The Marion County Sheriff’s Office has proposed a settlement to an Ocala man who was mistaken for another individual, strip searched, and detained at the Marion County Jail for over 24 hours.
Attorneys representing both Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods and the man, Mateo Lopez, filed separate settlements in the Fifth Judicial Circuit Court of Marion County.
Records shows that MCSO proposed its settlement on August 28 and that Lopez filed his on September 5. Neither the terms or conditions are disclosed publicly on the documents.
The settlements come just shy of two years after Lopez was pulled over while he was driving in Marion County for an alleged traffic violation.
During that incident on October 3, 2023, Lopez was handcuffed after the traffic stop and told he was being arrested for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and domestic battery with strangulation.
According to his attorneys, Lopez told the arresting deputy that he was not the individual in question and begged him to check again. Instead, Lopez was taken to the jail, where he was “booked, strip searched and placed into the general population at the Marion County Jail.”
The complaint alleges that Lopez’s wife and family scrambled to hire an attorney, paying “a significant amount of money” to retain his services.
On October 4, 2023, Lopez was arraigned. During that proceeding, his attorney argued that Lopez had been wrongfully arrested and that he was not the person who committed the offense in question.
As a result, the judge in the case directed the Assistant State Attorney to contact the victim, who indicated that she did not know Lopez, confirming that the wrong individual had been arrested.
After the victim made her statement, the judge allegedly ordered that the charges against Lopez be dismissed and that he be released with “high priority.”
Despite the judge’s order, Lopez claims he was placed back into the general population, where he was not released until “approximately 11:30 p.m. [on October 4, 2023], more than twenty-four hours after his wrongful arrest.”
“MCSO had no probable cause to arrest Mr. Lopez. MCSO’s wrongful arrest caused Mr. Lopez, physical, psychological and economic harm. Mr. Lopez also had to pay a fee to retrieve his vehicle after it was wrongfully towed at the direction of MCSO,” reads the complaint.
Ocala-News.com found no record of Lopez’s mug shot in the Marion County Jail and no record of the alleged traffic violation in the Marion County Clerk of Courts.
“Mr. Lopez is married and had never been arrested or charged with a crime prior to his wrongful arrest on October 3, 2023. His mug shot was published online…friends and co-workers saw the published mug shot and contacted Mr. Lopez. The wrongful arrest obviously caused Mr. Lopez significant embarrassment and mental anguish. The mug shot remains posted on Facebook,” reads a statement from the complaint.
MCSO is being represented by Coppins Monroe, a Tallahassee-based law firm, while Lopez is being represented by Collins Law Firm of The Villages.