Deputy Arrested For Strip Searching Women Unlawfully For Over A Week

A Texas sheriff’s deputy was arrested Saturday for allegedly carrying out illegal strip searches on at least six women for over a week.

Floyd Berry, 49, was charged with three counts of official oppression, which are class A misdemeanors, authorities said in a news release. His bail was set at $45,000.

The 18-year veteran of Bexar County Sheriff’s Office was arrested after the women voiced their complaint against an 11-day long (Nov. 24- Dec. 4) lewd police procedure.

He was placed on administrative duty during the time the department’s Internal Affairs Unit and the FBI’s Public Corruption Task Force jointly investigated the complaints. He was also served with proposed termination in that period which is equivalent to being fired, the department, said.

Officials had discovered that Berry, an official of the patrol division at the law enforcement bureau, had “unlawfully strip-searched” the six women while on duty, Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

He was arrested after arriving on duty on Saturday and is being held at Bexar’s Adult Detention Center. It is not yet disclosed in the jail records whether an attorney has been assigned to Berry.

Back in September, a deputy at Ventura County Sheriff’s Office was arrested in connection with alleged sexual assault on a female inmate at a jail facility. Leonard Lopez was accused of entering the victim’s cell in the wee hours of the morning and touching her intimate body parts over her clothing. Lopez was deployed as a security deputy to the unidentified victim who was housed in a separate area of the jail. Video surveillance footage substantiated the victim’s claims.