Date: October 8, 2026
Prepared by: Jake Arthur, Public Information Officer
Email: PIO@flaglersheriff.com
Release #: 2026 – 216
A Palm Coast man who was arrested by the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office in July while concealing a device used to defeat a urine drug test while on his way to a court-ordered drug treatment class has been sentenced to state prison.
On Monday, Oct. 5, James Shepard, 52, appeared in court for a violation of probation hearing and admitted to violating the terms of community control. The judge found Shepard in violation for driving without a valid license and revoked his community control in his burglary and grand theft cases. Shepard was then sentenced to eight years in state prison, with credit for 114 days already served in the county jail.
James Shepard (Flagler County Sheriff’s Office Mugshot)
Shepard’s probation came from a 2025 joint investigation by the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office and the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office into a string of appliance thefts from home construction sites in both counties. Detectives searched a Palm Coast storage unit Shepard had rented and found 22 stolen home appliances, including refrigerators, ovens, dishwashers, a washing machine, and a dryer.
On Jan. 6, 2026, Shepard pleaded no contest to two counts of burglary of an unoccupied dwelling and two counts of grand theft and was adjudicated guilty. His sentencing scoresheet called for a minimum of more than four years in state prison, and each burglary count carried up to 15 years. Instead, under a plea agreement with the State Attorney’s Office, he was sentenced to two years of community control, followed by three years of drug offender probation.
On July 14, deputies watched Shepard leave a scheduled appointment at the felony probation office and drive away, even though he did not have a valid driver’s license. A deputy stopped him as he pulled into the parking lot of his drug treatment class, where he would have been required to provide a urine sample, and arrested him for driving without a valid license. Because his probation required him to not violate any law, he was also arrested for felony violation of probation.
While Shepard waited in the back of the patrol car outside the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility, the deputy found a bag of yellow liquid with tubing, a heating pad, and a fake male genitalia device on the patrol car floorboard. In-car video showed Shepard pulling the items from his groin and tossing them across the back seat. He told the deputy the items were not his.
“Shepard’s own scoresheet called for prison, and he was given a gift of community control instead. That was the break of a lifetime, and he flushed it down the drain,” said Sheriff Rick Staly. “Barely six months later he was driving without a license to his drug class with a fake urine contraption stuffed down his pants. I thank the judge for holding him accountable. Now he can think it over for the next eight years in state prison.”
The State Attorney’s Office later dropped the charge of attempting to defraud a urine drug test and declined to file the charge of tampering with evidence. Shepard still faces pending violation of probation charges in St. Johns County.
Shepard is currently being held at the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility awaiting transfer to Florida Department of Corrections custody.
