No charges for Brevard deputies connected to admitted prostitute
Both men were removed from duty in September.
The state attorney’s office says that there is not enough evidence to pursue charges against two Brevard County sheriff’s deputies linked to an admitted prostitute at the center of a deputy-involved shooting.
Prosecutors declined to pursue the cases against former deputies Larry Dale Blair and Raymond Tyler Sutherland after a review showed that the allegations likely could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, even though both men provided incriminating information. Other obstacles, including a lack of testimony from the woman, Mary DeRossett, would hinder the case, officials said in a statement released today.
“Under the overall circumstances surrounding this case, the state will not be in a position to present the testimony of Mary DeRossett, the person who allegedly engaged in prostitution with the defendant(s),” State Attorney Phil Archer wrote.
Both men were removed from duty in September.
The dismissals came nearly a month after the Aug. 20 shooting of Deputy John ‘Casey’ Smith. Smith and two other law enforcement agents were attempting to carry out DeRossett's arrest as part of a sex sting operation. DeRossett was working as a prostitute in her Port St. John home.
DeRossett was sentenced to 180 days in jail and 18 months of probation Oct. 5 after pleading no contest to prostitution and resisting charges. Her 65-year-old uncle, John DeRossett, remains jailed on attempted first-degree murder with great harm in connection with the shooting of Agent Smith. Smith was shot in the lower abdomen, just below his protective vest.
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Smith was released from the hospital after a month-long hospital stay. He continues to recover.
Records show that on the night of the shooting, Mary DeRossett yelled after the agents attempted to arrest her, prompting her uncle to run out of another room.
John DeRossett told investigators raced out of his bedroom to see what was happening and saw three men surrounding his niece. He went back to retrieve his gun, stepped out, firing several rounds. DeRossett later said he was protecting his home and did not know the men were deputies, records show.
The case took a turn for the scandalous after investigators connected Mary DeRossett to Blair, who had been with the department since 2000, and Sutherland who joined the agency in 2013. Investigators said one of the Brevard deputies even texted Mary DeRossett nearly 15 minutes prior to the shooting.
Contact Gallop at 321-242-3642, jdgallop@floridatoday.com or Twitter@JDGallop