Facing accusations that he'd violated the separation of church and state by donating sports equipment to local places of worship, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd responded simply — "We don't discriminate against churches," he said.

"They are certainly as eligible for obsolete equipment as secular groups," Judd said.

Judd had recently announced plans to remove basketball goals, posts and nets from the central and south county jails and donate the equipment to eight churches designated as nonprofit organizations under section 501c3 of U.S. tax code.

Earlier this week, Atheists of Florida wrote a letter to Judd asking him to donate equipment from county jails to other county organizations instead of the churches. "There is no secular purpose for your office's policy and practice of specifically choosing to donate public property to churches," the group said in the letter.

On Thursday, Judd responded, stating that the Sheriff's Office has donated to both secular and non-secular groups in the past, and chose the churches in part because they are located in "economically challenged areas" where he said children often don't have a safe place to play.

"Very often, they can't walk to a YMCA," Judd said.

Judd called the Atheists of Florida complaint a "publicity stunt," and said that removing the equipment from the churches would amount to "ripping basketball goals away from children."

Judd said the equipment will be made available to the public regardless of religious affiliation. He said the churches chosen are registered non-profits and therefore just as eligible to receive the equipment as any similar secular group.

The decision to remove the equipment from jails is just the latest to land Judd in the news. His decision to target the product K2, commonly referred to as "legal weed," as well as his office's recent arrest of the Colorado author of the book "The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-Lover's Code of Conduct," drew local and national headlines.

Asked if these well-publicized tactics could be themselves construed as publicity stunts, Judd defended his use of the media as a means to communicate with the public.

"My job is to market the Sheriff's Office," Judd said. On the sporting goods in particular, he said he welcomes the publicity and is confident Polk County will support his decision to donate the equipment.

"It don't see the atheists out there doing a dad-gum thing for this community," Judd said.

Jeff Weiner can be reached at 407-420-5171, jeweiner@orlandosentinel.com or @OSNightCops on Twitter.