News & Updates

On 01/24/2025, members of the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Multi-Agency Drug Task Force, with the assistance of the Special Response Team, executed a narcotics search warrant at 51 6th Street in Shalimar. During the execution of the search warrant, investigators...

The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the death of a Navarre man early Friday morning after he ran off the road, crashed down an embankment, and collided with several parked vehicles outside a Destin hotel. Deputies say the driver of the black Dodge...

A Shalimar resident who serves as Friar of a Shalimar church has been charged with multiple counts of possession of child pornography by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.64-year old Frank Gough II was taken into custody January 9th on 30 counts of possession of...

On 12/20/2024 members of the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Multi-Agency Drug Task Force, along with members of the Florida Highway Patrol Criminal Interdiction Unit, arrested 36-year-old Richard Earl Larkins Jr at 893 Hiawatha St., in Holt. Larkins Jr. had active...

On 12/18/2024 members of the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Multi-Agency Drug Task Force executed a narcotics search warrant at 8 3rd St., Apt 7, in Shalimar. During the execution of the search warrant, investigators located fentanyl and methamphetamine. • 60...

The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office has charged a Fort Walton Beach man with negligent homicide/manslaughter in the death of a 17-month-old toddler in June of 2023. 24-year-old Charles LIttle of Colonial Drive was arrested December 18th. He had taken the toddler, who...

Members of the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Multi-Agency Drug Task Force executed a narcotics search warrant at 353 West James Lee Blvd. in Crestview on December 13th. During the execution of the search warrant, investigators located MDMA, marijuana and a handgun....

The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office has charged an Okaloosa Online Student with making an electronic threat of a mass shooting/terrorist act. 13-year old Vaida Jasmine McDougald was taken into custody Monday afternoon at her home in Crestview. The OCSO received...

UPDATE: We are heartbroken to report that the deceased individual has been identified as 17-year old Brandon Bailey. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Brandon's family. The Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office is investigating after the body of a young male was...

Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office deputies and investigators identified and located a man following a convenience store armed robbery yesterday afternoon in Mary Esther. 51-year old David Michael Stephens, no known address, was taken into custody yesterday following a...

The OCSO received notification of a bomb threat referencing former Congressman Matt Gaetz's supposed mailbox at a home in the Niceville area around 9 a.m. this morning. A family member resides at the address but former Congressman Gaetz is NOT a resident. The mailbox...

During the month of November, members of the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Section conducted an undercover operation targeting adults looking to meet minors online for sexual encounters. “Operation Cold Turkey” is part of an on-going effort...

An investigation by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office has led to the arrest of a Fort Walton Beach man on charges of sexual battery on a victim under the age of 12, more than 30 counts of promoting the sexual performance of a child, and more than 30 counts of...

Members of the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Multi-Agency Drug Task Force, with the assistance of the Special Response Team, executed a narcotics search warrant at 8087 Third St., in Laurel Hill November 8th. During the execution of the search warrant,...

An Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Deputy who made a traffic stop near Crestview early this morning charged a Georgia man with human smuggling. The deputy spotted MIchael Frost of Columbus Georgia driving northbound in the southbound lanes of State Road 85 near Airport Road...

A Crestview middle school student tried to talk a friend out of bringing weapons to school, then made sure to tell an adult after his upset friend said he planned to use the weapons to kill two students who had been bullying him. The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office...

A man pulled over on Highway 98 in Mary Esther November 4th called the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office to report a possible police impersonator. Responding deputies found the citizen had been pulled over by 69-year old Salvatore Gruny of Shalimar. Gruny was in his...

A Texas man has been charged with putting a knife to a woman’s neck and threatening her life while she sat on a bench at 300 Mountain Drive in Destin October 31st. The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office has charged 58-year old Paul Besinger of San Antonio Texas with...

On Friday evening, October 25, 2024, shortly before 6:30 p.m., a gray 2023 Dodge Charger, occupied by four teens, was traveling west on Emerald Coast Parkway in Destin from the Walton County line. Witnesses reported that the vehicle was traveling at a high rate of...

Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested 38-year old David Johnson of Holt Wednesday for domestic violence battery and other charges. The victim says she and Johnson live in a vehicle at a campground at Wilderness Landing Road. She told deputies during an...