Broward Sheriff's Office says deputy beat prisoner

By DAVID SMILEY
dsmiley@MiamiHerald.com

For the second time in less than a week, a Broward Sheriff's Office deputy has been arrested and charged with criminal misconduct while on-duty.

Detention deputy Gladys Dauphin was charged Wednesday with aggravated battery and official misconduct after an internal investigation found that she attacked an inmate with her portable radio and then tried to cover up the incident.

BSO announced the charges Thursday, one day after Dauphin was arrested by Internal Affairs investigators.

The alleged attack happened about 2:30 a.m. on Feb. 20 inside inmate Darryl Cunningham's cell in the Broward main jail, according to an arrest affidavit filed by Detective Joe Kessling.

`DISFIGUREMENT'

The affidavit states that Dauphin, 37, entered Cunningham's cell to talk to him because he had disrespected her.

She had Cunningham sit on his bed and then struck him several times toward the back of his head with her police radio, he told investigators.

``The injuries resulted in permanent scarring and disfigurement,'' Kessling wrote in the report.

Cunningham, 25, received five staples in the jail infirmary after the incident to close a laceration.

``I got him,'' Dauphin allegedly said to Sgt. Edward Pierce after the incident.

Dauphin then tried to cover up the attack, using another deputy's identity to falsify jail records to show that Cunningham refused treatment after falling, according to the affidavit.

BSO spokeswoman Veda Coleman-Wright said the attack was reported on the day in which it occurred. Dauphin, who was hired in December of 2004, was placed on suspension with pay the day of the incident and throughout the following investigation.

SUSPENDED

Dauphin bonded out of jail Wednesday on $6,100 and has been suspended without pay.

She did not respond to a message left on her voicemail late Thursday afternoon.

Cunningham, who was in jail after being picked up on several warrants filed by Wilton Manors and Fort Lauderdale police, was released to the custody of the U.S. Marshals on March 6.

He is currently being held at the Federal Detention Center in Miami on charges of felony possession of a firearm, U.S. Marshals spokesman Barry Golden said.

Dauphin's arrest comes three days after Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti held a news conference to announce the arrest of Deputy Jonathan Bleiweiss, who is charged with more than a dozen counts of battery, sexual battery, stalking and false imprisonment.

Investigators say Bleiweiss, who in March was honored as employee of the year for the Broward Sheriff's Office's Oakland Park District, preyed on undocumented immigrants, molesting them while on duty.

Bleiweiss' attorney has said there is no reason to believe the accusations against the deputy.

`ARRESTING OUR OWN'

Coleman-Wright said Thursday that the arrested deputies shouldn't be a black eye for the sheriff's office.

``We're certainly disappointed by these two arrests but it also shows the public that we're dedicated to holding people responsible for actions even if it means arresting our own,'' she said.