{"id":169218,"date":"2026-02-25T22:03:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T22:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/169218\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T22:03:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T22:03:06","slug":"jacksonville-city-council-president-served-subpoena-after-big-favor-text-exchange-revealed-action-news-jax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/169218\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville City Council President served subpoena after \u2018big favor\u2019 text exchange revealed \u2013 Action News Jax"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Action News Jax\u2019s Ben Becker has learned that Jacksonville City Council President Kevin Carrico has been served a subpoena by the State Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Becker was the first to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/news\/local\/carrico-text-suggests-big-favor-driving-push-replace-jea-board-member-with-boss\/33SIBSFN2BFPZMLCASZPN3254Y\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/news\/local\/carrico-text-suggests-big-favor-driving-push-replace-jea-board-member-with-boss\/33SIBSFN2BFPZMLCASZPN3254Y\/\">break the story<\/a> that led to the investigation.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/live-breaking\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/live-breaking\/\" target=\"_blank\">&gt;&gt;&gt; STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE &lt;&lt;&lt;<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">We\u2019re 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 \u201cbig favor\u201d for a friend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Carrico sent the text to current JEA board member Arthur Adams on February 5.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Carrico was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/news\/local\/jacksonville-city-council-president-moves-appoint-his-boss-jea-board\/Z3WMY3LPHNBCHGMECUKCYAIAB4\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/news\/local\/jacksonville-city-council-president-moves-appoint-his-boss-jea-board\/Z3WMY3LPHNBCHGMECUKCYAIAB4\/\">aiming to replace Adams<\/a> with Paul Martinez, Carrico\u2019s boss at the Boys &amp; Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/news\/local\/carrico-text-suggests-big-favor-driving-push-replace-jea-board-member-with-boss\/33SIBSFN2BFPZMLCASZPN3254Y\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/news\/local\/carrico-text-suggests-big-favor-driving-push-replace-jea-board-member-with-boss\/33SIBSFN2BFPZMLCASZPN3254Y\/\">Carrico text suggests \u2018big favor\u2019 driving push to replace JEA board member with boss<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">The text read, \u201cWhat up bro &#8230; hey I owed a big favor to a friend and opted to put him on the JEA board as your term is expiring &#8230; Not sure if you wanted to stay but I needed to do this for my guy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Martinez <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/news\/local\/paul-martinez-withdraws-consideration-jea-board-after-carricos-big-favor-texts\/FSCIBU4RKJFHHKNH55H5PHC4LQ\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/news\/local\/paul-martinez-withdraws-consideration-jea-board-after-carricos-big-favor-texts\/FSCIBU4RKJFHHKNH55H5PHC4LQ\/\">dropped out from consideration<\/a>, soon after we brought that text exchange to light, and Adams is still on the board for now.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Following the revelation of that text, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/news\/local\/embattled-city-council-president-accuses-jea-racism-toxic-culture-after-text-controversy\/QAJZPQNGP5ALTN3O7IXOKQZDQ4\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/news\/local\/embattled-city-council-president-accuses-jea-racism-toxic-culture-after-text-controversy\/QAJZPQNGP5ALTN3O7IXOKQZDQ4\/\">Carrico accused JEA CEO Vickie Cavey<\/a> of racism and creating a toxic culture at the utility.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">[DOWNLOAD: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/mobile-apps\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Mayor Donna Deegan\u2019s office called it a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/news\/local\/vile-smear-campaign-deegan-defends-jea-leadership-board-turmoil-sparks-political-showdown\/A4LG2KFVDNBXTMQZOOFKSZTSXQ\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/news\/local\/vile-smear-campaign-deegan-defends-jea-leadership-board-turmoil-sparks-political-showdown\/A4LG2KFVDNBXTMQZOOFKSZTSXQ\/\">smear campaign<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">The board on Tuesday gave Cavey a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/news\/local\/jea-ceo-survives-confidence-vote-amid-workplace-accusations-council-member-hints-investigation\/3OVDJHFM3BBQNBHO6YVCS7252U\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/news\/local\/jea-ceo-survives-confidence-vote-amid-workplace-accusations-council-member-hints-investigation\/3OVDJHFM3BBQNBHO6YVCS7252U\/\">vote of confidence<\/a> and did not discuss the Carrico text controversy, nor did the City Council at its Tuesday meeting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">In fact, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/news\/local\/corruption-jacksonville-city-council-members-react-carricos-big-favor-jea-board-text\/YWY6AJINU5GWVLXVVVJFQXJ7HM\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/news\/local\/corruption-jacksonville-city-council-members-react-carricos-big-favor-jea-board-text\/YWY6AJINU5GWVLXVVVJFQXJ7HM\/\">we asked all 18 other City Council members<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">[SIGN UP: <a href=\"https:\/\/membercenter.actionnewsjax.com\/newsletters\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Councilman Jimmy Peluso called the texts \u201ccorruption.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Becker has reached out to Carrico multiple times and he sent the following statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">\u201cOur office fully complies with and respects all records requests. We are cooperating and will respond to any additional requests as needed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">We are still waiting to hear back from the Mayor\u2019s Office and the Boys &amp; Girls Clubs and will have the latest updates on CBS47 and FOX30 Action News Jax at 5.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/mobile-apps\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/mobile-apps\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/video\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n<p>Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Action News Jax\u2019s Ben Becker has learned that Jacksonville City Council President Kevin Carrico has&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169219,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-169218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}