Sheriff T-shirt lands woman in trouble

Kimberly Sult wore a T-shirt from her former job to the store. Now she faces a misdemeanor charge.

[Times photo: Fred Victorin] Kimberly Sult was wearing a shirt like this when deputies told her she was guilty of a misdemeanor.

By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 20, 2001

ST. PETERSBURG -- Kimberly Sult's 16-month-old boy needed milk. So last Thursday night, she and two friends drove to the store.

She didn't give the T-shirt she wore a second thought.

Sult, 24, bought it at a uniform shop when she worked as a civilian jail employee for the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.

The word "sheriff" is emblazoned across the front of the black shirt in 5-inch yellow letters and a large badge is on the back with the words "Pinellas County Sheriff's Office."

Dressed in sandals, jean shorts and the untucked shirt and her hair quickly tied in a ponytail, Sult said she looked like a frazzled mom, not a deputy.

Two deputies at the store thought otherwise.

They told Sult she was guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail: wearing an item that might fool a "reasonable" person into thinking she works for law enforcement.

Deputies said Sult also lied to them, saying she was still a sheriff's employee. Sult denied doing so.

Soon, Sult was forced to take the T-shirt off and put on a replacement in a restroom as a female deputy watched. The shirt was now evidence. It was photographed by a forensic unit called during the two-hour investigation.

"I was just absolutely stunned," said the St. Petersburg resident. "I mean, they don't have better things to do than go around looking for people wearing T-shirts? There isn't enough real crime to investigate?"

Deputy J.R. Davis, who declined to comment, issued Sult a notice to appear in court on the misdemeanor rather than arresting her.

Sult was charged using the same law that a different Pinellas deputy applied in 1998 in charging a man for wearing a cap with the initials LAPD.

Prosecutors dropped the charge against that man the same day it hit the newspaper. Sheriff Everett Rice even offered an apology, saying the deputy should have used better judgment.

Rice could not be reached to comment Tuesday.

"When is Sheriff Rice going to realize the citizens of Pinellas County don't want their tax dollars squandered on clothing enforcement?" said Sult's attorney, John Trevena, who also represented the LAPD cap defendant.

"He should direct his resources to real crime."

Pinellas Chief Deputy Jim Coats said Sult lied to Davis, the deputy at the scene, by saying she still worked for the sheriff, though she left Oct. 25, 1999, after less than a year with the office.

Absent that lie, he said, and she might never have been charged.

Sult denied lying, saying, "I clearly remember telling them that I used to work for the Sheriff's Office but no longer did."

Coats said Davis approached Sult after seeing her at the RaceTrac gas station and convenience store on 54th Avenue N in St. Petersburg.

The officer, thinking Sult a sheriff's employee, decided to approach her about her dress.

"She was wearing jeans, sandals," Coats said. "The deputy was concerned and wanted to let her know policy prohibits her dressing like that" while wearing the T-shirt.

He said she soon admitted she wasn't an employee.

Coats also said that Tonya Pruitt, a friend who waited in the car when Sult went into the store, told deputies she had been led to believe by Sult that she was still a sheriff's employee.

But Pruitt, in an interview, denied saying that, and said she knew her friend had long since left the Sheriff's Office.

"I think the one thing you have to consider is that this particular shirt is official issue uniform," said Coats. "It's not like something you buy in Penneys."

In fact, the T-shirt is not standard issue, Sult said. Sult said she bought it at the Americana Uniform Co. on Ulmerton Road. Coats acknowledged that Sult purchased it there when she worked for the sheriff.

Coats said the T-shirts aren't available to the public.

But a St. Petersburg Times reporter purchased an identical shirt at the store for $16 without being asked if he was a sheriff's employee.

Store owner Anita Struzik said her store only sells the T-shirt and other police uniforms to deputies who show identification. The sale to the reporter was an accident, she said.

"They're making a great big issue over nothing," Struzik said. "What are they supposed to do? When they quit the Sheriff's Office, you should pitch it in the trash? That's silly."

Prosecutors have not made a decision on pursuing the case.

Sult said she is now employed as a teacher's aide, leaving the Sheriff's Office after being sexually harassed by a supervisor.

That supervisor was reprimanded for making inappropriate comments.

Sult said deputies apparently missed the bumper sticker on her 1990 Ford Escort with the message: "Support Law Enforcement."

Said Sult, "If they had seen it, they would have towed my car, too."

Recent coverage

Man arrested for wearing cap sues Pinellas (April 7, 2000)

Sheriff sorry, charge gone in cap arrest (November 13, 1998)

For wearing LAPD cap, he got matching cuffs (November 12, 1998)

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