By Bob Norman, FloridaBulldog
A former labor agent for the Broward Deputy Sheriffs Association was awarded $4 million in damages Wednesday following a trial in which she alleged her former supervisor at the union drugged and sexually assaulted her while she was incapacitated during a work-related trip to Las Vegas in 2021.
The woman, whose name has been kept confidential due to the nature of the case, testified that she later learned from other union officials that her assailant, then-Broward Sheriff’s Deputy Frank Voudy III, who served as treasurer of the union, also took photos of her lying naked and unconscious under a table in her hotel room.
The married Voudy denied he drugged the woman and claimed the two had a booze-soaked but consensual sexual encounter during the May 2021 union-paid trip to a law enforcement seminar.
The jury deliberated for about three hours Wednesday before awarding the woman the $4 million in damages, with $3 million of that split between the Broward union, Local 620, and its national affiliate, the International Union of Police Associations (IUPA). The remaining $1 million is to be paid by Voudy, who was described as “stone-faced” upon hearing the verdict.
“This was a case where it was blatantly obvious the union “did not take care of its employee and allowed this horrible thing that happened,” said plaintiff’s lawyer Adriana Alcalde, who tried the case with attorney Tonja Haddad Coleman. “And the jury got it right.”
Union attorney Jose Javier Rodriguez, who is currently running for Florida Attorney General, said a written statement regarding the verdict would be sent to the Florida Bulldog. This article will be updated when the statement is received.
The presiding judge was Broward Circuit Judge Keathen Frink.
Voudy was suspended with pay in October 2021 for the allegations in this case. In January 2024, he resigned in lieu of termination. One year later, after he quit, he was terminated for theft of money from the union, according to attorney Haddad Coleman.
Court records show Voudy and the woman, identified only as Jane Doe at trial, went for a drink on the last night of the trip. Jane Doe said she had a sip of Jägermeister and suspected Voudy drugged her, causing her to black out. Voudy claimed they both drank multiple shots of Jägermeister, with him personally consuming nine shots.
Jane Doe, whose long-time boyfriend was a Broward deputy, later woke up fully clothed in her room. After an altercation in the hallway of the hotel with Voudy, security was called, and she asked that she be given a new room farther away from Voudy’s room. She also had her airplane seat changed so she wouldn’t have to sit with him on the flight back to Florida.
VOUDY SHOWS THE PHOTO
Still, she had no idea there’d been a sexual assault, Alcalde said. Upon their return, the woman alleged Voudy harassed her by contacting her on her phone and on social media, at one point sending her a “graphic email” before asking her to delete it.
“Plaintiff repeatedly asked Voudy to stop contacting her other than for work purposes, but Voudy’s behavior continued,” the complaint states. “Voudy began involving himself into [her] job duties that were unrelated to his job duties so that Plaintiff would be forced to work with him.”
It was only then that Doe complained about Voudy’s behavior to union leadership, which consisted of deputies Jeff Bell, Jason Zehler and Juan “Tony” Hierrezuelo at the time. When they questioned Voudy in September 2021, he said there was a drunken but consensual encounter in his hotel room during which he was unable to perform sexually due to the alcohol he’d consumed. Voudy also showed them a photo of Doe that he’d snapped at the time in an attempt to show the act was consensual and he didn’t “beat the shit out of her,” testified Hierrezuelo in a deposition.
Hierrezuelo, who has since retired, said he was shown a partial photo – with graphic parts blocked – of an apparently unconscious and nude Doe lying on the floor.
The revelation, said Hierrezuelo, caused the union to immediately remove Voudy from the union board. It was only when union officials told Doe of the photo, that she realized she’d been sexually assaulted and, according to the lawsuit, caused her to feel “distraught, shocked, and beyond humiliated.”
Doe was terminated by the union in January 2022 “for the purpose of punishing [her] for seeking to assert her right to be free from harassment, discrimination, and retaliation in her employment.”
Voudy filed an unsuccessful counterclaim against Doe claiming her allegations were false and “subjected him to ridicule and contempt in his personal and professional capacity.”
Doe filed complaints with both the Las Vegas Police Department and Broward Sheriff’s Office internal affairs. The photograph that was shown to union leaders was never recovered by law enforcement, said attorney Coleman Haddad, when Voudy refused to share the passcode of his phone.
While no criminal charges have been filed, administrative charges of improperly photographing Doe’s nude body and conduct unbecoming an employee were sustained in the internal investigation. Voudy also faced allegations that he and now-former union officials Bell and Zehler misspent union funds. He was terminated in 2024.
“I’ve never been so happy to see justice served,” said Coleman Haddad. “We’re so happy this victim was believed. Those who are sworn to uphold the law are not above it.”
Leave a Reply