Former Jail Guard Accused of Having Sex with Detainee Now Vice-Chair of Florida GOP
The newly installed vice-chair of Florida’s Republican Party was previously convicted of providing contraband to a detainee he was accused of having sex with while working as a jail guard, according to reporting by Fresh Take Florida on May 1, 2025.
Jovante Teague, 30, was a guard at the Dixie County Jail when he pleaded guilty in 2019 to a misdemeanor charge for smuggling notes to the unnamed detainee. State Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) investigators heard from the detainee’s cellmate that she saw Teague stick his fingers through the bars and into the victim’s vagina. FDLE said that the incident was also memorialized in one of Teague’s notes to the detainee, which he secreted under her food tray. Others indicated that he wanted to maintain a relationship after her release.
In a recorded call to her mother, the detainee reported meeting someone at the jail who worked there as a guard. The mother also told FDLE investigators that someone named “Jovan” texted her daughter from a number that they confirmed had once belonged to Teague. The detainee, who was later sentenced to state prison and released, denied having sex with the guard, the FDLE said. Teague also denied any romantic involvement with her, brushing off the reported sexual penetration by saying, “I’m not a perfect man.”
It was unclear why he wasn’t charged with felony sexual abuse; under Florida law, there is no such thing as consensual sex between guards and those they are tasked with protecting. Earlier, while working as a state Department of Corrections (DOC) guard, Teague was accused of sexual assault by another unnamed prisoner, FDLE found. However, in response to a request for documentation by the state Inspector General, DOC officials claimed they could find no paperwork from Teague’s employment.
After his plea, Teague was sentenced to two years of probation, which ended in 2021. He paid off $1,400 in fines and court fees by 2023. The former vice-mayor of Cross City, he became the state GOP’s first Black vice chair when elected in January 2025. The losing candidate, Jesse Phillips, said the scandal in Teague’s background was something “that most people had no idea about.” In 2024, the party ousted chair Chrisitan Ziegler, then 40, after he was accused of assaulting a woman who admitted having sex with him and his wife.
Source: Fresh Take Florida
As a digital subscriber to Prison Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.
Already a subscriber? Login