FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP & WSVN) – Officials say a Broward Sheriff’s deputy assigned to work at a South Florida jail spent his shifts using his cellphone instead of conducting security checks.
Oreth Smith was arrested Tuesday following an investigation that also showed he falsified inmate head count records at the Broward County Jail. The 35-year-old deputy is charged with official misconduct and introducing contraband into the jail.
According to a BSO arrest warrant, Smith allegedly falsified an official record with “corrupt intent, which allowed him to utilize a contraband cellular telephone and conduct personal business.”
This allegedly happened on five separate occasions in July 2016, where, according to an arrest affidavit, over 200 incoming and outgoing calls were made.
Broward Sheriff’s spokeswoman Veda Coleman-Wright tells local news outlets that Smith is now suspended without pay.
An arrest report says an inmate complained that Smith wasn’t conducting checks or head counts. His supervisors then watched surveillance videos to confirm the allegations. Officials say it’s against the agency’s policy for deputies to have personal cellphones in the jail.
Smith was released on $82,500 bond. Records don’t list an attorney.
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