Hendry Sheriff’s sergeant receives probation for contempt of court

FORT MYERS, Fla. A Hendry County Sheriff’s sergeant was sentenced to six months
months probation Monday after being found guilty of contempt of court, the state attorney’s office said.

Sgt. Robert Archer must also pay a $1,000 fine and serve 10 days in the Hendry County Sheriff’s Office Weekend Work Program, according to the state attorney’s office.

The finding stems from a case that Archer, a 14 year law enforcement veteran, investigated in July 2016.

Court documents show Archer sought a judge’s approval to search a trailer, but the judge didn’t sign the search warrant. Archer searched the trailer anyway, leading to multiple drug-related charges against its occupant that wound up being dropped.

Archer’s attorney, Lee Hollander, said in December that the allegation that Archer performed the search is “completely false.”

“He towed the vehicle, didn’t search it,” Hollander said. “He towed it pursuant to policy and it was searched by another deputy at the impound lot.”

Judge Scott H. Cupp found the probable cause affidavit Archer wrote to be confusing and misleading, the state attorney’s office said.

Monday’s ruling found that Archer made a “conscious willful decision to alter the information in the probable cause affidavit,” the state attorney’s office said.

Cupp found Archer’s statement that “he was going to engage in some ‘creative writing’ particularly troubling and offensive,” according to the state attorney’s office.

Archer was earlier found not guilty of official misconduct and three counts of perjury.