Who is Sheriff Jake Courter from Deal Breaker and what is their importance?

Jake Courter is the sheriff in charge of the Kathy Culver investigation. Courter's son Gerard had attended Michigan State University and played basketball against Myron. Myron estimates that Jake Courter is somewhere in his mid-fifties. Courter is African-American. Physically, Courter sports a rather large beer belly but is nevertheless a very strong man. At one point, Myron notices that Jake's forearm is "the size of an oak trunk" (pg. 145.)