Belleview police officer accused of using meth, unlawfully accessing work database, chief says

53-year-old Gregory Freeman booked into the Marion County Jail on $13K bond

(WDIV)

BELLEVIEW, Fla. – Belleview police said one of their officers faces charges after methamphetamine was found at his home.

Police said 53-year-old Gregory Freeman was also arrested for accessing law enforcement databases for non-work related reasons.

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According to the release, on Sept. 7, “Belleview Police Chief Terry Holland was made aware of threatening statements Freeman made, causing Chief Holland to fear that Freeman may harm himself or others. Chief Holland was also made aware that Freeman had been using methamphetamine.”

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Police said that Marion County Sheriff’s Office detectives along with BPD served a search warrant at Freeman’s residence and inside of his bedroom closet, they located a total of 6.5 grams of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.

According to the release,” they learned that in addition to using methamphetamine, Freeman had also accessed secure law enforcement databases for non-work related inquiries and provided information from those databases to third parties who were not authorized to receive the information.”

Officers said Freeman faces 2 charges unlawful computer access, one charge count of possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine), and one charge of possession of drug paraphernalia.

According to the release, Freeman resigned on Saturday morning and was booked into the Marion County Jail on a $13,000 bond.

“While I am angry and saddened that one of my officers would break the law by using drugs and accessing secure databases for personal reasons, I am extremely proud of the officers in my department and the investigators with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office for their work in swiftly bringing this case to a close,” Chief Holland said. “I now trust that our judicial system will hold him accountable for his actions and for breaching the trust that the public placed in him. I want the citizens of Belleview to know that we have no tolerance for this kind of behavior and that if any of them have information that may prove useful to uncovering any other misconduct by this individual to please contact us so that it, too, can be investigated.”


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About the Author

Jacob joined ClickOrlando.com in 2022. He spent 19 years at the Orlando Sentinel, mostly as a photojournalist and video journalist, before joining Spectrum News 13 as a web editor and digital journalist in 2021.

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