| Submit your comments on this article |
| -Land of the Free |
| Details swapped in Clay County case resulted in wrongful arrest of mother |
| 2014-06-12 |
[MEMBERS.JACKSONVILLE] As the case that resulted in the arrest of a Louisiana mother of two was transferred from one section to another at the Clay County Sheriff's Office, details of the actual suspect were replaced with information about the woman who ended up being wrongfully incarceratedBook 'im, Mahmoud! twice, according to investigative notes from the Public Defender's Office. Ashley Nicole Chiasson, 28, spent a total of five weeks in Clay County jail after she was arrested for grand theft in January and again four months later for writing bad checks. She was the wrong Ashley Chiasson on both occasions. Clay County Sheriff Rick Beseler issued a statement Tuesday apologizing to Chiasson and saying short cuts were taken by his officers in both wrongful arrests. Beseler's spokeswoman said he would not be commenting further while his office investigates the matter. But according the 4th Judicial Circuit's Public Defender's Office's investigative notes on the Chiasson case, when the original grand theft report was written in August, it contained the identification details for an Ashley Odessa Chiasson. That Ashley Chiasson is more than two years older and about five inches taller than the woman the sheriff's office extradited and tossed in the calaboose Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! . The Ashley Chiasson the office actually was seeking also spent time in Louisiana, according to the notes. After the original theft report was written, it was set to be transferred to the sheriff office's "general investigations" section. "At some point between the original report by Deputy (G.B.) Ward and the investigation by Detective (M.J.) Mertz, the date of birth, physical description and Louisiana ID card for Ashley O. was deleted and the date of birth, physical description and Florida ID # for Ashley N. was added to the investigation," the notes state. That incorrect information was submitted for an arrest warrant in October and in January Ashley N. Chiasson was booked into Clay County's jail. |
| Posted by:Fred |