Florida prosecutors are seeking communications involving incoming Dallas Area Rapid Transit CEO Nathaniel P. Ford Sr. as part of a criminal investigation into the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, the Florida agency he led for more than 13 years.
The subpoena names Ford in requests for records involving his wife and a consultant, alongside demands for vendor contracts, purchasing-card records, tuition payments and transit ridership reports. Prosecutors addressed the records demand to JTA’s interim leader, Cleveland Ferguson III.
Ford is scheduled to begin leading DART on October 26. The North Texas agency announced his selection on July 21.
The subpoena seeks evidence in a criminal investigation. It does not charge Ford with a crime.
Records sought from Jacksonville
Investigators requested text messages, emails and app-based communications among Ford, Janet Walker-Ford and Kenston Griffin, the consultant identified in Jacksonville Today’s reporting. They also requested all emails from Ford’s account dated March 3, 2025.
The document seeks contracts for wellness services, including massages, and their costs; agreements with Dreambuilders, Jones-Worley Designs, Jacobs Project Management Company and Mason Nye Murals; scholarship and tuition-reimbursement amounts; and ridership reports submitted to the American Public Transportation Association, including reports for the NAVI autonomous vehicle program.
Those requests identify records prosecutors want to examine. They do not establish that any named person or vendor committed wrongdoing.
“The JTA remains committed to transparency and accountability and will provide information as requested throughout this process,” JTA spokesperson Lynn Opperman said in a statement published by Jacksonville Today.
Budget crisis brings service reductions
JTA announced a $39 million budget shortfall on September 17 and outlined cuts affecting employees, contractors and riders.
The agency described $178 million in expenses for the budget year ending September 30 and projected $139 million in funding for the year beginning October 1. Those figures cover different budget years; they do not represent a finding that $39 million went missing.
JTA’s plan called for eliminating 44 administrative positions and up to 150 operations positions, ending contracts expected to save about $25 million, and generally reducing weekday fixed-route bus service to Saturday-level schedules.
The announcement also scheduled a pause in Skyway operations for November 2 and NAVI operations for December 31.
DART hiring faces new scrutiny
Ford’s selection followed disputes over DART spending, governance and member-city funding, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
A separate DX investigation found that DART paid more than $2.4 million in executive bonuses from 2020 through 2024. The agency increased its executive ranks from 47 to 74 during that period. Those findings concern DART and are separate from the Florida investigation.
DART Board Chair Randall Bryant praised Ford’s experience when the agency announced the hire. “Today, we are turning the page,” Bryant said in the July 21 news release.
Ford had not responded to FOX 4’s requests for comment on the Florida investigation, and Bryant had not answered the station’s questions as of time of publication.
