BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. -- The Chief Deputy in the Brevard County Property Appraiser's office was arrested and charged with one count of grand theft and seven counts of official misconduct, Thursday. Lance Larsen was taken into custody by FDLE agents.

The grand theft charge is a second degree felony and the misconduct charges are third degree felonies.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the State Attorney's office had been investigating Larson since December of 2006. Investigators say he devalued properties in Brevard County and that cost the County $61,000 in tax revenue.

Larsen gave himself up at the Brevard County Jail. He was booked under a $19,000 bond.

Last April, investigators seized emails and records of people that allegedly received favors.

Property Appraiser Jim ford stripped Larsen of his chief deputy title and put him in charge of special projects.

Ford, who is running for re-election, has been under fire for a number of things including promoting and giving raises to his girlfriend-turned wife, spending more than $100,000 in taxpayer money to pay for criminal defense attorneys, and for terminating employees and offering thousands of dollars for their silence.

Ford denied any wrong-doing when confronted him earlier this year.

When asked, "Are you concerned at all about the FDLE's investigation and whether the state attorney's office is going to file charges?" he replied, "No, I'm not concerned about it."

Ford has repeatedly said this investigation was drummed up by vindictive former employees. He released a statement saying, "Approximately 19 months ago I was notified that my office was being investigated for lowering the valuation of certain properties. I welcomed the investigation and awaited its outcome over this extremely long and trying period. During that time, both I and my entire office cooperated fully with investigators and provided them with any information they requested. It soon became evident that Chief Deputy Lance Larsen was the focus of this investigation based on requests for information about certain actions he had taken. Shortly thereafter, I decided to remove him from any management and decision making roles pending the outcome of the investigation. I had placed a great deal of trust in him and felt that with his stellar credentials and background in a high level position within the Florida Department of Revenue such trust was deserved.

Upon advice of the office general counsel Joe Caruso, I obtained the service of criminal attorneys for the purpose of looking into the issues raised by the FDLE investigator. This was done due to the specialty of criminal law and in order to ascertain the opinions of these attorneys as to whether any criminal violations or criminal intent had been involved in the decisions being questioned. They found none and advised that I should wait and see what the State Attorney decided to do.

My office has always given the benefit of the doubt to the taxpayer and if an error in judgment were to be made, better it be made in favor of the taxpayer. The business of valuing property requires a great deal of judgment and any decision can always be subject to debate. However, it must be made clear that I have never shown favoritism to any taxpayer in the performance of my official duties, nor would I knowingly permit such behavior from a member of my staff.

In our judicial system, everyone is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty, and I have faith in that process. I am pleased that I have been personally vindicated by this lengthy and exhaustive investigation, though I am both saddened and surprised by the decision of the State Attorney relative to Mr. Larsen. It is not only an indictment of Mr. Larsen, but also of the honest and respected taxpayers involved who are members of our community.

Last week, Mr. Larsen requested and was approved for Family Medical Leave due to an upcoming medical procedure. He is, therefore, currently on leave from this office, and under that federally protected status, we must honor such medical situations until resolved or for up to 12 weeks.

I appreciate the dedication and professionalism of our staff of over 100 individuals with many years of experience. I also appreciate the privilege of serving the citizens of Brevard County for over 37 years and I welcome their continued support.

From time to time, problems will arise in serving the public, but we look forward to the final resolution of these matters and to continuing to provide quality service to the citizens of Brevard County."