Former Osceola County Sheriff Russ Gibson has thrown his hat into the ring in the 2024 race for Sheriff in Osceola.
Records at the Osceola County Supervisor of Elections Office show that Gibson filed for the office last Wednesday, January 4, 2023 that he held from 2016 – 2020. He was defeated by current Sheriff Marcos who beat him in the primary as a fellow Democrat.
“After 32 years of serving the people of Osceola County, I’ve never lost my desire to continue my service. Today, I have the distinct honor and a privilege to announce to each of you, that I’m an official candidate for the office of sheriff,” Gibson announced on a social media video on Friday.
Positively Osceola reached out to the former Sheriff, but he has not responded.
Gibson gained local notoriety over a public argument he had with then 9th District State Attorney Aramis Ayala, over whether she would be filing murder charges in the killing of St. Cloud mother Nicole Montalvo.
Ayala accused Gibson of rushing the investigation into the murder in order to help his re-election campaign. Gibson accused Ayala of hindering the collection of evidence in the case.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis later reassigned the case to Ocala-based State Attorney Brad King. Angel Rivera and his son, Christopher Otera-Rivera, were later found guilty of second-degree murder, abuse of a dead human body, and tampering with physical evidence in the death of Nicole Montalvo, Otero-Rivera’s estranged wife.
The former sheriff’s campaign website listed on the Supervisor of Elections Office is currently not active.
