A Pinellas County sheriff’s deputy resigned and was arrested following an audit. According to Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, he used databases, including the Flock license plate reader system, to check on his estranged wife and her partner.
Ronald Scott, 35, submitted his resignation on Wednesday. On Thursday morning he was arrested and booked into the Pinellas County jail. He faces four criminal charges: three counts of unauthorized access to a computer network and one count of official misconduct. The sheriff announced the case at a news conference.
According to investigators, Scott ran license plate checks on his wife and other people more than 100 times. He made the queries on 40 different days over four months. The searches ran from Valentine’s Day through June 19. Besides his wife and her partner, he also checked the man’s wife and her father.
Scott also used state and national criminal databases. Each time, the sheriff said, he falsely entered that the search was part of an investigation. According to Gualtieri, the queries stopped soon after the divorce was finalized. The sheriff said Scott wanted to find out where his wife and her partner went, identify their vehicles and obtain other private information.
This is the third arrest of a Pinellas deputy for misusing such systems. Gualtieri said expanded audit features in the Flock system helped uncover the abuse. The sheriff said the problem lies with people, not with Flock or license plate readers. He added that he is confident this is the last case of historical abuse of automated license plate readers (ALPR).
Separately, prosecutors dropped a case against another deputy because, according to a court document, Florida law does not provide for criminal charges over his conduct. Prosecutors intend to push for a change in the law during the legislative session that begins in 2027. Gualtieri stressed that he would not have arrested Scott if he had not been certain the grounds for the charges were met. It is unclear whether Scott has an attorney or has entered a plea.
Source: Tampa Bay Times, Florida Politics
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