Captain advances to face Kalamazoo County sheriff in November election

KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MI -- Voters have selected a captain from a neighboring county’s sheriff’s office to compete with incumbent Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller for the seat in the November election.

During the Tuesday, Aug. 6 election, Republicans James J. Charon and Sabrina Pritchett-Evans faced off for the Republican nomination for the office, a four-year term.

Charon received 11,288 votes, or 68%. Pritchett-Evans received 5,189 votes (31%), according to unofficial totals from the Kalamazoo County Clerk’s Office.

Charon, 44, is currently a captain at the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office. He has a bachelor’s degree from Ferris State University in criminal justice and graduated in March 2020 from Northwestern University School of Police Staff and Command, according to a voter guide survey.

Charon said he has 18 years of law enforcement experience and he currently supervises the jail, road patrol, dispatch, narcotics and criminal investigation divisions. His experience includes work as a Van Buren County SWAT Commander, the FBI-LEEDA Executive Leadership Institute and work as a child forensic interviewer, according to his voter guide survey answers.

Democrat Richard Fuller, 60, has been county sheriff since 2008 and faced no Democratic opposition on the ballot in the primary.

Fuller has 37 years in emergency service, he said. That includes 35 years with Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office, with over 15 years as sheriff. He has prior experience as police officer, firefighter, EMT and dispatcher, Fuller said in his voter guide survey responses.

Fuller has a high school diploma from Marshall High School, an associate’s in law enforcement from Kellogg Community College and a bachelor’s in organizational management from Spring Arbor University. Fuller also lists FBI-LEEDA and BJA Jail Administrator as experience on his voter guide responses.

Kamala Harris visits Kalamazoo Air Zoo — Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller addresses a crowd at the Kalamazoo Air Zoo in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on Wednesday, July 17, 2024, before Vice President Kamala Harris entered.Devin Anderson-Torrez | MLive.com

Pritchett-Evans called herself a “constitutional sheriff” candidate and said she’s lived in the county for over 35 years. She said in a video posted on her campaign Facebook page that she started to think about running after COVID started, and she began looking into the role and responsibilities of the office of sheriff.

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