STUART — Days after former Martin County sheriff's Deputy Steven O'Leary was ordered to prison for 13 years, he’s facing a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday by more than a dozen people he either falsely arrested or wrongly accused of drug possession, court records show.
O’Leary, 31, during a Dec. 2 sentencing, was found guilty of 50 felonies, including multiple counts of official misconduct, falsifying arrest affidavits and statements, false imprisonment, tampering with evidence, battery and petty theft.
O'Leary in court told his sentencing judge an addiction to drugs motivated him to falsely arrested dozens of people on drug charges during 2018 traffic stops. He was fired from the Sheriff's Office in January 2019 following an investigation.
Incarcerated: Former Martin County Sheriff's Deputy Steven O'Leary ordered to prison for falsifying drug arrests
Records show during his 11 months working at the Sheriff's Office, made 89 drug-related arrests, records show. He arrested 26 people accused of having drugs on them who either did not, or, who did not have the actual amount or type of drugs O'Leary said they did, according to his arrest warrant.
In one case, the substance was a powder commonly used to treat headaches; another was a sand-based material having no presence of any illegal narcotics.
The Sheriff’s Office and O’Leary were already facing several lawsuits filed after his arrest. At least a dozen civil complaints have settled, according to attorney Lance Richard, who...
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