Ex-Bartow deputy chief picked for parole board

BY THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

David Wyant, a retired deputy police chief from Bartow, was appointed Tuesday by Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet to replace Tena Pate as a member of the Florida Commission on Offender Review, which handles parole issues. After being briefly interviewed by members of the Cabinet, Wyant was selected over Cynthia Swier, an administrator with a private women's prison run by Management & Training Corporation in Gadsden County, and Lori VanCamp, an investigations supervisor with the Commission on Offender Review. Wyant has twice been named Florida's law enforcement officer of the year. The $91,000-a-year position requires reviewing petitions for parole from inmates and assisting the Cabinet when convicted felons seek pardons or to have their civil rights restored. Pate resigned to run for Leon County supervisor of elections.