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Letter to the editor

Sheriff's Office punishes deputy

This is not the first time the office has investigated the activities of Shane Collinsworth.

By JACOB H. FRIES
Published May 7, 2005

A Pinellas sheriff's deputy who admitted having sex with the accuser of a crime he investigated will be suspended for five days without pay.

An internal probe found Deputy Shane Collinsworth had violated the agency's standard of conduct and compromised his investigation. Collinsworth, 36, a midnight-shift patrol deputy, will begin his suspension May 13, sheriff's spokesman Mac McMullen said.

Collinsworth said in a February deposition that he had developed a sexual relationship with a woman he met while investigating her claim of domestic violence.

The woman's boyfriend, Thomas L. Sand, struck a deal with prosecutors last week in which he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and received a year of probation. Sand's attorney, John Trevena, claims prosecutors agreed to the deal in part because of Collinsworth's connection to the accuser.

A message left on Collinsworth's department-issued cellular phone was not returned.

Collinsworth, in his four years with the agency, has received several letters of commendation, but has also been the subject of numerous internal investigations. Among them were complaints that in 2003 he threatened a male friend of his estranged wife and in 2004 threatened the boyfriend of a woman he had dated.

Sheriff's detectives were unable to substantiate either claim.

On Thursday, the Sheriff's Office erroneously said that the internal review of Collinsworth's behavior was incomplete.

Jacob H. Fries can be reached at 445-4156 or jfries@sptimes.com

[Last modified May 7, 2005, 01:02:18]