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📄 Severance Deal: Former Jail Director Nolan Weeks was allowed to resign with 21 days of paid leave and insurance in exchange for agreeing not to sue Okaloosa County.
🧾 Policy Violations: Investigations by the county and FDLE found Weeks misused his position to promote his brother’s company and violated multiple county policies.
🔍 Conflict of Interest: According to an Okaloosa County Investigative Report, which cost The County $10,000s, Weeks promoted HealthCred Care to other jails while his brother owned the company, prompting ethics reviews and whistleblower complaints.
New documents obtained by Mid Bay News show that Okaloosa County’s Board of County Commissioners gave former Jail Director Nolan Weeks a severance package that included the ability to resign his position, a 21-day paid administrative leave and 21 days of medical insurance in exchange for a promise not to sue Okaloosa County.
Additionally, documents from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement reveal that Weeks violated Okaloosa County’s Human Resources Policy, policies around the use of county equipment, and satisfactory performance of his duties. For that reason, they listed the reason for his separation from Okaloosa County Jails as misconduct.
RELATED: Former Okaloosa County Jails Director Charged With Felony After Traffic Stop.
Reporting from the Northwest Florida Daily News earlier this year revealed an investigation into Weeks’ relationship with his brother’s health insurance sign up program and whether or not he used his influence to use the program at the Okaloosa County jail, or other correctional facilites around the country. His brother, Chad LeBoy, owns HealthCred Care – which purports to sign up inmates for Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) medical plans in exchange for a fee.
After a representative from another similar company, Messer Financial Services made a complaint to the head of Okaloosa County Human Resources and claimed they would make an official complaint to the State Attorney’s Office, Weeks would bring his Fraternal Order of Police Representative to a meeting that included county leadership investigating the matter.
Soon after, Weeks would resign from his position with Okaloosa County.
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May 2, 2022 | Nolan Weeks hired by Okaloosa County to serve as a Major of Jail Operations. Weeks had previously served as a sergeant with the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office. On his references sheet he lists former Okaloosa County Commissioner Graham Fountain and Current County Commissioner Paul Mixon. He noted that he began his law enforcement career as a Crestview Police Officer in 2007, had 3-5 years of management experience, and had never before worked in a corrections facility.
May 2023 | A representative of Messer Financial Services, Chris Baumgartner, visits the Okaloosa County Jail to set up a process to enroll inmates as they are processed into the facility. The plan, called Health Plan Freedom, began in Tennessee that same year and makes “about $300 per enrolled inmate” by signing them up through the provisions of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).
“Early” 2024 | According to Okaloosa County’s investigative report -Okaloosa Jails Director Nolan Weeks tells Okaloosa Jail Captain Travis Huisken that Weeks’ Brother, Chad LaBoy, is setting up a company that will do similar work to HealthPlan Freedom.
May 13, 2024 | HealthCred Care, Chad LaBoy’s Company, files with the Florida Secretary of State’s Office.
Nolan Weeks files paperwork to incorporate his company, Secure Solutions Consulting, LLC.
May 21-23, 2024 | Nolan Weeks goes on County-paid travel to look at other jails across the state in preparation for Okaloosa County’s planned jail construction project. The County Attorney’s report contains accusations he pitched HealthCred Care on the trip to other agencies.
May 30, 2024 | Weeks sends an email from his County email to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office about HealthCred Care and completing ACA enrollment for inmates. He argues that enrollment is a cost-saving measure as inmate care for catastrophic cases can range into hundreds of thousands of dollars.
June 4, 2024 | Weeks submits a conflict of interest form with Craig Coffey for Secure Solutions Consulting, LLC. He owns the business and wants to consult on the side.
June 6, 2024 | Craig Coffey signs off on conflict of interest waivers and warns Weeks – don’t do business in Okaloosa County.
Jun 16 or 24, 2024 | Weeks attends a conference on behalf of the Okaloosa County Jail as corrections director. He allegedly pitches HealthCred Care as a service to the sheriffs of Glades and Okeechobee Counties.
“Early or Mid” July, 2024 | Weeks Emails Deputy County Administrator Craig Coffey and County Attorney Lynn Hoshihara about Messer Financial’s (HealthPlan Freedom) poor performance.
Summer of 2024 | Morse Medical wins a contract for services at the Okaloosa County Jail.
July 30, 2024 | Weeks sends an initial request on the Commission on Ethics to ask whether or not it would be a violation for HealthCred Care to serve as a subcontractor for Morse Medical. He receives a clean bill of health to move forward with the arrangement for Morse Medical, HealthCred Care, and the Okaloosa County jail. Okaloosa County Attorney Hoshihara pushes back on this clean bill of health and asks Weeks if he disclosed to the Commission on Ethics that he does consulting work for HealthCred Care. Weeks sends a follow-up email to disclose this. The Commission on Ethics changed its response to tell Weeks he will need a formal written opinion on the matter. In an interview for the investigation, Weeks discloses that he “dropped it” (Morse using HealthCred Care) due to this result.
July 31, 2024 | Weeks allegedly pitches HealthCred Care to the Walton County Jail and Leon County Jail.
According to the investigation, July 29 – August 1, 2024 | Weeks attempts to get Morse Medical to Contract with HealthCare Cred.
August of 2024 | Major McDaniel with Okaloosa County Jail walks into Weeks office as she is leaving for the day to see a screen with information about the Commission on Ethics. Weeks, Susan Priddy, and some other individuals are in the room. Weeks follows her out of the office to explain the situation and his disappointment that he cannot use HealthCred Care. At some point in August, Weeks showed McDaniel iPads and said HealthCred Care was better at enrolling inmates at the jail than Messer Financial.
August 6, 2024 | Majr McDaniel gets a call from Pinellas County Jail. The person on the other end of the call asks her questions about the ACA enrollment company they work with and believes they are working with HealthCred Care. She corrects the person on the other end of the line to tell them they work with Messer.
August 7, 2024 | Chad LaBoy emails Weeks regarding questions on HealthCred Care. Through the months the investigation covers, the phone calls between LaBoy’s number and Weeks’ work phone explode from almost none to hundreds of calls.
Late September to Early October, 2024 | Rick Morse of Morse Medical finds another company to work with that is not Messer Financial or HealthCred Care – called RedShift. According to the report, Morse didn’t do his due diligence to find out that RedShift and HealthCred Care are affiliated with one another. Hoshihara, the report also notes that the contract between the county and Morse Medical prohibits Morse from choosing subcontractors without the approval of the county. In this same timefram, Weeks calls a meeting with Captain Travis Huisken and Major April McDaniel and urges them to ensure they get more ACA sign-ups. According to the report, Weeks says this is “high priority.”
October 11, 2024 | Kelly Bird with Okaloosa County Human Resources receives an email from Messer Financial. The email alleges that Nolan Weeks is abusing his position as the jail director to reroute ACA signups away from his company to another company. The email alerts the County Messer that they will file a complaint with the Secretary of State’s Office in Tallahassee about the matter. ‘
On the same day, Captain Travis Huisken looks at the tablets RedShift uses to sign up inmates for ACA. He notices that the tables have HealthCred on them – even though they are supposed to be Red Shift tablets.
October 12, 2024 | County Administrator John Hofstad contacts the Okaloosa County Attorney about the Messer Complaint and an investigation that results in the investigation document begins.
October 13, 2024 | Susan Priddy tells Travis Huisken that Travis Morse and Morse Medical are not using Messer Financial to sign up inmates for the ACA – they are using RedShift.
October 14, 2024 | Okaloosa Human Resources begins its investigation of the Okaloosa County Jail.
October 17, 2024 | Nolan Weeks calls a meeting of his command staff. The members of the command staff over ACA sign-ups (Travis Huisken) are at the firing range and don’t attend the meeting. Weeks notes that the RedShift tablets look very similar. Major April McDaniel says they are not just alike – they are the tablets. Weeks allegedly gets angry and denies it. He then calls his brother, Chad LaBoy, and puts him on speaker. According to the report, LaBoy tells Weeks that he knew he could not work with the Okaloosa Jail, so he gave his software to RedShift so they could do the work for the Okaloosa Jail. Weeks allegedly gets angry and asks him how this could happen, putting Weeks in a bad spot.
October 18, 2024 | County Attorney Lynn. Hoshihara asks Weeks what is happening. Weeks says he did not move forward on the written opinion from the Commission on Ethics because he decided “not to risk it.” He then told Morse to find another subcontractor to handle ACA sign-ups. Morse came back with RedShift. He told Hoshihara that Susan Priddy told him RedShift had been enrolling inmates for 4-5 weeks.
October 22, 2024 | Bird attempts to schedule an interview with Weeks about the situation.
On the same day, Morse and Weeks exchange many text messages before Weeks’ interview with Human Resources. The phone carrier cannot determine the content of the messages. The report does not detail whether or not the investigators asked for messages to be turned over, or if they were on the phone used by Weeks.
October 25, 2024 | After the meeting between Weeks and HR was initially rescheduled, Weeks shows up to his HR meeting with a representative from the Fraternal Order of Police. He is read his Garrity Warning and Bird interviews him about the situation.
November 1, 2024 | Partner Greg Stewart at the Law Firm that Employs County Attorney Lynn Hoshihara turns in his investigative report on the situation. The report finds that “Based upon our review, it is our opinion that the facts have shown Chief Weeks has violated the above sections of the Okaloosa County Human Resources Manual set forth above [Failure to perform his functions as chief of the Correctional Department, Use of County Equipment, and Failure to finalize the MOU with Messer Financial Services.]
“In reviewing the facts surrounding the allegations of Mr. Baumgartner’s complaint, there are several issues which are very concerning. The entire concept of creating a company for the enrollment of inmates into ACA appears to have been promoted by Chief Weeks once he realized
that there was a significant potential revenue stream available under such a program. Though his brother, Chad Laboy, formed HealthCred for these purposes, it was clear that the ability of HealthCred to obtain the business of other detention facilities was greatly enhanced by the active
involvement of Chief Weeks utilizing his official position as the Chief of Okaloosa County Jail,” Stewart wrote in his report.
November 15, 2024 | Nolan Weeks signs a resignation agreement with Okaloosa County. In exchange for 21 paid days of administrative leave and medical insurance, Weeks promises not to sue the County for wrongful termination.
December 20, 2024 | The Florida Department of Law Enforcement files an internal investigation report on Nolan Weeks. The single-page form sustains that Weeks violated Okaloosa County Policy. Another document, an Affidavit of Separation, shows that Weeks is recorded as separating from Okaloosa County for Misconduct. On the form it notes that Weeks voluntarily separated “while being investigated for violation of agency or training school policy not involving a moral character violation defined in Rule11B-27.0011, F.A.C.”
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