Sandy MaloneFort Myers, FL – Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno wants criminals in his county to know he and his deputies are coming for them, and they’re sending them to the jail he likes to call the “Marceno Motel.”
Sheriff Marceno has developed a reputation for saying what he thinks about the criminals in his county and posting videos to TikTok about the criminals and their arrests, the Associated Press reported.
On May 9, Lee County sheriff’s deputies talked a barricaded man out of his house after a three-hour standoff that began at about 1 p.m. after the naked suspect threatened a deputy with a kitchen knife, WFTX, reported.
Deputies had responded to the scene for a report of a naked man outside in his San Carlos Park neighborhood and talked to the suspect, later identified as 63-year-old David Auger.
Sheriff Marceno said Auger armed himself with a screwdriver and a large kitchen knife and hurled profanity-laced threats at the deputies, WFTX reported.
“As he exits the back, he grabs a large kitchen knife, he picks it up, he starts going towards our deputy approximately 20 feet or less,” the sheriff said. “And he says he’s going to kill one of our deputies.”
Auger was arrested after the hours-long standoff and charged with assault on a police officer.
After the arrest, Sheriff Marceno stood in Auger’s driveway in combat gear and held a press conference, the Associated Press reported.
“He’s an oxygen-stealer and a scumbag, and I’m glad he’s outta here,” Sheriff Marceno told reporters.
“I’m proud to say that in this county, if you present deadly physical force … we meet you with deadly force every time, and we win. It’s pretty clean, pretty quick,” the sheriff explained with pride in his voice.
Sheriff Marceno has become quite famous for the videos posted to his TikTok account but he also has an active presence on all the other major social media platforms.
He uses the hashtag #LAWANDORDERSHERIFF and had almost 360,000 followers on TikTok at publication time.
But Sheriff Marceno is not the only Florida sheriff who has leveraged social media and made blustering videos threatening criminals who dare to enter he county – it’s almost a tradition in the Sunshine State, the Associated Press reported
There are a number of sheriffs who have drawn national attention with their public statements.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd is probably the most famous for making statements like wishing a baby killer had come out of a home armed.
“It would’ve been nice if he’d have come out with a gun and then we’d have been able to read a newspaper through him,” Sheriff Judd said during a press conference in September of 2021. “If he’d have given us the opportunity, we’d have shot him up a lot.”
During the George Floyd riots, Sheriff Judd warned rioters to stay out of his county “if you value your life.”
Right after the Parkland massacre in February of 2018, when Florida law didn’t allow teachers to carry guns in classrooms, the Polk County sheriff began deputizing school staff.
In April of this year, Santa Rosa County Florida Sheriff Bob Johnson announced that he wanted homeowners in his county to know that it was okay to shoot an intruder who breaks into their home, and he wants them to improve their aim.
“If somebody is breaking into your house, you’re more than welcome to shoot them in Santa Rosa County. We prefer that you do actually,” Sheriff Johnson explained at a press conference.
“We have a gun safety class that we put on every other Saturday and if you take that, you’ll shoot a lot better and hopefully you’ll save the taxpayers’ money,” the sheriff said.
Holly Matkin
