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Inmate Says Ex-Deputy Abused Her In January

Image provided by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office

A video showing a deputy tipping a disabled man out of his wheelchair during booking has led to several more complaints leveled against the Hillsborough County jail staff.

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By JOSH POLTILOVE and THOMAS W. KRAUSE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 21, 2008

TAMPA - News of two more complaints about incidents of abuse at Orient Road Jail emerged Wednesday.

The complaints follow the release of a video last week showing a detention deputy dropping a quadriplegic man from his wheelchair at the jail.

•On Wednesday, a woman claimed Charlette Marshall-Jones abused her at the jail last month. Marshall-Jones is the same deputy charged with a felony in the wheelchair incident.

•Also Wednesday, a woman complained that a male detention deputy broke her left arm in May.

•On Friday, another woman had filed a federal lawsuit claiming a detention deputy pulled her by the hair, slammed her to the ground and punched her.

Although sheriff's officials have described the wheelchair incident as inexcusable, they have denied wrongdoing against the woman whose hair was pulled and against the woman whose arm was broken.

They have not responded publicly to the complaint from the woman who claims Marshall-Jones abused her in the bathroom but have acknowledged that an internal affairs investigation has begun.

Steve Yerrid, a longtime plaintiff's lawyer in Hillsborough County not currently affiliated with any actions against the sheriff's office, said he is not surprised that several people are making complaints against jail staff right now. When a negative incident gets publicity, it's not uncommon for similar complaints to arise, he said.

"The momentum right now is that anyone who has ever had a problem with law enforcement and is contemplating action is going to take action right now," Yerrid said.

That does not mean the complaints or lawsuits will have a greater chance of a successful outcome, he said.

"The bottom line is what is appropriate and what isn't appropriate has to happen on a case-by-case basis," Yerrid said. "Just because there is an avalanche of cases won't change the merit of each case."

In the wheelchair incident, Sheriff David Gee almost immediately condemned the deputy's actions.

"That's what you want to have," Yerrid said, "not absolute blanket denial every time."

The fact that Gee acknowledged sheriff's office responsibility for the complaint from quadriplegic Brian Sterner also gives weight to Gee's integrity when he denies abuse in other complaints, Yerrid said. A video recording surfaced last week showing Marshall-Jones raising the back of Sterner's wheelchair and spilling him to the floor in January. The deputy resigned Friday and was arrested Saturday on a charge of abuse of a disabled person. Sterner had been arrested on a warrant stemming from a traffic violation.

Bathroom Confrontation

Falkenburg Road Jail inmate Tammy Lynn Mojica told The Tampa Tribune during a phone call Wednesday that Marshall-Jones abused her in a jail bathroom Jan. 10.

Tammy Lynn Mojica

"She snatched me by the back of my head and slammed me into the wall," Mojica said.

Col. David Parrish, who runs the jail, would not discuss specifics and said video of Mojica being booked would not be made available since it is part of an active investigation.

"Any time we have an allegation of excessive use of force, it's going to be investigated," Parrish said.

Sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said an internal affairs investigation is ongoing and she would not discuss the investigation or the incident.

Marshall-Jones' attorney, Norman Cannella, said he wasn't familiar with Mojica's complaint.

"I'm not going to bother to tell Marshall-Jones anything about this since I don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about," he said.

After Mojica's Jan. 10 arrest, the state attorney's office filed charges of cocaine possession, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia, said state attorney's spokeswoman Pam Bondi.

Mojica, 34, of Wimauma said she didn't want to discuss charges against her. She said the incident at the jail began when Marshall-Jones thought Mojica had eaten something and took her into a bathroom to search her, Mojica said.

As soon as Mojica entered the bathroom, Marshall-Jones attacked her, Mojica said.

"My right hand and wrist was bent backwards," Mojica said. "My thumb was dislocated. It's still bruised."

Charlette Marshall-Jones

A sheriff's office report states that Mojica tried to swallow some drugs. In a bathroom, Marshall-Jones tried to pull the substance out of Mojica's mouth, first with a bare hand then with a blue rubber glove. Another deputy tried to help and got a mixture of blood and saliva on his thumb, Marshall-Jones wrote in the report.

Reports state that cocaine residue was found on the blue glove.

The report doesn't indicate whether Mojica was injured or taken to a hospital. Mojica said she was taken to a hospital before being booked and later spent about a week in a jail infirmary.

"I don't know why she was so manhandling," Mojica said. "I shouldn't have had a busted lip. I shouldn't have been talked to like a dog."

A Broken Arm

The sheriff's office released a statement Wednesday acknowledging that another woman has alleged mistreatment at the jail. Charlana Irving, 28, has claimed a male deputy broke her arm.

On May 9, Irving was arrested on charges of driving under the influence and obstructing an officer. A video shows detention deputy Milton Fassett removing Irving from a cell after repeated attempts to calm her verbally failed, the sheriff's office statement says.

As Fassett tried to escort Irving from the cell, she pulled away.

"He used only the force necessary to secure her arm behind her back to gain compliance before he let her out of the cell," the sheriff's office statement said.

Irving was taken to the clinic after complaining about pain in her arm. When it was determined that her left arm was broken, it was placed in a sling. The sheriff's statement says it is not possible to tell whether the broken arm occurred before or after her altercation with the deputy.

Outside her apartment Wednesday, Irving declined to comment, saying her attorney told her not to. She would not identify her attorney.

Hair-Pulling Incident

A video of a 2006 incident shows detention Deputy Shanna Marsh speaking to Marcella Pourmoghani-Esfahani before pulling her by the arm. Pourmoghani-Esfahani pulled back and hung onto her seat, which the sheriff's office says amounts to resisting. The deputy reached for the woman's shoulder and sleeve and did not intentionally pull her by the hair, the sheriff's office has said. Marsh pulled Pourmoghani-Esfahani from her seat, put her on the ground and punched her.

The deputy's superiors reviewed the incident and cleared her of wrongdoing.

News Channel 8 reporter Jeff Patterson contributed to this report. Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 259-7691 or jpoltilove@tampatrib.com.

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