LaToya Williams Shelton<\/a> is running for Duval County Court Judge, Group One, a six-year position responsible for overseeing local civil and criminal cases. <\/p>\n On her campaign website, she highlights the importance of family, writing that, \u201cFamily has always been the foundation of her values and the source of her commitment to service.\u201d Her husband, Vernon Shelton, appeared prominently in campaign photos. Shelton is also a former walk-on defensive lineman for the 2007 Florida Gators football team<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2018Thigh meat\u2019<\/p>\n Action News Jax has uncovered records showing Vernon Shelton resigned from the City of Jacksonville in April, where he worked as a building inspector manager. The resignation came just weeks after two women accused him of sexual harassment in workplace complaints obtained by Action News Jax.<\/p>\n One woman alleged Shelton \u201ckissed me on my neck,\u201d while another accused him of making inappropriate comments about her clothing, allegedly saying, \u201cLook at all that thigh meat out,\u201d and adding, \u201cYour man must like them.\u201d<\/p>\n Criminal defense attorney and former Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg, who has no affiliation with the judicial race, said allegations like these can carry political consequences, even absent criminal charges.<\/p>\n \u201cThe court of public opinion is different than the court of law,\u201d Aronberg said.<\/p>\n Shelton represented husband to settle previous allegation<\/p>\n This is not the first time Vernon Shelton has faced allegations involving inappropriate conduct.<\/p>\n In 2018, while working as a math teacher in Volusia County, Shelton was accused of touching a 17-year-old student inappropriately inside a classroom, according to a Volusia County Sheriff\u2019s Office report.<\/p>\n Investigative records also included text messages in which Shelton allegedly told the student, \u201cI wanted to hug and kiss you\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n The sheriff\u2019s office said the criminal investigation ended after the student and her mother declined to pursue the case further.<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n Records show LaToya Williams Shelton later represented her husband in a settlement agreement with the Florida Department of Education tied to the allegations. Documents also show she notarized the agreement.<\/p>\n Final Order <\/a> by ActionNewsJax <\/a> <\/p>\n Florida law prohibits notaries from notarizing the signature of a spouse, though the statute does not specify criminal penalties for doing so.<\/p>\n As part of the education settlement, Vernon Shelton received a formal reprimand, was placed on two years probation, fined $750, and ordered to complete a sexual harassment course.<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n Aronberg said family matters can become especially relevant in judicial campaigns because judicial candidates are restricted in what political issues they can discuss publicly.<\/p>\n \u201cIn a judicial race, family is more important than other races because you aren\u2019t talking about politics or policy,\u201d Aronberg said. \u201cI do think it\u2019s relevant to the discussion because it\u2019s a race involving an officer of the court, someone directly involved with the criminal justice system.\u201d<\/p>\n Statement<\/p>\n Action News Jax reached out to LaToya Williams Shelton for comment. In a statement, she said the allegations against her husband \u201cdon\u2019t just distract from the real issues, they discourage good people from running for public office. That\u2019s not what a judicial campaign should be about and it\u2019s not what voters deserve.\u201d Williams Shelton did not address the matter of notarizing the settlement agreement for her spouse.<\/p>\n What\u2019s next<\/p>\n The primary election is August 18.<\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Action News Jax\u2019s Ben Becker has learned the husband of a Duval County judge candidate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277533,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[118494,10416,643,6275,7903,118493,639,118490,118497,28,62380,116,118,117,118489,634,10218,62358,118492,44853,10209,118495,118491,118496,5090,5084,118498],"class_list":["post-277532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-15th_judicial_circuit","tag-action_jack","tag-action_news_jack","tag-attorney","tag-county","tag-dave_ehrenberg","tag-duval_county","tag-duval_county_court_judge","tag-ehrenberg","tag-florida","tag-florida_department_of_education","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-latoya_williams_shelton","tag-local","tag-one","tag-palm_beach_county","tag-shelton","tag-state_department_of_education","tag-tonight","tag-verna_shelton","tag-vernon","tag-vernon_shelton","tag-volusia","tag-volusia_county","tag-william_shelton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277532","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=277532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Sexual](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ACSGX44FG5BFDMNQ3MMIV6QHIY.png\")
Sexual harassment allegations documented against Vernon Shelton Sexual harassment allegations documented against Vernon Shelton ![\"Sexual](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ZFKSBQ32TZESZMCKRUNRBLHYF4.png\")
Sexual harassment allegations documented against Vernon Shelton Sexual harassment allegations documented against Vernon Shelton ![\"Sexual](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/56NB5CI4QBESBOLFSTCSGSSUJQ.png\")
Sexual harassment allegations documented against Vernon Shelton Sexual harassment allegations documented against Vernon Shelton <\/p>\n