Lake County deputy sheriff arrested on sexual battery charges

Matthew Donnelly arrested Wednesday

LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – Lake County Deputy Sheriff Matthew Donnelly was arrested after a woman claimed he sexually assaulted her during a traffic stop after a New Year's Eve party.

According to an affidavit, the victim and her boyfriend were stopped after leaving a celebration at Senior Frogs in Orlando.

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The victim told officials she drank too much and did not recall leaving the club, but she woke up when Donnelly was standing beside her car, while she was in the passenger seat.

The victim said Donnelly would only speak to her, not her boyfriend, and kept interrupting her boyfriend when he tried to speak.

Donnelly then took the boyfriend and placed him in the rear seat of the patrol vehicle before going back to the victim's car, according to the victim.

She told officials that she asked Donnelly not to take her boyfriend to jail, and that's when Donnelly looked at her vaginal area and began penetrating her with his hand, telling her that he would not take her boyfriend to jail and that she should not tell anyone what he was doing to her.

According to the affidavit, the victim never left the vehicle, that Donnelly was reaching into her vehicle on the passenger side seat, telling her that she was "(expletive) sexy" and that he had a wife.

The victim told officials she was scared and had no choice but to cooperate.

Donnelly called the alleged victim's relatives to come pick up the victim and her boyfriend. She asked him for his card, but he would not provide her with one.

After the a relative picked up the victim and her boyfriend, they told the relative of the assault and the victim received a sexual assault exam, which revealed the victim had suffered cervical injury.

A check of the computer dispatch screen of the County Sheriff's Office revealed that Donnelly checked out with the victim and her boyfriend at 3:34 a.m. and did not clear the call for one hour and 12 minutes.


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