‘Totally illegal’ attorney says he plans to sue Marion County Sheriff’s Office
By Hayley Crombleholme
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MARION COUNTY, Fla. (WESH) — Two members of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office are accused of detaining one of their own and violating his rights against warrantless searches and seizures.
“Illegal arrest, illegal detention, illegal search, illegal everything. Literally the whole case is totally illegal,” Attorney Anthony Sabatini said of an incident involving his client, Jeremiah Ricketts, a deputy with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
According to an arrest report from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, Ricketts’ wife is also a Marion County deputy, and in December 2025, she requested law enforcement retrieve her patrol car and equipment she left inside of it from their home in Grand Island because of their “current domestic situation.”
The report says she told deputies the items that should have been inside included a rifle, a pistol, a duty belt, and more.
According to administrative review documents from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, Lt. Benjamen Adams and Sgt. Jeffrey Boyles picked up the patrol car, but didn’t find the equipment inside.
The review documents say they went back to the home and confronted Ricketts, who the arrest reports claim was “currently on suspension”. But disciplinary documents for Ricketts shared by the Sheriff’s Office only seem to show an eight-hour suspension from 2024.
“You can use that keypad, go get the gear, show us where it is. We are collecting the gear,” one of the members of the sheriff’s office can be heard saying in body camera video of the encounter.
The exchange goes on, and Ricketts is told he’s being detained.
“You have authority to detain in Lake County?” Ricketts asks.
“Yes, I do,” a member of the sheriff’s office said.
Ricketts was ultimately put in handcuffs.
Though it’s redacted from the body camera video released by the sheriff’s office, administrative review documents said Ricketts handcuffs were removed and he, Boyles and Adams went into the home, but didn’t find the equipment and says after Adams “becomes accusatory” and asks what he did with the equipment, Ricketts asked them to leave his house saying he does not consent to any of this.
From there, it says Ricketts was handcuffed again, and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office was called out. Their arrest report says ultimately some of the missing items were found inside the home, and that Ricketts was being charged with armed burglary, grand theft of police equipment, and grand theft of a firearm.
Sabatini represented Ricketts in that case, which ultimately wouldn’t go forward. The State Attorney’s Office filed an announcement of no information on the grounds that the evidence was legally insufficient to prove guilt.
“I was thrown out because it was a completely illegal behavior by the police,” Sabatini said.
In an interview with Boyles included in the administrative review documents, Boyles said he believed the Florida statute related to “Fresh Pursuit” gave them the authority to detain Ricketts, as did Adams in his own interview.
Adams also said he believed that he did not coerce Ricketts.
Documents from the sheriff’s office say Boyles and Adams were found to violate warrantless searches and seizures, dereliction of duty, and use of discretion by supervisors.
Documents shared by the sheriff’s office say Adams was demoted to sergeant and suspended for 30 days. Boyles was demoted to corporal and suspended for 20 days. The sheriff’s office said they have appealed those findings.
WESH 2 asked Sabatini about his client’s current status with the department. He said he is on administrative leave. The Sheriff’s Office has not confirmed Ricketts current status with the department.
Sabatini said he plans to file a civil lawsuit against the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
“Unlawful detention, unlawful arrest, the were no jurisdiction. There was no basis for what they did; they violated his rights to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures, they came into his house illegally, so there was a lot going on there was a lot of different constitutional violations in this case,” Sabatini said.
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