Deputy Sheriff Flight Officer Larry Rhoden, 33, of Ft. Meade, and Deputy Sheriff Pilot Brian Wilkinson, 33, of Lake Alfred, were killed when their Sheriff’s Office helicopter – a 1971 OH58 Bell Jet Ranger – crashed into a pond/pasture near Old Bartow Eagle Lake Road in Bartow (near Lake Hancock) shortly after 1 a.m. on October 22, 2001.
Rhoden was hired in 1991, and joined the Aviation Unit in January of 2001.