About the Sheriff's Office

A member of the Osceola County Sheriff's Office since 1976, Sheriff Hansell has spent his entire law enforcement career with the agency. He began as a deputy sheriff and earned promotions to the rank of captain. He has served as a member and commander of the agency's SWAT team, and as the high-risk incident commander. Prior to being elected Sheriff of Osceola County, Sheriff Hansell had worked in, supervised and managed virtually every area of the Sheriff's Office. His over thirty five years of law enforcement and management experience are the foundation of his leadership as Sheriff of Osceola County.

Chief Deputy David Sklarek joined the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office in 1984 after serving in the United States Marine Corps. He has worked in many areas of the Sheriff’s Office including Judicial Services, Patrol and Criminal Investigations. As the supervisor of the Training Unit, his responsibilities included the management of mandatory certification, in-service and advanced training for all sworn officers. Chief Sklarek is a state-certified instructor in firearms, defensive tactics and general subjects specializing in officer survival and high-risk tactical training. A member, team leader and commander of the agency’s SWAT team for a number of years, Chief Sklarek served as a SWAT instructor and as regional representative to the Florida SWAT Association.

Major Ron Burnett is the commander of the Administrative Bureau which is made up of the Administrative Services Division, the Support Services Division, and the Judicial Services Division.

Beginning his career with the State of Michigan, Major Burnett has nearly 33 years of law enforcement experience. Since 1987, he has been a member of the Osceola County Sheriff's Office where he has held a variety of positions in Patrol, Criminal Investigations and Judicial Services. Major Burnett also has worked in narcotics, emergency management and accreditation. During his career with the Sheriff's Office, he has worked his way up through the ranks to become Captain of Criminal Investigations and Captain of Patrol.

Major Jay Crose began his career with the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office as a part-time auxiliary deputy in 1985. The following year, he became a full-time deputy sheriff assigned to the Patrol Division. He has worked in Special Operations, participated in the turnpike drug interdiction team and, for eight years, was a team leader of the agency’s SWAT team. Promoted to sergeant in 1992, he supervised the Tourist Crimes Unit, and went on to become the first sergeant of the newly-formed Violent Crimes Unit. Promoted to lieutenant, he managed the Felony Apprehension and Surveillance Team, a unit of undercover detectives, and held other management positions in Investigations and Patrol. He has spent his entire career in either Patrol, or Criminal Investigations.

Appointed general counsel by Sheriff Hansell, Linda D. Penny is well-known to members of the Sheriff’s Office. For many years, she has provided legal training to both our sworn and civilian employees. Linda earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Criminal Justice at the University of Florida, and her Juris Doctor from the University of Miami School of Law. For the last 23 years, she has been training criminal justice personnel, both pre-service and in-service. She was previously employed full time by both the Southeast Florida Institute of Criminal Justice and the Central Florida Criminal Justice Institute as an attorney-instructor. She is a member of the Florida Bar and the Florida Association of Police Attorneys.

Margaret McGarrity has served as a local government finance officer for more than 25 years. Ms. McGarrity holds an MBA and a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration with a Major in Accounting from the University of South Florida, and she has been a Certified Public Accountant since 1986. Ms. McGarrity is also a licensed attorney with a broad civil background.  She is also a past president of the Florida Government Finance Officers Association (FGFOA), an association of more than 2,700 government finance professionals in the State of Florida, and she continues to be an active member of FGFOA. Ms. McGarrity previously served as the Finance Director for Osceola County and is a graduate of Leadership Osceola.

Ms. McGarrity graduated from Florida A & M University College of Law with Honors in 2006. Since that date, she has practiced as an attorney and handled a wide range of civil legal responsibilities and representations.

In May of 2005, Twis Lizasuain joined Sheriff Bob Hansell's administration as Public and Media Relations Director. In this position, Ms. Lizasuain oversees public information and outreach for the Osceola County Sheriff's Office in addition to serving as primary spokesperson for the agency. Ms. Lizasuain has over 17 years of communications experience and 13 years of government experience. Prior to joining the Sheriff's staff, Ms. Lizasuain served as the first Public Information Officer for the Osceola County Board of County Commissioners. She created many new public information programs that helped increase the visibility of the Board of County Commissioners and help educate citizens. These successes include an annual citizen survey, educational programs and televising weekly commission meetings airing on WMFE Channel 24, town hall meetings, a formal volunteer program, the Citizen Action Center and speaker’s bureau.