Ex-School Employee Kermit Booth Extradited to Flagler to Face Charges of of Sexually Assaulting Neighbor Until She Was 9

Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly on Friday flew to North Carolina to personally bring back Kermit Booth–the former Palm Coast resident facing two capital felony charges for the sexual assault of a child–extradited from North Carolina, where he’d been held after his second arrest on the same charges.

Booth, 70, is a retired Volusia County schools maintenance employee who lived at 74 Zephyr Lilly Trail in Palm Coast for 25 years until he sold the house in 2023. The charges stem from his alleged assaults of a girl who lived across the street and would visit him frequently when she was between 6 and 9, between 2006 and 2009. Her parents were unaware that the man they’d entrusted their daughter to was allegedly abusing her, routinely. He enticed her with gifts and added a slide to the above-ground pool as an added lure.

A Flagler County Sheriff’s investigation–the second on the same allegations–led to his arrest in North Carolina in early August. (See: “Palm Coast Man and Ex-Volusia County Schools Employee Charged With Raping Neighbors’ Child in Z Section.”

The girl moved out in 2009. She is now 26 and living out of state. She revealed the alleged assaults to her mother in 2015. Her mother immediately contacted the Sheriff’s Office, which conducted an investigation at the time. It did not lead to charges, possibly for lack of actionable evidence. In 2023, Booth repeatedly contacted the woman on social media. She told him to stay away from her and her two children. He persisted. In some of the exchanges, Booth is said to have owned up to the assaults, giving authorities the evidence they needed to make an arrest.

The Flagler County judge who signed the warrant set his bond at $500,000. A North Carolina magistrate in Macon County, N.C., inexplicably lowered the amount to $35,000. Booth posted bail and was released. On Aug. 20, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an extradition request to North Carolina Governor Josh Stein. DeSantis appointed Staly to take custody of Booth and bring him back to Flagler County. Booth was rearrested on Sept. 3, by the Macon County Sheriff’s Office, and held without at the Macon County Detention Center, and brought back Friday afternoon.

His release in August had unnerved the victim, who today told FlaglerLive in a text: “A HUUGE thank you to George Hristakopoulos,” the sergeant who leads the Flagler County Sheriff’s Major Case Unit, “and also to Sheriff Staly. Both of them have been amazing through this whole process, and I appreciate the work they’ve put in, and support from the both of them. They both have my utmost gratitude, and respect!”

The case will be prosecuted by Assistant State Attorney Melissa Clark. Booth is represented by defense attorney Tammy Jacques of DeLand’s Jacques Law. Booth has entered a written plea of not guilty.

The Sheriff’s Office in mid-afternoon on Friday issued an advisory alerting media to Staly’s flight, and that he was scheduled to land shortly after 6 p.m. The advisory included a link to the Flight Aware website, enabling media to follow the path of the plane. “I hope he enjoyed his flight back to Florida because it’ll probably be the last flight he takes,” Staly was quoted as saying in a subsequent release. “Hopefully, he’ll be spending the rest of his life in prison.”

Staly took Booth to the county jail and read him his warrant. The two charges the State Attorney’s Office filed on Aug. 11 are capital felonies, which means they’re punishable by the death penalty. Florida two years ago reinstituted the death penalty for those convicted of raping children younger than 12. Booth is not eligible, however, because the alleged offenses predate the law’s reinstitution, and the Florida law is unconstitutional, the U.S. Supreme Court having prohibited such penalties in 2008. The five judges in the 2008 majority are no longer on the court. Three of the dissenters still are, and have been joined by three staunch conservatives, making a challenge of the 2008 decision likely.

For Booth, the penalty if convicted would be life in prison, though he has nothing to gain from a plea, since the prosecution would not seek anything less, making a trial more likely.

Booth’s first pre-trial is scheduled for Oct. 22 at 1:30 p.m. before Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols.