Chiefland Mayor Takes Heat for Allegations Against Youth Athletic League

By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

Chiefland Mayor Chris Jones was hit with sharp criticism Monday night for allegedly using his position as a high-ranking local government official to verbally attack a local youth athletic league and its directors with repeated allegations of wrongdoing that league officials say are completely false.

Jones refused to back down, saying he has proof of what he is alleging and he isn’t finished with what he is doing.

Tri-County Athletic Commission President and co-founder Victoria Larkin gave a long statement to Chiefland City Commissioners asking them for their guidance and help in dealing with Jones’ claims that she and her husband Aaron have done things that make them unfit to work with children.

“We have been harassed, persecuted, and on trial, since we started the organization,” she said. “Every time something is thrown at us, we prove ourselves, and immediately it’s something else.”

Larkin told commissioners the Pop Warner organization, which licenses the league’s youth football program, ran background checks on herself and her husband and all their coaches and found no red flags. Everyone passed the background checks. No one failed. She forwarded the information from Pop Warner to City Manager Laura Cain, but she said Jones continues to attack the league.

“I am telling you personally, I don’t like to do this back and forth, this he said, she said,” Larkin told Jones and commissioners Monday. She added that until Jones can come up with something to refute the records she received from police, prosecutors, and the Department of Children and Families showing there are no open criminal cases pending against herself and her husband, the mayor doesn’t have any basis for his allegations.

Jones responded by saying he obtained a level one background check through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement that says there are current charges. He said FDLE doesn’t make mistakes.

“The only thing I have are current charges that have been filed and exist right now,” Jones said. “That is what a level one background check is.” He asked Police Chief Scott Anderson if he was correct. Anderson was caught by surprise. His response was inaudible on the recording. Anderson said he has been trying to steer clear of this situation between the mayor and the Larkins. He said his department doesn’t do background checks. He did provide a letter saying Aaron Larkin or Virginia Larkin are free of any city criminal investigations at this time.

After the commission meeting ended, Spotlight asked to see the FDLE report Jones was quoting from at the meeting. Jones showed Spotlight an FDLE background report on Aaron Larkin, but there were no current charges listed in the report. Jones acknowledged there were no current charges in the report but he said it does reveal previous charges from years back.

Jones said Larkin was charged with fleeing and eluding a police officer in 2013 and Pop Warner rules say he can’t serve as a TCAC coach or as a league official when there is a felony charge in the past seven years. Jones said that Pop Warner didn’t hold the charge against Larkin, giving him a pass.

Victoria Larkin, asked after the meeting to respond to Jones’ allegation, said the Pop Warner rule cited by Jones actually says there can be no felony charge within the previous five years. She said the fleeing and attempting to elude charge was lodged in 2013 and wasn’t dealt with by the courts until 2016, but she said Pop Warner officials reviewed all the court and law enforcement documents related to the case and concluded Aaron Larkin could work with TCAC. She said Pop Warner also reviewed unfounded allegations made by her ex-husband about alleged child abuse by Aaron Larkin. No charges were ever filed

One of the allegations made by Jones that upset TCAC parents at the meeting the most was his claim at a previous commission meeting that he had seen someone with his own eyes at Eddie Buie Park “that had a sexual abuse background.” Jones was suggesting a sex offender was hanging around children in the TCAC league and the Larkins knew about it and did nothing to remove him. Larkin said Jones changed his story after the meeting, saying he didn’t actually see a sex offender at the park with his own eyes.

“Then, a message was sent to my husband, Aaron, from Chris, the mayor, changing his story. The mayor then said, “It had been reported to me that a sexual predator was out there,” Larkin said.

Two women associated with TCAC flew into a rage at the meeting concerning what they considered to be misleading statements by Jones about having seen a sex offender at TCAC practices with his own eyes, when the truth was that someone texted him that there was a sex offender at the park. They wanted Jones to identify the offender. Jones said the person was 16 years old at the time and he wouldn’t identify him.

Jones told the women he was finished talking about the subject at the meeting and the board would move on to other business. Commissioner Lewrissa Johns had tried earlier to end the discussion by noting that TCAC had met the requirements of the city commission when the league forwarded the results of the Pop Warner background checks to the city. She said it was time to move on to other business in the meeting.

Larkin said when she received the good background reports from Pop Warner and gave them to the city, she thought everything was fine until she learned on July 6 Jones had emailed the Pop Warner national office to make further allegations. In the letter, Jones said he was contacting Pop Warner to request documents showing that background checks for Aaron Larkin had cleared his name.

“He represents the TCAC group from Chiefland, Florida. His wife Vicki Larkin stated that they had passed and cleared your level one background check. I did my own background check through FDLE and this gentleman has a background recently that involves assault with violence resulting in felony charges and probation. Actually, his charges are multiple. I personally feel that he should not be over one’s child with a background such as this, but his wife Vicki Larkin informed the (city) commission that Pop Warner has given the clearance. I chose not to bring up another point because it is pending, but he also has pending child abuse charges that he is awaiting a court date. I would simply like to receive some form of documentation that your organization has cleared them to operate as an organization around kids. I spoke to a representative of Pop Warner at the national level and they stated that generally, they don’t clear an individual that has a background assault and violence within a period of years. Thanks for any assistance that you may be able to provide with regards to this matter.” Jones gave his cell phone as a contact number.

Victoria Larkin has provided Spotlight with police records showing that child abuse allegations made against Aaron Larkin by her ex-husband were dismissed by the State Attorney’s office and ruled to be unfounded. She also provided Spotlight with a copy of a July 7, 2022 letter from Florida Children and Family Services saying there are no open cases against Victoria or Aaron Larkin at this time. The Chiefland Police Department provided a July 7 letter saying there are no pending city criminal investigations against Aaron or Victoria Larkin at this time.

She also provided Spotlight with a report from a Florida Department of Children and Family Services’ Child in-Home Investigative Report saying the agency found no marks or bruises on her two sons indicating child abuse. The report said the two boys are bonded with both Victoria Larkin and her ex-husband Robert Thompson and they showed no fear of either parent.

Victoria Larkin looked at Jones during Monday’s commission meeting and said Jones appears to have a personal issue with her family that is influencing his actions as mayor, but she said he is obligated as the city’s mayor to follow the state’s rules governing the ethics of public officials.

“You are the mayor and you represent the City of Chiefland, which means you have to govern yourself accordingly. You do not call a female a b.i.t.c.h. You do not call people in a park the N-word or threaten to kick their a.s.s. You also were aware at the last meeting we did everything we were told to do and the vote of the commission was 4-1” to approve the TCAC contract for another year.

She added a few moments later:

“All I’m simply saying is what we at TCAC do for this community and what we continue to do is simply to help people in the community and give them good role models and all I’m asking you to do is do the same, to be respectful and govern yourself accordingly.”

Jones responded that he has been in his current position on the commission for 10 years and has never had problems until Larkin and her husband came along. He said there’s always an issue of some sort with the Larkins. He said the law had to be called to the park because of her husband. He said Larkin had been fired by the city and she has sued the city.

“I am the mayor. However, I’m a citizen who is entitled to this own thought process,” Jones said.

Larkin said her son got hurt at a city park and her ex-husband wanted to sue the city.