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Martin County Commissioner Sarah Heard, former Commissioner Anne Scott arrested

Posted at 9:28 PM, Jan 04, 2018
and last updated 2018-01-05 19:09:12-05

The Martin County Sheriff's Office announced Thursday evening that Commissioner Sarah Heard and former County Commissioner Anne Scott were arrested for public records violations.  

Both had warrants for their arrests and each was charged with two counts of public records violations. 

They were booked into the Martin County Jail and released on their own recognizance.

This is the first arrest on a criminal charge for Sarah Heard. In November, she was cited with a non-criminal violation of public records laws. She is set to go to trial for that alleged non-criminal offense Feb. 19.

Anne Scott's Thursday arrest was her second arrest since November on criminal, public records violations. She is set to go to trial on the first round of charges Dec. 10, 2018 for failure of a public official to permit inspection and copying of public records.

Commissioner Ed Fielding is also facing criminal public records violation charges from his November arrest.

On Friday, Heard's attorney, Barbara Kibbey Wagner, Esq., issued the following statement:

Commissioner Sarah Heard, for more than 15 years, has been a tireless advocate, seeking to protect and preserve the environment and special community of Martin County that we all enjoy. This has made her the target of attacks from big land developers and "big business". The indictment yesterday, while unfortunate, came as no surprise to Comm. Heard and the Defense. We feel that this indictment was purely an act of retaliation after Comm. Heard refused to plead guilty and resign from office for a the noncriminal citation- a charge that she was given no evidence or facts from the State Attorney's office.  We fully intend to make the retaliation issue a matter for the Court to decide in the upcoming weeks. 

Comm. Heard thanks the community for their outpouring of support during this time, and looks forward to a full vindication at her trial by jury.