'Crossed the line:' Manatee deputy resigns after texting woman 'lewd' texts, misused computer

A Manatee County Sheriff’s deputy has resigned following an internal investigation that found he sent a woman unwanted, lewd text messages and misused a database to look up her phone number while on duty, the Herald-Tribune has learned.

Former deputy Donald Olmsted Jr. resigned after nearly 35 years of service after officials found that he misused office equipment to contact a woman and sent her multiple lewd texts. Olmsted resigned during the internal affairs investigation in July. The Herald-Tribune is not naming the woman involved.

An internal affairs investigation found that he misused his agency-issued laptop to access her personal information and sent her “vulgar and obscene” messages while he was still on duty. The woman’s husband submitted a written complaint about the incident on June 22.

The Herald-Tribune learned about the internal affairs investigation after submitting an open records request for completed internal affairs probes at the sheriff’s office.

The Herald-Tribune reached out to Olmsted, but he declined to comment on the misuse of his agency-issued laptop and text messages that were sent.

On June 6, the woman who was referenced in the complaint walked into Manatee County Tax Collector's Office to renew her license. She felt the stare of a deputy, but she didn’t recognize him.

After walking back to her car, she received a text from a number she didn't recognize.

“You’re not gonna say hi, brat?”

She wrote back that she didn’t know who this was and that she had lost all her text messages.

He texted back, "Donnie."

Screenshots of text messages from Olmsted were attached to the written complaint. One of the texts that Olmsted sent the woman said that he would “bend you over and tie you up, then spank that [expletive]" before having intercourse with her.

The woman texted him back, “Not cool dude.”

The deputy responded with a laughing emoji and said, “Guess I’ll need to put a ball gag in your mouth, so you won’t be able to complain.”

Investigators said in a report that had he not resigned, the sheriff’s office would have sought termination for the listed offenses.

“I would love to believe he was joking, but it definitely crossed the line,” the woman told investigators. “It definitely made me uncomfortable. It was not behavior conducive of a deputy whatsoever, especially an on-duty deputy.”

Former police chief and international police consultant Walter Zalisko spent decades working in Florida and New Jersey agencies. He said that any officer who misuses the Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) system should be prosecuted.

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"What he did was 100% wrong," Zalisko said. "It's unfortunate that you have bad apples like this, but it does happen."

Randy Warren, Manatee County Sheriff's Office's public information officer, said that the circumstances surrounding his query were not to the level of committing a crime.

There are two Florida statutes that address the misuse of Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS), according to FDLE's Limited Access Certification training for users whose job function requires queries into the Florida Crime Information Center (FCIC) and the National Crime Information Center (NCIC).

F.S. 839.26 says that a public officer can be guilty of a first-degree misdemeanor for misusing CJIS if they financially benefitted from the information they accessed.

F.S. 815 says, “A person who willfully, knowingly, and without authorization introduces a computer contaminant or modifies or renders unavailable data, programs, or supporting documentation residing or existing internal or external to a computer, computer system, computer network, or electronic device commits an offense against intellectual property.” This also qualifies as a first-degree misdemeanor offense.

Section 1.93 of the FDLE Criminal Justice Information Services limited certification access manual defines misuse as "any access of CJI systems and/or dissemination of information obtained for noncriminal justice purposed are considered a misuse of the system..."

The manual outlines examples of misuse to include: "affairs of the heart, political motivation, monetary gain, idle curiosity and/or trying to help out a friend or family member."

The woman told investigators that she had previously been friends with Olmsted’s ex-wife but had not spoken to him in seven to 10 years. She told investigators that she was never involved in an intimate relationship with him, and she was “flabbergasted” by his comments and text messages.

A Transaction Archive Report from the FDLE indicated that Olmsted queried the woman’s name by using her driver’s license number. After the initial texts were sent, he walked outside to the parking lot to speak with her. Video surveillance footage from the Tax Collector’s Office showed the interaction between the woman and the deputy.

At this point, the woman recognized him as an acquaintance from high school. They talked for a bit while standing in the parking lot, but the conversation became uncomfortable for the woman when she asked Olmsted how he got her number, the IA report said.

She said that Olmsted explained he, “saw a hot chick down by Adam and had to check her out” and said he got her number from the DMV computer. She said that he made a sexual comment following his explanation. She told him, “You know what, don’t go there. I just told you I’m happily married.”

The woman tried getting into her car to leave and told Olmsted that she was busy. As she left, she told investigators she heard Olmsted yell out, “Make sure you go get a can of pineapple rings to eat off my [expletive] later.”

The investigation into the incident found that there was no lawful purpose for Olmsted to have queried the woman’s information.

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"Deputy Olmsted's conduct while on-duty and interacting with [the woman] was lewd and unprofessional," an investigator said in the internal affairs report. " Deputy Olmsted's actions, behavior and representation of a deputy sheriff displayed was conduct unbecoming an employee. His actions reflect negatively on the office of the sheriff, as well as all law enforcement officers, who strive to hold themselves to a higher professional standard."

Olmsted resigned from the sheriff's office on July 13. Four days later, investigators reached out to Olmsted to offer him an opportunity to give a statement about the investigation, but he declined.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Manatee deputy resigns after texting woman 'lewd' texts, misused computer