SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — An attorney for a Seminole County man says his client needs to get shoulder and back surgery after deputies handcuffed him on shoplifting accusations back in June.
The problem? The man was innocent.
An incident report says deputies went to the Lake Mary-area home of Victor Gordillo, 47, who had just returned from the Army Reserve hours before.
The deputies had been informed by Oviedo Police that Gordillo stole some items – shrimp or wine, depending on who you ask – from the Winn Dixie on Lockwood Boulevard.
Body camera video shows the deputies knocking on the door and identifying themselves. They tried to coax Gordillo out of the house, saying it was a matter that needed to be discussed in private.
Gordillo’s wife refused. The deputies then pushed past her and wrangled Gordillo to the ground under threat of being tased.
As Gordillo, who told them he was disabled before they barged in, cried in pain, deputies called for firefighters to take him to the hospital.
Only then did they figure out they had the wrong man.
“[An Oviedo Police officer] informed me that the wrong information for the suspect was provided to Seminole County Deputies,” one deputy wrote into their report.
The actual suspect: Victor W. Gordillo, 70.
“How my client’s name, his address, got into anyone’s system is beyond me,” Gordillo’s attorney, Daniel Faherty, said.
An Oviedo Police spokesman declined to comment on the case, citing a lawsuit Faherty said was in the process of being filed, but indicated their actual suspect was the younger Gordillo’s father, who indeed has the same name.
However, Faherty said Gordillo’s father lives far from the store and does not own the type of car and license plate police said the store manager provided to them after the theft. Deputies noted they did not see the suspect car when they made the home visit to the younger Gordillo.
“I have no idea [who the suspect is] other than what the manager of the store told me, which was an average height, white man,” Faherty said, pointing out that the younger Gordillo was well above average height.
WFTV attempted to speak to the store manager about the suspect, but he was not present on the day a reporter stopped by.
Prosecutors said they dropped the shoplifting case because the store did not provide enough video and photo evidence.
“[Gordillo’s] children that still live in his home are mortified… any knock at the door and my client basically goes right back to where he was when he was doing his tours, which is, protect yourself and your family, because you don’t know what’s out there,” Faherty said. “They have never lived their lives like that in this country.”
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