Sheriff ’s deputy arrested in identity theft investigation

A Palm Beach County sheriff ’s deputy faces identity theft and fraud charges for abusing his access to a law enforcement database to steal people’s personal information, authorities said Thursday.

Another man arrested in the same case told investigators that he agreed to pay Deputy Frantz Felisma $10,000 per month in exchange for the deputy routinely obtaining the personal information of people who owned luxury vehicles, records show.

U.S. Magistrate Judge William Matthewman agreed

to keep Felisma jailed Thursday after prosecutors raised concerns he could flee the country.

Felisma, 42, of Boynton Beach, will remain locked up at least until a detention hearing Wednesday. He was dressed in dark blue jail scrubs, handcuffed to a chain around his waist and shackled.

Prosecutors said they wanted Felisma to remain in custody mostly because they think he might vanish now that the long-term investigation against him was made public. They said they believe there is some “threat of danger” to the community but did not explain.

An investigation found Felisma worked with a man, identified in documents as K.J., who went around looking for people driving highend cars, court documents show. K.J. gave Felisma the vehicle’s license plate, make and model on a piece of paper, according to the documents.

Felisma allegedly used his Palm Beach County sheriff’s laptop to put that information into a law enforcement database to get a driver’s name, Social Security number and other personal information. He would then give it back to the man, according to court documents.

K.J. created credit cards and bank accounts using that stolen personal information, investigators said. Information from more than a dozen people was used to steal about $197,000 from them, according to the documents.

Investigators also found more than 200 text messages between the deputy and the other man from January 2013 to September 2014, with many of the messages confirming meeting locations, authorities said.

Confronted Wednesday with the allegations against him, the deputy “gave about four hours of statements” to investigators, a prosecutor said.

Prosecutors said in court Thursday that they needed more time before a bond hearing to go through the deputy’s statement. They wanted to inspect phones seized Wednesday during a search, and also want to interview his colleagues, they said.

In arguing there was a risk the deputy would flee the country, prosecutors said Felisma, a U.S. citizen, is a native of Haiti. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Jorgensen said Felisma’s mom still lives in Haiti and he frequently travels there. And investigators have photos of him posing with a Haitian police chief in Haiti.

Felisma’s wife cried in court Thursday and blew kisses to her husband as he was led out of the courtroom.

Felisma’s lawyer, Jason Kreiss, told the judge that Felisma’s wife wanted him home for Christmas.

Kreiss said his client denies the criminal allegations against him and denies that he is a flight risk or danger to the community.

“To the contrary, Deputy Felisma was recently awarded Deputy of the Quarter and has been a highly regarded member of the Sheriff’s Office and the community,” the lawyer said.

Felisma is currently on paid administrative leave, the Sheriff ’s Office said.

“The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office holds its employees to the highest standards and never forgets about its duty to preserve the public’s trust,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. “Unfortunately sometimes an employee makes a bad decision, which leads to misconduct.

“This misconduct was reported, investigated and subsequently determined to be criminal in nature, resulting in the charges.”