Sheriff Resigns After Pleading Guilty To Cyber-Stalking Undocumented Alien

Sheriff Boyd's wife standing by her man

Rock Island County Sheriff Jeff Boyd (D) met an undocumented immigrant from Mexico at DePaepe's Gym in Rock Island with whom he took a liking. Boyd, who is married, wanted to strike up a relationship with her and continued to harass the unnamed woman with unwanted text messages. When she continued to turn down his advances, he began using his law enforcement position to threaten her according to state investigators.

An investigation by the Illinois State Police and Attorney General's office led to a plea agreement whereby Boyd is pleading guilty to misdemeanor official misconduct charges, resigning his position and dropping his bid for re-election this year. Boyd will also forfeit his pension. Boyd was less than contrite in announcing his resignation, telling reporters that "in my heart of hearts I still don't believe I have not committed a crime." Boyd's wife, who works as sales director for the Quad City Times, stood by her husband.

Although the investigation was launched last April, the investigation was not concluded until it was too late for the Republican Party to put a candidate on the fall ballot to run for sheriff. Rock Island County Republican Party chair Bill Bloom told the Quad City Times that the timing of Boyd's resignation, "is designed to keep us from running." "Within 60 days of an election you can't put somebody on the ballot," Bloom said. "Just like everything else in Rock Island County, it was designed to keep us from putting somebody on the ballot." It appears the Democratic-controlled county board will get to choose Boyd's replacement.