Wealthy Ron DeSantis Donor Was Under Investigation For Sexual Misconduct Involving A Minor Before Taking His Life: Report
A wealthy political donor who helped Ron DeSantis rise to prominence in Florida was allegedly under investigation for sexual misconduct involving a minor before taking his life, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Kent Stermon, 50, reportedly ended his life on December 8 shortly after he was accused of offering a teenage girl Taylor Swift tickets in exchange for photos of her breasts.
According to law enforcement sources who spoke with Daily Mail, Stermon’s alleged victim complied with the request – but when Stermon insisted the girl pick the tickets up from his Jacksonville office, he reportedly asked her to “show him the real thing.”
The alleged victim reportedly refused to show Stermon her chest in person and rushed home to tell her boyfriend and her father about the alleged encounter.
Law enforcement officials revealed that the alleged victim’s father arranged a meeting with Stermon at a diner in Atlantic Beach to confront the DeSantis donor, at which point Stermon allegedly offered the family a “five-figure sum” to keep quiet.
The father reportedly refused Stermon’s offer and went to Jacksonville police, at which point an investigation was opened into the suspected sexual misconduct between Stermon and the minor.
Shortly after the encounter, Stermon was found dead inside his truck outside an Atlantic Beach post office on the night of December 8. An autopsy found that the 50-year-old political donor had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his right temple.
“I love you both too much to put you through this. You are better w/o me!” he wrote in a suicide note addressed to his sister, according to the police report. “Go find your version of Jackson Short & be happy!”
“To me, Stermon killing himself simply over one incident with an adult doesn't pass the litmus test,” one law enforcement insider told Daily Mail. “There's more to it.”
“Very possibly it was the start of the rope that would unravel,” the source continued. “It is the possibility of exposing what might have happened when the girl was a minor in their acquaintance.”
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“As a convicted sexual predator, he would have been looking at 15 to 20 years. And for someone who lived in a multi-million-dollar home in an exclusive gated community, that is some downfall.”
Financial records found that Stermon donated $53,000 to DeSantis from his political action committee, as well as $6,000 from his personal funds.
Stermon was also credited with helping DeSantis win his Florida governor’s race in 2018, resulting in the politician appointing Stermon to Florida’s Board of Governors one year later.