Broward deputy not guilty in sexual favors case

The defense attorney hinted that the deputy was the victim of a vendetta.

It took most of a week for a jury to listen to the case against a suspended Broward Sheriff ’s Office deputy accused of letting a stripper off the hook for a probation violation in exchange for oral sex in 2013.

And it took those jurors less than 10 minutes Friday afternoon to find the deputy not guilty.

The deputy, Ted Arboleda, was on the job less than two years when he encountered the woman at a gas station in Dania Beach on July 13, 2013. According to Arboleda’s testimony, she appeared under the influence of an illegal drug, and she quickly tried to walk away from him after they made eye contact.

Prosecutors Chris Killoran and Brooke Latta argued that Arboleda should have arrested the woman after he found out she was driving without a valid license, had marijuana in her car, and was on probation in a separate felony drug possession case.

The woman, now 27, admitted in her own testimony that she was desperate and offered to pay Arboleda to let her go. “Please. I’m begging you. Whatever you want,” she said. “I can’t get arrested.”

Arboleda didn’t arrest the woman, and because she had no valid license he did not allow her to drive home, prosecutors said. Instead, he drove

her home and, according to her testimony, said, ‘Aren’t you going to invite me in?’

Latta recited the woman’s testimony in closing arguments Friday, saying his words proved Arboleda expected something in exchange for his decision not to arrest her. The woman said she invited the deputy in and offered oral sex. Arboleda denied any sexual contact with the woman and said he never went into her home.

Defense lawyer David Bogenschutz called on jurors to find his client not guilty even if they believe he received oral sex. Arboleda had testified that the woman asked him for a ride home, Bogenschutz said. “He was ready to drive away from the scene before that,” he said. “He had already decided not to arrest her.”

He said Arboleda did not arrest the woman because he did not feel he had probable cause, not because she promised him oral sex or anything else. Arboleda also said there was no marijuana in the woman’s car.

Bogenschutz also hinted that Arboleda was the victim of a vendetta — in 2012 he testified against another deputy in a criminal case, and that testimony soured his colleagues against him to the point that they were overly willing to believe the oral sex bribery claim, Bogenschutz said.

The Broward Sheriff’s Office suspended Arboleda after the unlawful compensation charge was filed in 2014. His acquittal allows him to seek to be reinstated.

Arboleda declined to comment after the verdict. He embraced members of his family and shook hands with each juror as they left the courtroom.

PHOTOS BY RAFAEL OLMEDA/STAFF Prosecutor Brooke Latta, above, lays out the state’s case against Broward Sheriff’s Deputy Ted Arboleda, above right, accused of accepting oral sex in exchange for letting a woman off the hook in 2013.