JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A former Jacksonville Sheriff's officer accused of giving classified information to criminals, appeared in Duval County court Tuesday morning, as he entered into a guilty plea after he pleaded not guilty in his arraignment nearly two months ago.
Christopher Barr, 28, plead not guilty to two counts of "offenses against computer users" on March 19. He was arrested on Jan. 27 and resigned upon his arrest, Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said during a press conference in February, in which the announcement of Barr's was made.
The sheriff said during the press conference that there's a "strong possibility" Barr's arrest is related to gang activity in the city. Barr was arrested for using protective databases to "access and disseminate law enforcement information to unauthorized individuals," Waters also said in the press conference.
Barr faces a maximum sentence of five years on each count, the judge said during Barr's court hearing Tuesday. His sentencing date will be announced on June 17.
New information about the specifics of what Barr is accused of has not been released since Waters announced his arrest in the press conference. However, here's an overall scope of what police allegedly found him doing, based on his arrest warrant.
What Barr is accused of
According to Barr's arrest warrant, it states that Barr "may have disseminated information from law enforcement databases on Sept. 19, 2023." The information provided came from cell phone data which involved a text thread conversation, or group chat.
In the group chat, a "subject" in a separate investigation another law enforcement agency is working on, sent a message to multiple other individuals in the group chat, asking about details of a police interaction in Jacksonville, the warrant states. In the group chat, the subject was asking others to obtain information about when a particular individual was contacted by police. One of the messages from the subject in that chat indicated that he was going to reach out to Barr, the warrant indicates.
A screenshot from the subject's phone showed the group chat in the background with a minimized FaceTime conversation window over it, the warrant states. The screenshot showed Barr in his JSO uniform and what appeared to be a JSO vehicle, according to the warrant. After the reference to Barr in the group chat, messages were sent with names of other witnesses involved in the separate law enforcement agency's investigation. Research indicated that those names were only documented in the narrative of the JSO reports written for the separate case, the warrant states.
The warrant says that the phone number used in communication between the subject and Barr was Barr's personal cell phone number he registered with JSO.
Based on the circumstances of the incident, the warrant says a search of several JSO databases was conducted, as investigators found that Barr had searched the Agency Records Management System (ARMS), a "restricted information system" on Sept. 19, 2023 at 11:05 a.m. The records show that Barr reviewed a report, which contained details of the incident being sought by the subject in the group chat, according to the warrant.
"The phone records provided showed that the reference to Officer Barr occurred at 11:03 a.m.," the warrant states. "At 11:10 a.m., five minutes after Barr searched the system, conversation in the thread [group chat] was made which mentioned the names of other witnesses in the incident which could have only been obtained from the narrative of that report," the warrant adds.
On Jan. 25, the warrant states that JSO was notified of a second incident involving Barr.
In the second incident, a text message from the subject of the group chat asked Barr to check a tag number on a car on Nov. 12, 2022. Four days later on Nov. 16, 2022, a search of "NCIC/FCIC records revealed that Barr searched that tag number through NCIC/FCIC records," the warrant says.
The warrant states that based on the details of the two incidents, Barr "misused his position to search disseminated unauthorized law enforcement information to targets of a criminal investigation."
When asked who Barr gave the information to, Waters said during the press conference that he wouldn't give specific names but, said they "were criminals in our community."
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