A Monroe County woman has filed a federal lawsuit against Monroe County and a former sheriff’s deputy for an alleged wrongful arrest and conviction.
Cynthia Verdise Fuller’s lawsuit claims former Monroe County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Eric Sloan wrongly arrested and signed affidavits against her in 2013 and later, in a separate case, tried to extort $10,000.
Sloan no longer works with the department, but still works as part-time police chief for the Hatley Police Department.
Fuller filed the suit last Friday in U.S. District Court in Aberdeen.
Jim Waide, Fuller’s attorney, said she came to him while her case was still working through the court system.
“She was mad about being arrested for something she knew she didn’t do,” Waide told The Dispatch. “She had enough because her case kept getting put off and she was very upset she couldn’t get it to trial. That’s when she came to me.”
According to the lawsuit, Fuller was wrongfully indicted in 2013 for possession of more than 30 grams of marijuana within 1,500 feet of a church or school and for possession of a firearm by a previously-convicted felon. Fuller’s previous conviction stems from a 1994 conviction of possession of a controlled substance.
The 2013 charges came after Sloan and other law enforcement officers arrested Fuller outside of her boyfriend’s Amory residence. The boyfriend, Unseld Parks, told law enforcement officers in a statement that was included in the lawsuit that neither the drugs or gun belonged to Fuller. Fuller did not have a key to the home, according to the lawsuit.
The suit also alleges that Sloan refused to give Fuller her prescription medicine for pain while she was incarcerated.
The case was eventually dismissed.
Fuller’s lawsuit alleges it was dismissed because of “false information” from Sloan.
The lawsuit further claims that Sloan attempted to extort $10,000 from a suspect during the course of an investigation into home invasion and $235,000 burglary case.
According to the lawsuit, Stephanie Herring, a suspect in the burglary case, told Monroe County investigators that Sloan tried to extort her into getting $10,000 from BJ Williams, another suspect, “in order for Deputy Sloan to take his kids to Disney World.”
Lawsuit documents allege Sloan was shot the same day Herring told him where $80,000 of the money was in Nettleton. Sloan and Monroe County authorities claim he was shot by a man on a red motorcycle on a Monroe County highway.
The suit alleges Sloan was likely shot by someone in Nettleton.
Sheriff responds
Monroe County Sheriff Cecil Cantrell defended Sloan and fiercely denied the lawsuit’s allegations when contacted by The Dispatch earlier this month.
“This is just a ploy to get money out of the county,” Cantrell said. “That’s all it is. If they can prove any of that, they’re withholding evidence from us. They need to bring it to us. There is no physical proof that he was shot in Nettleton. We’d never even heard of that, up to this point … I think it’s a total lie because there’s no proof of it.”
Cantrell said Sloan left the department on “good terms” in December due to safety concerns for his family.
Cantrell contended that Fuller was staying with Parks around the time of the incident. He said law enforcement officers had seen her there through surveillance of the property.
“We just assumed that she lived there,” he said.
Cantrell said he believes Sloan and will continue to stand with his former deputy unless evidence proves otherwise.
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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