JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A former officer with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office accused by the sheriff of sharing law enforcement information with "criminals" was sentenced to two months in jail by a Duval County judge Monday.
Christopher Barr pleaded guilty to two counts of "offenses against computer users" in May. He was arrested on Jan. 27 and initially pleaded not guilty on March 19.
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said during a February 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 added.
Barr faced a maximum sentence of five years on each count, but the defense was requesting the judge withhold an adjudication of guilt during the sentencing hearing on Monday, which she told Barr she could not do.
"You are in a position of power and authority and it was abused," the judge. "And I must adjudicate you guilty of that."
The judge sentenced Barr to 60 days in the Duval County jail with credit for one day served, followed by two years of probation and 150 hours of community service. He is also now a registered felon.
New information about the specifics of what Barr is accused of has not been officially released since Waters announced his arrest in the press conference. However, below is 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 the 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."