Hendry County K-9 Deputy Charged With Extortion After Sheriff Says He Threatened to Leak Records Unless He Kept His Dog

A Hendry County Sheriff's Office K-9 deputy is charged with felony extortion after, according to the agency, he threatened to release damaging material about the sheriff's office unless he was allowed to keep his police dog and have the discipline wiped from his personnel file. Deputy Braxton Haight, 27, was arrested Tuesday, Nov. 3, after a meeting with Sheriff Steve Whidden that investigators had secretly wired for audio and video, the sheriff's office said.

Haight was booked into the Hendry County Jail on a single count of extortion under Florida Statute 836.05, with bond set at $10,000, according to the sheriff's office account reported by FOX 13. The charge is an accusation, and Haight has not been convicted of any crime.

A voicemail to the sheriff

According to the sheriff's office, the case began Tuesday when Haight left Whidden a voicemail asking the sheriff to call him back about an urgent matter that he said was "in everyone's best interest to talk about."

When Whidden returned the call, Haight said he knew the agency was trying to fire him, investigators said. He told the sheriff he had documents that he would release to the public if his demands were not met, according to the sheriff's office.

Investigators said Haight wanted two things:

• To keep his police K-9, the dog he worked with as a handler.
• To have all disciplinary actions removed from his personnel file.

The sheriff's office has not said what discipline Haight was facing or what led the agency to move toward firing him.

The wired meeting at the Port LaBelle Annex

Rather than negotiate by phone, Whidden arranged to meet Haight in person to discuss terms, according to the agency. The meeting was set for about 4 p.m. Tuesday at the Hendry County Port LaBelle Annex, a county office building in Port LaBelle, east of LaBelle.

Before Haight arrived, investigators pre-wired the office with audio equipment and set up video recording, the sheriff's office said.

During the meeting, Haight allegedly told the sheriff he had a recording of a sheriff's deputy making a derogatory comment, according to the agency's account. He referred to the recording as "a little bit of insurance," investigators said, and threatened to release it if the sheriff refused his conditions. The sheriff's office said the recording would have embarrassed the agency.

Detectives took Haight into custody immediately after the meeting ended, according to the sheriff's office.

The agency has not identified the deputy who is allegedly heard on the recording, and it has not described what the derogatory comment was. It has also not said whether the documents Haight mentioned on the phone were the same material as the recording he described in person. FOX 13's headline and summary refer to an embarrassing video, while the body of its report describes a recording, and the sheriff's office account as reported does not reconcile the two.

What Florida's extortion law says

Section 836.05 of the Florida Statutes makes it a crime to maliciously threaten another person, verbally or in writing, with the intent to extort money or any other advantage, or to force that person to do or not do something against their will. The threats the law covers include accusing someone of a crime, harming their person, property or reputation, or exposing them to disgrace or revealing a secret, according to the statute as published by the Florida Senate.

Under the statute, the offense is a felony of the second degree. In Florida, a second-degree felony carries a maximum prison sentence of 15 years under section 775.082 and a maximum fine of $10,000 under section 775.083. Those are the outer limits of the law, and actual sentences in Florida are shaped by the state's sentencing guidelines, a defendant's record and the outcome of any plea negotiations.

The statute does not require that money change hands. Its language reaches threats made to obtain any advantage, which is how a demand for a police dog and a clean personnel file can support an extortion charge.

A small agency in rural Southwest Florida

The Hendry County Sheriff's Office polices a largely agricultural county on the southwest edge of Lake Okeechobee, with LaBelle as the county seat. In this case, Whidden personally handled the calls and the meeting with Haight, according to the agency's account.

The sheriff's office has faced scrutiny over deputy conduct before. In 2023, the agency fired former deputy Tyler Williams after body camera footage showed him throwing a handcuffed burglary suspect to the ground, and Whidden said at the time he was "shocked and appalled" by what he saw, according to WGCU. A federal grand jury later indicted Williams on charges of unreasonable use of force and obstruction of justice. That case is unrelated to the allegations against Haight.

The sheriff's office has not said what will happen to the dog Haight handled, or whether it remains in service with the agency.

Haight's employment status

The sheriff's office account did not say how long Haight had worked for the agency, whether he was on duty or on leave at the time of the meeting, or whether he has since been suspended or fired. It also did not say whether the internal process that Haight allegedly believed would end in his dismissal will continue alongside the criminal case.

No attorney for Haight was listed in the initial reports, and he had not commented publicly as of Thursday.

What's next

As with any felony arrest in Florida, Haight is expected to appear before a judge for a first appearance, and prosecutors with the State Attorney's Office for the 20th Judicial Circuit, which covers Hendry County, will decide whether to formally file the extortion charge. Hendry County criminal cases are heard at the county courthouse in LaBelle.

The sheriff's office has not said whether it will release the audio and video recorded during Tuesday's meeting, or whether it plans to address the alleged recording of the derogatory comment that Haight said he possessed. The Florida Press will update this story as court records and further information from the Hendry County Sheriff's Office become available.