Sheriff Candidate Arrested on Election Day After Shocking Harassment Spree

An Alabama man running for sheriff found himself on the wrong side of the law on Election Day after police accused him of repeatedly threatening medical workers and flooding a healthcare facility with dozens of phone calls.

Curtis Brian Webber, 58, was arrested Tuesday, November 3, after investigators said he made more than 80 calls in just 90 minutes during an alleged harassment campaign that stretched across several months.

In an ironic twist, the would-be sheriff was taken to the very county jail he had made a major issue in his campaign.

Webber, who was running as a write-in candidate under the name Brian O’Brien Webber, was spotted by Florence police officers at a Jack’s restaurant on Cloverdale Road. Officers served outstanding warrants charging him with three counts of harassing communications.

According to police, the troubling allegations date back to March, when employees at an unidentified medical facility began reporting repeated phone calls from Webber.

Between March and September, authorities received four separate complaints accusing him of harassing and threatening staff members.

Investigators said the calls became so relentless that they interfered with phone lines needed to handle legitimate medical requests, potentially disrupting the facility’s ability to assist patients seeking care.

Police did not disclose the nature of the alleged threats or identify the medical facility involved.

However, Webber’s wife, Lindsey Sherill, offered a sharply different explanation following his arrest.

Speaking to local television station WAFF, Sherill claimed her husband had been attempting to file a medical malpractice complaint with a patient safety coordinator at North Alabama Medical Center.

She alleged that employees repeatedly hung up on him and refused to accept his complaints. Her account has not been independently verified, and authorities have not confirmed that the hospital she named was the facility involved.

The arrest warrants were issued through Florence Municipal Court on October 9, nearly a month before officers encountered Webber at the restaurant.

The timing of his arrest was especially striking because Webber was challenging Republican incumbent Sheriff Joe Hamilton, who was the only candidate officially listed on the ballot for Lauderdale County sheriff.

Rather than spending Election Day celebrating his campaign, Webber was booked into the Lauderdale County Detention Center, the same facility whose conditions had become one of his campaign concerns.

His wife said in a video posted to his campaign’s Facebook page that the family had retained an attorney and that she had been told he was being held without bail.

Police initially reported that Webber was awaiting an appearance before a municipal judge. His subsequent custody status and the outcome of that hearing were not immediately confirmed.

The unusual Election Day arrest has raised questions about the allegations facing a man seeking to become the county’s top law enforcement officer.

Webber has not been convicted of the charges and is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

For a candidate hoping to take charge of the sheriff’s office, however, being arrested and booked into the county jail on the same day voters were choosing their next sheriff was an extraordinary turn of events.