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Flagler County sheriff's corporal charged with domestic violence, suspended, report says

News-Journal - 2/13/2021

A 14-year veteran with the rank of corporal at the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office was arrested Friday and charged with domestic battery, according to a press release and affidavit.

Mark Anthony Moy was assigned as a major case corporal in the Special Victims Unit of the Investigative Services Division, according to the release from the sheriff’s office.

Moy was booked into the Flagler County jail on Friday at 6:14 p.m. and released at 9:05 a.m. Saturday. He was charged with misdemeanor domestic battery.

Moy was suspended without pay and relieved of his duties as the sheriff’s office further investigates the incident.

“Sheriff Staly is extremely disappointed in his behavior,” Chief of Staff Mark Strobridge said. “Sheriff Staly has made the reduction of domestic violence a priority since becoming sheriff and this proves that no one is immune from it or from being arrested if they violate the law. Sheriff Staly does not condone this behavior and will not tolerate it from deputy sheriffs wearing a badge pledging to serve and protect.”

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The investigation began after the sheriff’s office received a call about a domestic disturbance around 3 a.m. on Friday in Palm Coast. The address is redacted from the report.

A 19-year-old woman left the residence and then called 911 to report that a family member had struck her in the face following an argument, the release said.

The woman said she went into the kitchen and opened a bag of potato chips, at which point Moy took a few chips and told her to give him the bag, the charging affidavit said. She said Moy began to call her names as he demanded the bag of potato chips, the affidavit said.

She then went into the garage to get a drink, but Moy continued to curse her and grabbed her by the shirt and neck with his hands, the report said.

She then went to her bedroom but said that Moy "broke down her door," entered the bedroom and again placed his hands around her neck and then slapped her with an open hand on the left side of her face, the affidavit said.

Another woman entered the bedroom and got between the two, the report stated.

The 19-year-old said she warned Moy to stop or she would call law enforcement. Moy then threw his cellphone at her and said “call them,” the affidavit said.

The victim said the woman then took the cellphone and said there was no need to call them, the report said.

Another Flagler County Sheriff’s Office deputy, John Jack Wallace Castanheira, had been visiting at the time. Castanheira walked into the bedroom and took Moy away, the affidavit said.

The 19-year-old woman said that she feared for her safety and that she was going to stay at her mother’s house and left, according to the affidavit.

When she was interviewed by a deputy, the 19-year-old had redness to the right side of her chest area, a minor cut/scratch at the base of her neck on the left side and “two distinct scratch marks centered on her neck” and bleeding on her left ear, underneath a round, yellow earring, the affidavit said.

She said she was having problems hearing out of her left ear, but when the deputy offered to call an ambulance, she said she didn't think it was needed at the time, according to the affidavit.

During the domestic violence risk assessment, the woman told deputies that Moy had never used a weapon against her and had never threatened to kill her, but that she did believe that he was “capable of killing her” and she feared for her safety after the incident, the affidavit said.

The deputy told her that the sheriff’s office would be conducting a full criminal investigation regardless of her desire, but asked her whether she wanted to press charges, the affidavit said. She said she wasn't sure.

When deputies spoke to Moy, he said that the incident never escalated to violence or became physical, the affidavit said.

Moy also said he did not remember what the argument was about, but that it was not over a bag of chips, the affidavit said. Moy said that the woman was being disrespectful.

He said that she went into the garage to get an alcoholic beverage and they argued and the argument continued into the bedroom, the affidavit said.

Moy was asked if the teen had ever made any false allegations against him or had any reason to lie to law enforcement and he replied that she “had not and does not” the affidavit said.

Moy, who referred to the incident as a "verbal altercation," said he did not know whether the 19-year-old had had any injuries before leaving the home and said he did not know she had left, the release said.

The woman who separated the two told deputies that she did hear a verbal dispute between them, entered the bedroom and separated them, but she said that at no time did she see anything physical happen between the pair, the affidavit said.

Castanheira was visiting the home at the time of the dispute but had left by the time other deputies arrived.

A deputy contacted Castanheira, who said he was in Orlando and would not be available for an interview until the afternoon, the affidavit said. Castanheira also was “clearly intoxicated,” when speaking to the other deputy, the affidavit said.

When reached by phone later on Friday, Castanheira told investigators that he heard the argument but could not “detail” what it was about, the affidavit said.

Castanheira said he did not see anything physical occur, the affidavit said. He said he did not hear anyone mention a physical altercation, the affidavit said.

Castanheira also said he did not remember seeing any injuries upon the 19-year-old when she left, the affidavit said.

Another person in the house said she had heard a verbal dispute, but did not have any other details, the affidavit said.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Flagler County sheriff's corporal charged with domestic violence, suspended, report says

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