Sheriff's Deputy Jonathan Bleiweiss, 29, Accused of Sexual Abuse, Was Fighter for Gay Rights in his Agency and Local Community

Jonathan Bleiweiss, 29, was considered a pioneering sheriff's deputy who fought discrimination within his agency earlier in this career. But documents released yesterday portray the openly gay officer as a manipulative sex offender who preyed on illegal immigrants too scared to contact authorities. According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, he would act like a jilted lover when the men would not return his calls or text messages, according to those records, based on victims' accounts. He was arrested Monday and faces 14 charges, among them three counts of sexual battery by a person in authority, four counts of battery and one count of stalking. He's accused of intimidating at least eight men in his Oakland Park patrol district into performing sex acts with him during traffic stops.

Investigators said they opened the case in April, after learning a deputy was committing the assaults. Officials on Tuesday declined to say when Bleiweiss became a suspect.He was removed from road patrol in mid-July, only after there was substantive proof to make a case, said Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Veda Coleman-Wright. The court documents state the men positively identified Bleiweiss from a photo lineup starting in July.

Court records show most of the alleged attacks followed a pattern: The victims were fondled during pat-downs following early-morning traffic stops. Some were coerced to give up cell phone numbers and agreed to meet for future sexual encounters. In all cases, the men told investigators they felt they could not refuse the uniformed deputy's demands without a reprisal.

According to the affidavit, an illegal immigrant from Mexico told an investigator he endured five different incidents with Bleiweiss between April 22 and June 7.The man said Bleiweiss fondled him and whispered Spanish obscenities before molesting him. After the incident, Bleiweiss allegedly continued to call and text message the man days later, pressuring him to meet up again."Que pasa, amigo?" read one message after the man did not reply. The man said he pleaded with Bleiweiss to stop assaulting him during other similar encounters, insisting he only liked women. A second man, also from Mexico, said he was assaulted on three separate occasions. Source: South Florida Sun Sentinel

I do not condone illegal immigration under any circumstance, but it is common knowledge that they are walking targets who are reluctant to report any attacks out of fear of being deported. The bigger issue for me is that fact that Mr. Bleiweiss, if found guilty in a court of law, has essentially pulled the wool over everyone's eyes. His behavior affects the community at large, as well as the gay community. It also reinforces the distrust many Latinos and blacks have of law enforcement.

Bleiweiss was nominated in January by Sgt. John Nash for Employee of the Year in the Oakland Park district. In his nomination letter, Nash included a long list of Bleiweiss' heroics, including making well over 100 arrests in the city. Bleiweiss was also lauded for organizing a 30-person Broward Sheriff's Office AIDS Walk team for two years in a row. A story in the South Florida Blade, a gay weekly, detailed the deputy's accomplishments as an officer and a gay community leader. Bleiweiss told the weekly that early in his career he worked with a sergeant who routinely made jokes about him and his sexuality, and once referred to him as a "sex offender." Source: South Florida Sun Sentinel

Um, well, according to the charges, it would seem that he is a sex offender. The truth manifests itself sooner or later. His attorney, Eric Schwartzreich, stated that the allegations against his client were made by undocumented aliens and seemed to cast some doubt on the veracity of their claims. So, since one is an illegal immigrant, the natural inclination would be for that person to make up such a horrific story about this sheriff's deputy, right? What are your thoughts on this arrest and do you think it will have an impact on the local gay and law enforcement communities in Oakland Park?

Photo credit: South Florida Sun Sentinel