Longtime Sheriff Robert C. 'Bobby' Knowles dies; He was 'epitome of a public servant'

ST. LUCIE COUNTY − Former St. Lucie County Sheriff Robert C. “Bobby” Knowles was described as a mix of “old world policing and visionary, all at the same time.”

Knowles, who was elected sheriff in 1984 and held the office until Sheriff Ken Mascara took over in 2001, joined the U.S. Marine Corps and served in Vietnam before a long stint as an investigator with the State Attorney’s Office.

“He graduated high school, entered the Marines, served our country in the Marines and then was an active reservist for many years, joined the State Attorney's Office and then served our community as sheriff,” Mascara said. “This guy was the epitome of a public servant.”

Knowles, 82, died Saturday by suicide. A celebration of life is scheduled 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. July 23 at Pelican Yacht Club, 1120 Seaway Drive, in Fort Pierce.

Robert Crowder, who said he met Knowles in 1968 at the police academy and served as his undersheriff until 1992, said Knowles was “hard-headed and independent” but typically knew the right things to do.

“I think a more timid person would not have done half the things that he did, but he had a lot of ideas and he just charged ahead and brought things in that needed to be done,” said Crowder, who became Martin County Sheriff and served until 2013.

Knowles, a Fort Pierce native, was not without controversy. For example, he implemented a program to house some jail inmates in military tents — the so-called “tent city.”

"Those are the same tents I lived in, in Vietnam," Knowles said in an interview in a 2000 Fort Pierce Tribune article. "I was the first cot on the left when you walked in."

He also made headlines for "chain gang" style work crews.

"We try to show people that if you go to jail, it's not a fun place to be," Knowles was quoted as saying in a 1997 article in The Stuart News. "Hopefully it sends a message that St. Lucie County is not a good place to commit crime.”

'No-nonsense guy'

Former State Attorney Bruce Colton said he met Knowles in 1972 when Colton started as an assistant public defender just out of law school. Knowles was an investigator with the State Attorney’s Office.

“Back then the prosecutor, the assistant state attorney that I had cases with, was part-time,” Colton said. “Except in the courtroom, I dealt primarily with Bobby when it came to discussing cases and working out pleas.”

Colton soon joined the State Attorney’s Office and worked together with Knowles.

“He was a friendly, funny guy, but he was also a no-nonsense guy when it came to business,” Colton said. “He was good as an investigator. He knew what you needed to put together a case.”

Colton said drug smuggling then was rampant, and he worked on several task forces to combat that.

“We did investigations, did surveillances and got boats as they were coming in the inlet and airplanes as they were landing,” Colton said. “When I say ‘we,’ it was Bobby and the investigators and law enforcement.”

Thomas Walsh, a former prosecutor and current senior judge in the 19th Judicial Circuit, said Knowles was a hard worker with a reputation for honesty and being straightforward.

“Some people I'm sure will criticize that straightforwardness, but at a time when politics was anything but straightforward, he ran as a Republican in a very Democratic community, who knew that the sheriff's department was in dire need of getting dragged into the 21st century,” Walsh said. “Bobby Knowles did that.”

More than 50-year-old cold case solved: 'When I opened the box ... it didn't take long,' detective says of solving 1969 St. Lucie County murder

Innovation

Mike Monahan, who said he joined the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office in 1975 under Sheriff Lanie Norvell and left in 2012 as a major, said Knowles created the school resource unit, a full-time marine unit and bought the first helicopters, among other things.

“The agency grew rapidly and grew quickly with technology and enhanced training and expanded units,” he said.

Knowles was quoted in a 2000 Fort Pierce Tribune article as saying, "We basically took an administration that was operating very much in the '50s and brought it into the '80s."

Monahan said when Knowles took office, crime was widespread, noting topless bars, peep shows, adult bookstores and gambling, and they “cleaned all of that up.”

“He got ordinances written to stop all of that,” Monahan said. “The county is a better place for that.”

Walsh remembered Knowles on the front lines during the so-called “cocaine cowboys” era. He recalled a portion of Interstate 95 was paved, but closed.

“It was without any question, the longest airplane landing field in the world, and the entities that landed on it were offloading cocaine,” Walsh said. “A lot of people were killing people all in South Florida, because they were competing for this very lucrative business.”

Those, Monahan said, were “the days when the bales of marijuana were falling out of the sky, and the cocaine was washing up on the beach.”

“We worked a lot of drug cases, a lot of big drug cases,” Monahan said. “We stopped a lot of criminal activity in the county, but when he became sheriff, he truly focused on that stuff.”

Crowder said innovations instituted at the Martin County Sheriff’s Office when he took office were things Knowles started.

He learned from Knowles the importance of the local political structure.

“You've got to get elected every four years,” Crowder said. “You also need to know who you can trust and who you can't trust.”

No charges: St. Lucie Sheriff Ken Mascara cleared in criminal probe related to 2020 elections

‘He didn’t bend’

Martin County Sheriff William Snyder said he came to the Martin sheriff’s office in 1993 as a captain.

“More than anything, I worked with his people. And we always had a good experience with St. Lucie County,” Snyder said. “They were a no-nonsense, hard-working law enforcement entity, and I think he gets a lot of the credit for it.”

Knowles, he said, was not someone to push.

“Bobby Knowles was that old style,” Snyder said. “He was a piece of hickory, and he didn't bend.”

Colton noted a drug trafficking case involving top Martin County sheriff’s officials in which drugs being stored at the agency as evidence and to be destroyed were being stolen. Bales of marijuana and kilograms of cocaine were being shipped to New York. Knowles headed the investigation. James Holt was the Martin sheriff at the time, Colton said.

“We ended up charging a captain and lieutenant in the sheriff's office, a guy who was a part-time deputy, but also a pilot for one of the big airlines,” Colton said. “They all pled and went to prison, and Bobby ended up being a hero over making that investigation.”

Jim Russakis said he met Knowles in 1983, and became close friends and supported him politically. He said Knowles was a good speaker, and entertaining.

He said Knowles bought property off the rural Carlton Road when he was sheriff. He built a home out of cypress and was “extremely, extremely happy.” He called it Lone Cypress Ranch and kept cattle and a horse, Russakis said.

“He loved it out there,” Russakis said. “That was his serenity.”

Russakis described Knowles as one of the greatest sheriffs in the area’s history.

“He put his heart in this county,” Russakis said. “He really did.”

TCPalm mentions suicide when the person is or was a public figure or if the death happened in a public place.

Those who are feeling suicidal or experiencing emotional distress can call the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255.

Will Greenlee is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow Will on Twitter @OffTheBeatTweet or reach him by phone at 772-267-7926. E-mail him at will.greenlee@tcpalm.com

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Robert C. 'Bobby' Knowles modernized St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office