Hillsborough jail deputy formally charged with abuse

TAMPA -- The Hillsborough State Attorney's Office filed a formal charge against detention Deputy Charlette Marshall-Jones today, two months after she was arrested in connection with the videotaped incident in which a man was tossed from his wheelchair to be searched.

Marshall-Jones faces one count of abuse of a disabled person, a third-degree felony that carries a maximum punishment of five years in prison.

Brian Sterner, 32, was being booked into Orient Road Jail on Jan. 29 when surveillance cameras showed Marshall-Jones pushing him from his chair to the floor, then conducting a body search of the paralyzed man before hoisting him back in his chair.

Marshall-Jones resigned from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, saying she never intended to inflict malicious harm on anyone.

Colleen Jenkins, Times staff writer