A Clay County Sheriff’s deputy has been fired after being arrested for forcing a woman to expose herself after she called about a theft at her home, officials said.
Clay County Sheriff Michelle Cook told reporters late Friday that Deputy Ryan Perry and another officer responded to the victim’s Orange Park home on June 18.
Perry, Cook said, followed the woman up to her bedroom at one point while his colleague remained downstairs to interview other witnesses.
“While Perry and the victim were in the bedroom alone, Perry demanded that the victim expose her breasts for him, and then he inappropriately touched the victim against her will in a manner that completed the offense of sexual battery,” Cook said.
The department was notified of the accusation on June 21 and launched an investigation.
The claims were substantiated, and Perry was arrested on an armed sexual battery charge on Friday. He was terminated after being taken into custody.
Cook said the department wants to know if any other local women had similar encounters with Perry.
“I could not be more disappointed tonight to share this news with our community,” she said. “It is devastating to us as an agency and to me personally.”
The sheriff said that Perry had two prior complaints against him — one that was substantiated and another that wasn’t.
The unsubstantiated accusation was “sort of similar” in nature to this case, she said without elaborating.
The woman came forward, Cook said, after she confided the crime to friends and family who encouraged her to alert police.
Perry began with the department in October 2018.
Cook said his mugshot would not be made available because “deputies have the protection of not having their photos released.”
