A SVP of the $2.5 billion MidFlorida Credit Union in Lakeland, Fla., was charged Monday with the fatal hit and run of a 74-year-old woman and allegedly attempted to cover it up.
According to the Polk County Sheriff Office in Winter Haven, Fla., 37-year-old Jarvis Kendrick of Lakeland was charged with one count of leaving the scene of a crash involving death and one count of tampering with evidence.
Kendrick has been an SVP and regional manager of West Polk operations for MidFlorida CU since January 2013. He joined the credit union in November 2001 as an assistant vice president/branch manager.
According to police investigators, Janice Joy was walking on Duff Road on Oct. 6, during Hurricane Matthew, at about 6:30 a.m. when a pickup truck driven by Kendrick (pictured at left) allegedly struck Joy with the passenger side and its side mirror. Kendrick allegedly fled the scene.
Police said a woman witnessed the incident and investigators found the plastic covering of the pickup truck’s side mirror and broken pieces of its glass on the road. What’s more, surveillance video confirmed a pickup truck was involved in the hit and run.
During a press conference aired by local media, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said if Kendrick had stopped, called 911 and tried to help Joy, he wouldn’t have received even a traffic citation. Grady also said that there was no indication that Kendrick was under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the hit and run.
“But when you (Kendrick) hit that lady and you let that human being to die on the road alone and fled you committed a first degree felony for which we are going to do our very best to send you to prison for a very long time,” Grady said. “He not only fled, he went through an elaborate scheme to hide the damage on his vehicle.”
After police asked the public for assistance to find the hit and run driver, an anonymous tipster called police on Oct. 13 to report that Kendrick owns a pickup truck and that it hadn’t been seen since the incident.
MidFlorida CU told police investigators that on Oct. 6, Kendrick traveled to Longboat Key from the Lakeland area for a meeting that was scheduled to start at 8:45 a.m. Video surveillance at the Longboat Key Golf Club showed that Kendrick arrived at this meeting destination at 8:34 a.m. The video also showed the truck he was driving was missing the passenger side mirror, according to police.
Kendrick stayed at Longboat Key overnight and the next day on Oct. 7, he drove to Tampa International Airport and flew to Vancouver, Canada.
“We don’t know what he did there or who he was with,” Grady said. “But we are trained detectives. We know that evening he had two entries and four glasses of Sangria wine.”
Police investigators said on Oct. 9, he flew back to Tampa. While he was driving home, police investigators said they believe Kendrick deliberately drove his pick truck into a sign on Interstate 4.
He reported the traffic crash to the Florida Highway Patrol. The next day, on Oct. 10, Kendrick reported the crash to his insurance company and that he had taken his vehicle to a body shop. The body shop confirmed the passenger side mirror was on its list of repairs for Kendrick’s truck.
“The suspicious part about that is that crash would not have torn off his passenger side rear view mirror,” Grady said. “It was missing at the time of crash.”
Kendrick was taken into custody and was booked into the Polk County Jail where he remains pending a bond hearing.
“I want to thank MidFlorida Credit Union,” Grady said. “They have been extremely cooperative as we focused on this investigation.”
MidFlordia CU did not respond to a CU Times request for comment Wednesday morning.
Kendrick could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
