Chief Charles J. Ferrante

A short email to the media this weekend from Lee County Mike Scott said that his chief deputy, Charles Ferrante, planned to give Scott a letter of resignation on Monday. Ferrante, 42, is the top officer in the Lee County Sheriff’s Office under Scott. When Scott is not in the area, Ferrante is the acting sheriff.

According to news reports, Ferrante said his resignation from the Sheriff’s Office has nothing to do with the resignation of his brother, Capt. Dominick Ferrante earlier in the week after he failed a polygraph following Ferrante’s denial of making retaliatory threats to another captain about a gun order.

The chief deputy said he had been upset about his brother’s departure but his own resignation has nothing to do with his brother leaving the department.

“There’s no rub between the sheriff and I,” he told a reporter Friday. Dominick Ferrante is 39 and headed up the Sheriff’s Special Operations division.

Charles Ferrante became Scott’s chief deputy in 2005. He told Scott that he was going to retire and look into doing something different. He has family on the east coast of Florida and says he may be interested in becoming a police chief. He said he had no interest in being sheriff of Lee County.

The city of Palm Beach and Haines City are looking for a police chief and Ferrante may be eyeing the possibility of applying for the positions.

Ferrante has a long career with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office having started off as a corrections deputy at the county jail. Over the years, he headed the Fugitive and Warrants Unit. He was a member of the Sheriff’s SWAT team and was also an assistant commander in the North District.

Ferrante said his resignation will be effective April 18.