Deputy spied on ex-boyfriend and ran plates of woman who visited him, Florida cops say
A Florida deputy was suspended after she was accused of spying on her ex-boyfriend and using a law enforcement database to look up a woman who was visiting him, the sheriff’s office said.
During an unrelated investigation, the ex-boyfriend, a former police officer with the Ocala Police Department, told his sergeant that he had been in a relationship with the Marion County deputy, according to an internal investigation report obtained by McClatchy News.
The officer said they had dated from February to August 2022 but “continued to see each other” until February 2023, according to the report.
He said in June he received texts from the deputy regarding a woman he was dating and that the deputy knew the woman’s name and that she had children, despite him never telling the deputy that information, the sheriff’s office said.
When investigators confronted the deputy about the claims, she said they had been in a relationship until April and afterward were trying to work on their relationship until May, according to the report.
She said her ex-boyfriend told her he wanted time to think about their relationship and that he had met someone new at work but did not share who it was, the sheriff’s office said.
The deputy said in June she drove by his house multiple times while she was off duty and at one point noticed a vehicle she didn’t recognize, according to the report.
The deputy told investigators she used the SmartCop program to then run the plate of the vehicle despite there being no legal cause to do so, the sheriff’s office said.
“Did I run her tag, 100% I did,” the deputy said in the report.
The deputy said she told her mother about the woman, and her mom searched for the woman on Facebook, finding that she had children, the sheriff’s office said.
The ex-boyfriend told investigators the deputy then texted him saying “she was foolish to believe they could continue their relationship and how she knew he would be a good stepfather,” according to the report.
The sheriff’s office said it also received a video of the deputy physically assaulting a different woman in Ocala.
The video showed the deputy at a house party physically attacking a woman, according to the report.
The woman was a friend of someone dating the deputy’s ex-boyfriend, the Ocala police officer, the sheriff’s office said.
The video was later shared on Facebook where it was reported, according to the report.
An investigation found the incident lasted longer than what was caught on the 40-second video and there wasn’t enough evidence to show the deputy started the fight, the sheriff’s office said.
“This video, viewed without context, could affect the integrity and reputation of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office,” the report said.
The deputy was suspended one day in September for using the database and two days in October for the physical altercation, internal investigation documents show.
Marion County is about 105 miles north of Tampa.
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