A Lake County judge has unsealed the arrest affidavit in a case in which a decorated deputy was charged with soliciting a prostitute.
The State Attorney’s office had previously asked the judge to seal the arrest records of Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy Scott Stone who was arrested July 13.
A confidential source contacted the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and reported a friend was being paid by a deputy for sex. Detectives launched an investigation and found the 40-year-old woman who claimed she had been solicited by the deputy.
The woman said she met Stone when he responded to a domestic dispute. Stone and the woman exchanged phone numbers during the call for service. Two days after the exchange of phone numbers the woman received an unsolicited photograph from Stone’s personal phone number which showed him standing in front of a mirror while completely nude, according to the affidavit of probable cause. A day or two later he called her to see if she wanted to “hang out.” She agreed.
She told the detectives that Stone picked her up in a dark-colored SUV and asked her for sex. He drove the SUV to a Circle K where he withdrew cash. They went to a Home Depot parking lot where they had sex. He paid the woman $80, according to the affidavit.
In addition, the woman told the detectives that she was paid $80 by Stone for sex in the parking lot of a Walgreens pharmacy in Tavares. She went on to tell the detectives that she had sex with Stone in a vacant house at the end of University Avenue in Leesburg on or about Jan. 14. She said that he was nervous that day because he was on duty and in uniform when they had sex.
When the detectives made contact with Stone, he agreed to talk to them. When asked if he had ever sent a nude photo to anyone he met while on a call for service, he said he did not. When he was shown the photo, he admitted it was his picture. He confessed he had sex with the woman, but he said he only gave her money for food. He also denied having sex with the woman while on duty, according to to detectives’ report.
The detectives obtained a search warrant for Stone’s cell phone which revealed that he had texted the woman on Jan. 10 when he stated, “Oh yeah. I’m definitely coming by. Is 80 cool again?” He suggested returning to Walgreens for the rendezvous.
“Yes we can do it at Walgreens. It’s exciting doing it in public to me….lol,” the woman texted back.
Stone is due back in Lake County Court at 9 a.m. Aug. 29.
