JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Action News Jax’s Ben Becker has learned that Jacksonville City Council President Kevin Carrico has been served a subpoena by the State Attorney’s Office.
Becker was the first to break the story that led to the investigation.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
We’re told investigators want more communications. The questions from prosecutors come after Becker first reported on a Carrico text message last week which said he was trying to replace a JEA board member as a “big favor” for a friend.
Carrico sent the text to current JEA board member Arthur Adams on February 5.
Carrico was aiming to replace Adams with Paul Martinez, Carrico’s boss at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida.
RELATED: Carrico text suggests ‘big favor’ driving push to replace JEA board member with boss
The text read, “What up bro ... hey I owed a big favor to a friend and opted to put him on the JEA board as your term is expiring ... Not sure if you wanted to stay but I needed to do this for my guy.”
Martinez dropped out from consideration, soon after we brought that text exchange to light, and Adams is still on the board for now.
Following the revelation of that text, Carrico accused JEA CEO Vickie Cavey of racism and creating a toxic culture at the utility.
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
Mayor Donna Deegan’s office called it a smear campaign.
The board on Tuesday gave Cavey a vote of confidence and did not discuss the Carrico text controversy, nor did the City Council at its Tuesday meeting.
In fact, we asked all 18 other City Council members about the Carrico texts the day after we first reported on it, but only four responded to our questions and all four were critical of or troubled by the words Carrico used.
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Councilman Jimmy Peluso called the texts “corruption.”
Becker reached out to Carrico multiple times and he sent the following statement.
“Our office fully complies with and respects all records requests. We are cooperating and will respond to any additional requests as needed.”
The Boys & Girls Clubs said Martinez is traveling and they are working to provide a statement. The Mayor’s Office declined comment.
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
