Dead deputy cleared of sex claim

2-9-2011 Florida:

DELAND -- Four days after a Volusia County sheriff's deputy shot himself dead, an internal affairs investigation concluded the groping accusations a Deltona woman made against him were unfounded.

But the inquiry, finished Tuesday, did reveal that deputy Carl "Pete" Willard, 55, didn't follow department policy when he failed to call for a female deputy to search Lisa Lopez, 44, of Deltona or have another deputy present when he searched Lopez, reports revealed.

Willard shot himself in the backyard of his Deltona home Friday afternoon. The death investigation is still ongoing and it is not known whether the complaint contributed to Willard's decision to kill himself, sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said.

"It appears that Deputy Willard was struggling with other issues that predated this complaint," Davidson said. "It's unknown and may never be known what impact the complaint may have had on Deputy Willard's state of mind."

Lopez filed the complaint Jan. 19 and contacted news organizations, including The Daytona Beach News-Journal on Jan. 26. She claimed that after a deputy arrested her at her Deltona home on a charge she beat her father that morning, her wrists were handcuffed behind her, she was placed in the back of the patrol car and taken to the Volusia County fairgrounds on State Road 44. There she was placed in the prisoner transport van driven by Willard.

Lopez alleged that Willard then crossed State Road 44 and went to nearby county gas pumps to fuel up. There, Willard asked her to get out of the car and removed her handcuffs. He asked her to put her hands on top of the patrol car, she said. Willard then fondled her breasts and touched her crotch but at no time put his hands inside her clothes, Lopez told investigators.

Lopez did not show up Feb. 4 for a second interview to clarify facts of her complaint.

A message left late Tuesday was not immediately returned.

In an interview Jan. 27, Willard told investigators that Lopez complained that the handcuffs were hurting her so he asked her to step out of the car so he could check the handcuffs. He then asked Lopez if she had been searched and when she told him no, he proceeded to pat her down as policy required.

He then handcuffed Lopez again, but this time he placed her hands in front of her, reports state.

"Deputy Willard described his physical contact with the prisoner as a routine pat-down ... and that there was nothing inappropriate or unprofessional about the contact," Davidson said.

Willard also acknowledged that he did not follow the rules of his job when he failed to call dispatchers to inform them of his move from the fairgrounds to the gas pumps to give a location and odometer mileage at the start of the transport to jail and actual location at the end of the transport, the investigation revealed.

Because of Willard's death, the potential discipline associated with the documented policy violations was not discussed, Davidson said.

As part of Sheriff's Office procedure, the arresting deputy did not take Lopez to jail so he wouldn't have to leave his assigned zone for an extended time, Davidson said.

Disciplinary steps taken and recorded in Willard's file -- during his 30-year career as a deputy and then his three years as a reserve deputy -- were a verbal reprimand in 1992 when he was at fault in a crash, a written reprimand in June 2004 for inattention to his duties and a written reprimand in July 2004 for neglect of duty, Davidson said.

No suicide note was found at Willard's home or at the scene where he died, Davidson said. ..Source.. PATRICIO G. BALONA, Staff writer