Oh Florida, here we go again. Generally it’s the average Joes and Janes making the news for crazy allegations, now it’s the cops. 32-year-old Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy Ted Arboleda is accused of foregoing a legitimate arrest of a woman in exchange for her offer of oral sex. Arboleda is said to have made routine contact with the woman at a local gas station where he found her to be without a valid driver’s license, in possession of marijuana, and in possession of an unlabeled bottle of prescription medication, all while on felony probation. According to news reports, initially the woman tried to bargain with the good deputy with cash in exchange for him to look the other way, though that wasn’t convincing. Allegedly, in the course of the course of the skillful negotiation it was decided that not only would Arboleda not arrest the woman, he would drive her home where the oral sex is alleged to have occurred. According to news reports, Arboleda told the woman this was his first time in this kind of rodeo and that he ultimately, “could not believe he agreed” to what he’d done and told her not to tell anyone.
Yes, Ted. Good strategy. Tell the lady with the drug problem who just agreed to tune you up (allegedly) to keep quiet. No doubt she is the one you can rely upon to keep your dirty little secret. In all seriousness, Ted Arboleda is entitled to the same deference anyone else is when accused of a criminal offense. He is entitled to be considered innocent until proven guilty, just as his accuser was when she was initially charged with her crimes. The reality of this situation is that it could come down to a he said she said incident, unless there is video footage, reliable eyewitness testimony, some type of GPS tracking system on his car, or Deputy Arboleda ignorantly elected to talk to the police. If none of that exists, if it comes down to his word against hers, chances are his word will prevail and I believe that’s how many criminal attorneys would handle this case, at least in part.
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