Hampton Mayor May Spend Holiday in Jail After Drug Arrest

Updated, Wednesday at 9:30 a.m.: A two-page letter, likely a parody, addressed to “my loyal subjects” rested on the lawn of Curtis Recycling in Hampton this weekend.

The letter, signed by someone claiming to be Barry Moore, the recently elected mayor of Hampton who was arrested Monday, read that Moore is a “self-taught genius” and “injects, snorts and chews cocaine.”

“(The letter) said he worked with the sheriff so that he could get the dope off the streets, so he could save more for himself,” said Billie Jean Curtis, owner of Curtis Recycling and one of Moore's constituents.

Moore’s brother, Monte Moore, said he doesn’t think his brother wrote the letter.

“I’m upset for what has happened,” Monte Moore said. “I’m upset that somebody would write that about a member of my family.”

Moore said he thinks he knows who wrote the letter but didn’t want to say whom.

In the nearly two months since Monte Moore's brother became mayor of Hampton, a town of 500 people about seven miles south of Starke, certain people have felt Barry Moore was too controlling in operating the city.

Monte Moore skimmed the letter Monday night. The whole thing is garbage, he said.

“It said some things I wouldn't write about my worst enemy,” he said. “I couldn't believe that anybody that knew him would write something like that.”

Moore said Christian parents raised him and his brother in a Christian home, and the letter was an immature and unchristian thing to do.

Barry Moore was arrested Monday in Polk County on suspicion of selling oxycodone to an undercover police officer.

Sheriff Gordon Smith of Bradford County Sheriff’s Office said the sale between the undercover officer and Moore was all caught on film.

“I didn't know anything about him,” Smith said. “Once he became mayor, I had one or two people in passing say, ‘You know he ain't nothing but a pothead.’ That’s what they called him.”

Moore has a criminal past of largely misdemeanor arrests, according to court records.

Smith said Moore had been working with inmate crews to clean up Hampton.

“He loved his city, just unfortunately he was breaking the law,” Smith said.

The sheriff’s office suggested Moore may have been prescribed the drugs, but Smith is not yet certain how he obtained them.

Moore’s brother doesn't think his brother was selling the drugs.

He said Moore was in pain management after having two back operations.

Original story, Tuesday at 11:17 a.m.: Hampton Mayor Barry Layne Moore, 51, may be spending Thanksgiving in Polk County jail.

According to a Bradford County Sheriff's Office press release, an unrelated investigation uncovered information alleging the mayor was selling prescription medication.

Judge Bo Bayer of Union County signed a warrant for Moore's arrest Monday. Moore told sheriff's deputies he was in Davenport. Capt. Brad Smith, Bradford County Sheriff's Office spokesman, said he didn't know why Moore was in Polk County.

Polk County Deputy Nicholas Burns responded, located Moore and transported him without incident to the Polk County Jail Monday afternoon.

His first appearance is Tuesday at 1 p.m.

Not much is expected to happen because more than one county is involved, according to Amber Dahara of the Polk County Sheriff's Office.

If Moore can post bond, Smith said he will be released in Polk County, but transports take a few days. Moore may end up in the Polk County jail during Thanksgiving, Smith said, especially because many county offices are closed Friday.

Moore was arrested in 2005 domestic battery and in 2012 for battery. Both charges were later dropped, according to court records.

“This isn't Toronto.  We will not tolerate illegal drug activity, in my jurisdiction, by anyone to include (sic) our elected officials,” Bradford County Sheriff  Gordon Smith said.

Moore was elected in September to his first term, according to Hampton city hall records. He was Hampton's only qualifying candidate, and his two-year term ends in July 2015.

Jim Mitzel, a former Hampton mayor, tweeted the following on Tuesday morning: