025, Frank represented a High Springs police officer in an internal affairs matter that resulted in sustained findings of neglect of duty and unsatisfactory work performance. Sheppard issued the discipline.
In a Sept. 29, 2025 letter to Sheppard, Frank accused him of relying on undocumented historical allegations, introducing materials the officer had not been afforded the opportunity to review, and disregarding the officer’s responses to findings of fact.
The letter cited Florida’s Police Officers’ Bill of Rights under Chapter 112, Florida Statutes, and closed with a warning of potential liability to the city.
As Carlo Sheppard noted during public comment at the July 23 meeting, up to that point, the city had not disclosed the identity of the complainant nor how the allegations were initially received.
Frank’s complaint was routed through the city attorneys rather than filed as a formal internal affairs complaint under Chapter 112, the mechanism that would have entitled Sheppard to know who was accusing him and why from the outset.
Frank subsequently denied on social media being a complainant in the matter, contradicting Ballou’s documented timeline.
Dispatch Records, Outside Relationships, and an Incomplete Picture
Dispatch records from the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office also found their way to the city attorneys, provided not by Frank directly but by her client.
The records, computer-aided dispatch activity logs covering November 2025 through January 2026, were obtained by David Butscher through a public records request and transmitted to attorney Danielle Adams on June 29, days after Sheppard had already been placed on leave.
The records appear intended to compare Sheppard’s reported activities with dispatch data. But the chief’s city vehicle was not equipped with the automated location technology that feeds position data into the dispatch system, making the logs an incomplete record of his movements.
David Butscher’s wife, Becky Butscher, is a retired captain from the Alachua County Sheriff’s Ofice and a client of Bobi Frank.
Social media records reflect a longstanding personal friendship between Frank and the Butschers.
Alachua County Today found no public record that those relationships were disclosed during the city’s investigation.
Questions Remain
In a July 22 email to Sheppard and Stone, Marshall wrote: “No final discipline has been imposed. The matter has been turned over to FDLE for them to investigate.”
The following evening, Ballou told commissioners Sheppard had been reinstated after receiving final written warnings.
Alachua County Today has been told by individuals familiar with the matter that FDLE ultimately declined to pursue the case. The agency has not publicly commented.
The newspaper continues to review records and has requested additional documents from the city and other agencies.
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