Charlotte County deputy arrested on aggravated stalking charge

A Charlotte County deputy has been arrested on a charge of aggravated stalking.

Sheriff Bill Prummell said Deputy David Motz, 31, was stalking a woman he was previously involved with.

“As part of the complaint, she alleged that Deputy Motz had been pursuing, harassing, and threatening her for some time,” Prummell said.

The victim and Motz dated off and on for two years, and the victim’s mother told WINK News the deputy tried to rekindle the relationship one more time.

Even with Motz’s arrest, the victim’s family is worried about what could happen next.

“I’m worried about what he’s going to do. If he’s going to try to retaliate, get back at her,” the mother said.

According to the Probable Cause Affidavit, “the victim said the defendant told her that if he was to lose his job, due to her reporting his harassment, she would, ‘end up like Denise Amber Lee.’ The victim took this to mean that she would be kidnapped, raped and murdered.”

“Oh my gosh, it blew my mind, made me a nervous wreck. I’m worried that he’s going to try to do something,” the mother said.

Nathan Lee, Denise Lee’s husband, was horrified to hear someone would use his wife’s murder as a threat.

“It’s terrifying to think that there are people out there that will, they’ll do those types of things, or at least threaten those types of things, or especially use my wife, as, you know, leverage,” he said.

The victim, who has a young child, also reported that Motz pointed his department-issued Taser at her, turned it on, and threatened to use it during an argument in June 2019.

The victim provided numerous emails, call logs and voicemails from Motz, showing she repeatedly asked him to stop contacting her, but he “ignored her wishes and continued to call, show up at her work, email her and follow her to different locations in and around North Port.” At least once, he showed up in his patrol car while in uniform and on duty, most recently on Tuesday at a Goodwill store.

“It just went on and on and on. It is not once in a while, it’s every day. It’s every day,” the victim’s mother said.

The affidavit states Motz also dropped off gifts and deposited $1,000 into her account, which she returned each time.

Motz was booked Wednesday into the Charlotte County Jail. A judge on Thursday morning set Motz’s bond at $1,500 and said he is to have no contact with the victim. Motz was released from jail just hours later.

The victim’s family hopes Motz stays away.

“It’s about time now. Maybe she can get some peace. And so she wants us to be left alone,” the victim’s mother said.

Prummell said Motz has been placed on administrative leave without pay pending the outcome of the investigation.

Denise Amber Lee was a stay-at-home mom who was kidnapped, raped and murdered in 2008. Her case stunned Southwest Florida after it was learned she was on the phone with Charlotte County dispatchers for more than nine minutes while in her kidnapper’s car but she could not be located.

Lee’s death led to changes in technology and an upgrade in Charlotte County’s 911 services.

New technology can send your location to 911 dispatchers