A second Lake County sheriff’s deputy has died of COVID-19.
Master Detention Dep. Richard “Rick” Barry, a 24-year veteran of the sheriff’s office, died early Thursday morning at AdventHealth Waterman hospital. The 58-year-old deputy would have celebrated his 25-year anniversary with the sheriff’s office next month.
Barry was assigned to the jail, where he regularly worked in the extradition unit. When inmate transports ceased earlier this year due to the Coronavirus pandemic, he worked to supervise inmates within the jail. He tested positive for COVID-19 on June 16 and had originally been in isolation at his home.
Lt. John Herrell said Barry was highly respected throughout the sheriff’s office. He added that the detention deputy was described as “a hard-working employee with a great sense of humor who was just always fun to be around.”
Sheriff Peyton C. Grinnell expressed great sadness Thursday when he announced Barry’s death via his agency’s Facebook page. He asked everyone to keep the fallen deputy’s family and co-workers in their thoughts and prayers and said details about service arrangements would be provided at a later date.
Barry is survived by his wife, Bria, who also is a detention deputy, and a son, Brennan.
Barry is the second Lake County sheriff’s deputy to die after testing positive for COVID-19. Last month, Master Dep. Lynn Jones died at his Orange County home after testing positive for the virus on June 13. In addition to working at the jail, Jones served as a member of the sheriff’s office’s Honor Guard and routinely worked as support staff at DUI checkpoints and sexual predator sting operations to transport arrestees to the jail. He was described as “hard-working employee with great interpersonal skills who led by example.”
As of Thursday, there were 161 cases of COVID reported at the jail. Those included 131 inmates, 28 employees and two contract nurses.
