A former sheriff’s deputy who illegally gave her then-boyfriend privileged information about the locations and identities of undercover narcotics officers was sentenced on Nov. 24 to three years prison followed by five years probation.
Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay and Key West Police Chief Sean Brandenburg both testified at the sentencing hearing in Plantation Key. Both law enforcement leaders asked Judge Sharon Hamilton not to grant Ketcham’s request for a “downward departure” from sentencing guidelines.
A downward departure is a legal term for a court imposing a sentence that is less severe than what is recommended by standard sentencing guidelines.
Ketcham’s attorney, Dustin Hunter, had requested 84 days in jail and credit for time served, which would have resulted in no jail or prison time for Ketcham. The attorney argued, and a psychiatrist testified, that Ketcham suffered from post traumatic stress disorder that had contributed to her illegal actions.
Prosecutor Colleen Dunne, of the Monroe County State Attorney’s Office, asked the judge to consider the timeline of Ketcham’s PTSD diagnosis.
“What’s to say that the diagnosis wasn’t caused by her own actions?” Dunne said. “She started seeing a therapist a year after her arrest. I’m not questioning the doctor, but I think the timeline is important. The state would submit that she brought on the condition. She was facing prison for her egregious actions. Who wouldn’t have PTSD? For 14 months, she regularly, on a daily basis, would pass information to an 18-year-old boyfriend. It all demonstrates a profound breach of trust. She was putting the officers she worked with at risk and damaged public confidence in law enforcement. Now she needs to be treated like everyone else.”
The judge apparently agreed.
When handing down the sentence, Judge Hamilton said, “Ms. Ketcham, this gives me no pleasure. You took an oath to protect the citizens and visitors of Monroe County, but your actions did the exact opposite. Your text messages show a complete lack of character.”
At the sentencing, the court also heard from one of Ketcham’s former fellow deputies, Detective Sgt. Jenna Moeller. Ketcham shared Moeller’s photo and location with her then-boyfriend, Ryan Hernandez, while Moeller was working as an undercover narcotics officer.
“I never imagined that a threat to my safety would come from inside my own agency,” Moeller said. “The disclosure of my photo, my identity and my location left me feeling exposed, vulnerable and betrayed.”
Ramsay told the judge, “This is a really difficult situation. It’s shocking to see the image of an undercover officer sent to a drug dealer by another officer. It was shocking to see that tags were run through our database on vehicles to confirm they were undercover narcotics vehicles.”
Ramsay added, “Within days of Ms. Ketcham sharing the image of a confidential informant who was working with law enforcement with her boyfriend, that individual was brutally beaten and had to be airlifted to Miami. Ms. Ketcham was helping her boyfriend, a drug dealer, instead of preventing and deterring crime and getting drugs off our streets. We’ll never know the full extent of the damage that was done.”
Ramsay asked the judge not to grant Ketcham’s request for a downward departure in her sentencing decision.
Brandenburg told the judge about a time that Ketcham apparently tipped off her boyfriend about an impending drug raid on a home on Seidenberg Avenue in Key West.
“The target left the residence just before our SWAT team arrived, and magically avoided them. Ms. Ketcham was on the phone to the target location, where her boyfriend was, during our approach. Had that subject chosen fight instead of flight, someone could have been seriously hurt or killed. Ms. Ketcham betrayed the trust of the Key West Police Department, all law enforcement and this community.”
Ketcham also took the stand and detailed the sacrifices she had made to attend the police academy at night while working during the day. In that time, her marriage failed.
Ketcham also described traumatic episodes while she was a deputy, including a fatal boat fire and a person who committed suicide while she was on the scene.
Dunne confirmed with Ketcham that the sheriff’s office had provided mental health services to all officers involved, which Ketcham took part in.
“The state I was in is a person I don’t even recognize now,” Ketcham said during her sentencing hearing. “I’m very sorry for all the things that happened and it’s something I’ll have to work through for the rest of my life.”
Once the judge announced the sentence, Ketcham was taken into custody and removed from the courtroom in Plantation Key.
She was sentenced to 37 months prison followed by five years of probation. The judge also permanently revoked her law enforcement license.
