A reserve officer with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office has been arrested on charges of attempted murder and aggravated stalking.
Greg Conner, 48, was taken into custody Thursday outside a fast food restaurant on State Road 71 South.
According to a press release from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, an investigation “revealed that Conner intended to kill his (estranged) wife and her boyfriend.”
Conner is also the firing range master and a firearms instructor for Chipola College, and had once been a full-time deputy with JCSO.
Jackson County Sheriff Lou Roberts said Conner and his wife had been separated for some time, and that JCSO investigators had received information in the last week or so that Conner was stalking her and her boyfriend.
According to Roberts, Conner had been seen at odd hours in the area of his wife’s home in the Grand Ridge/Shady Grove area and the boyfriend’s dwelling, which are some distance apart.
Roberts said officers had confronted Conner at one point, and he had denied stalking the couple.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement got involved Wednesday after receiving further information about Conner’s alleged plans.
Concern grew as authorities from FDLE and JCSO ramped up their investigation Wednesday evening, said Tommy Ford of FDLE. According to Ford, it appeared that Conner was progressing toward a plan of murder and that “overt acts” had been taken in the planning process. He and Roberts declined to give details of the surveillance and other investigative techniques employed which led authorities to that conclusion. They would reveal little further information except to say that it did not appear to be a ‘murder for hire’ plot but rather something that Conner planned to carry out himself. Unspecified evidence has been gathered in the case, Ford and Roberts said.
While they would not reveal any particulars, Ford and Roberts agreed that the alleged plan was an elaborate one that, if carried out, would have involved sudden death and would have had the clear earmarks of homicide.
The alleged plan was “unfolding rapidly” Wednesday when Conner’s wife, boyfriend, and the two Conner children were moved to a place of safety overnight, according to Ford.
Conner was arrested Thursday outside a fast food restaurant on State Road 71 South.
He offered no resistance and the arrest was without incident, Roberts and Ford said.
Authorities have spoken with Conner since he was taken into custody, but Roberts and Ford would not reveal the content of that conversation.
Roberts said the entire Jackson County Sheriff’s Office family is shocked and saddened by the events leading to Conner’s arrest.
“I’m saddened ...but glad to have stopped this before it was out of control...I’m disappointed with Conner’s actions. I am glad that Conner and his family were unharmed in the incident...there’s a good possibility that if this had not been interrupted, we would have been looking at potential homicide.”
For years, Conner was the person who most often greeted Roberts and his officers when they arrived at the local firing range to do the quarterly shooting necessary to keep them qualified for weapons.
Roberts said Conner left full-time employment as a deputy some years back in order to take the Chipola position.
Conner had not been involved as a reserve officer in any instances since Roberts took over as sheriff last year, but could have been called upon at any time to assist full-time deputies if needed.
He was immediately taken off the reserve roster following his arrest, Roberts said.
According to Roberts, it appears Conner was in a “depressed state of mind” in the recent past, and that was of concern as the investigation unfolded.
Authorities carefully selected the time and location of the arrest, he said.
They were able to observe that he was unarmed, for instance, as he exited the fast food restaurant and was walking alone a distance from his truck at the time he was taken into custody.
