KKK loser was a Cop

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FRUITLAND PARK, Fla. - A local sheriff's office said Ku Klux Klan recruitment fliers and photos ended up in his mailbox.

The sheriff said one of the men seen in it was a police officer.

The photo sparked an internal investigation by the Fruitland Park Police Department, and now one of its officers has resigned in the wake of the allegations.

The first complaint surfaced three weeks ago, when the Sumter County Sheriff's Office said someone was putting up KKK recruitment fliers around town.

Investigators said a post office box connected to the fliers came back to Fruitland Park police Officer James Elkins.

The chief then launched an internal investigation.

Two days ago, the Lake County sheriff received photos in the mail alleging that Elkins has been involved with the KKK.

Included in the envelope were photographs of a man alleged to be Elkins in a green KKK uniform.

Fruitland Park police Chief Mark Isom said that man is Elkins. There's even one picture showing the man wearing a police uniform under his white KKK robe.

Isom said it is one of the department's old blue uniforms. The chief said he guarantees none of the other men in the photos are his officers.


Elkins resigned Jan. 20. He was suspended three days earlier for conduct unbecoming of an officer.

Elkins hasn't worked on the force in 14 months. He has been on workman's comp because of an injury he sustained when he crashed his cruiser chasing a drug suspect.


Of the more than 1,000 citations Elkins wrote in 2005, more than 200 went to blacks or

Hispanics. There was a similar proportion in 2006.


The chief said he does not believe there was any racial profiling.
Attorney Cheney Mason said there's no clear-cut appeals process, but someone like the governor could issue a blanket pardon.


"It is maybe just a traffic ticket, but that traffic ticket may have cost some people their jobs," Mason said. "It may have cost some people a great deal of money because their insurance being dropped, or going up. It's some pretty serious consequences."