A Broward detention employee died of COVID-19, sheriff’s office says
A 43-year-old Broward Sheriff’s Office detention aide died last month of COVID-19, officials said Thursday.
Stephan Fredrick Adams, who died on Jan. 30, was a property specialist in detention at the BSO’s Department of Detention and Community Programs. The agency said in a statement it confirmed the cause of his death on Thursday.
Adams was hired at the department in 2018 as a detention aide and began working at the Joseph V. Conte Facility in Pompano Beach.
“Every supervisor always requested Mr. Adams to work in their area because everyone knew the job would get done and be done right the first time without any hesitation,” Lt. Catherine Cummings, Adams supervisor, said in a statement. “Anytime there was a special assignment, my go-to was Mr. Adams!”
Officials with the BSO did not say which facility Adams was most recently working at before his death. He was in charge of issuing employee uniforms.
In a statement, officials added Adams “believed in serving his community” and coached youth football teams in Lauderhill. In his job application, he said he was “honest and straightforward as I can be.”
Broward sheriff’s authorities did not publicize information for funeral arrangements. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in the memory of Adams to The Thomas A. Scott Scholarship Fund in Georgia at P.O. Box 490466, College Park, Georgia, 30349.
As of Friday, there have been 1,004 BSO employees who have had the virus, out of 5,688 employed by the agency. Of those who were confirmed positive, 947 have since received a negative test result. Six BSO employees have died from the virus, Spokeswoman Miranda Grossman said.
Florida state prisons, like county jails, have struggled to contain outbreaks of COVID-19 through the pandemic, with about 205 reported inmate deaths related to the disease caused by the coronavirus at state prisons, according to The COVID Prison Project, which tracks cases at state prisons around the country.
At least six staff members at state facilities have died from COVID-19, according to a report by the Orlando Sentinel.
This story was originally published February 12, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
