Officer Arthur Lewis Performing 'Exam' On Girl

[WaTcHeR]

12.06.2006 - A 37-year-old police officer in Longwood, Fla., was arrested on suspicion he performed a lewd and lascivious act on a young girl, authorities told Local 6 News.

Lewis was dispatched to a home last month after receiving a call from the grandparents of a 14-year-old girl who suspected she was having sex with her boyfriend.

The girl said Lewis questioned her about having sex with her boyfriend and asked her if she had been "checked," the report said.

"She then stated that he told her to remove her pants," Longwood police Officer Herb Stewartson said. "And then he performed some type of what you can think of as an exam. It is a shock and completely out of left field. Nobody expected this."

Investigators believed the girl's story to be credible, the report said.

"It is one of those things that comes down as a he said, she said," Stewartson said. "The unfortunate part with this is that we are held to a higher standard. We have to have the public's trust."

Lewis was terminated from his job at the Longwood Police Department, Local 6 News reported.

"I have no comment," Lewis said Monday night. "I will have my day in court."

Lewis was hired by the Longwood Police Department on March 23.

www.local6.com/news/10463101/detail.html

[nocops]

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. -- Eyewitness News has learned a Longwood police officer arrested and fired for allegedly inappropriately touching a teenager has been investigated before. A woman who worked with Officer Art Lewis as a police dispatcher in Altamonte Springs called Channel 9 on Tuesday.

In an internal affairs report of a he said she said incident when Arthur Lewis was a dispatcher at the Altamonte Springs Police Department, a female co-worker says he pinned her in a corner, pulled up her shirt and groped her.

"It was horrible. I ended up leaving and pursuing another career because of it," Melissa Jackson told Eyewitness News on Tuesday.

Jackson believes Lewis is getting what's coming to him. He was arrested Monday for allegedly fondling a 14-year-old while on duty with Longwood police, but Jackson said the alleged actions are nothing new for Lewis, after what she says happened during an overnight shift at Altamonte Police Department.

"It was probably three or four in the morning. He called me into the break room, the kitchen, and he cornered me and proceeded to inappropriately touch me," Jackson said.

An internal affairs report found there was not enough evidence to take action against Lewis back in 2003, but the report shows she complained that Lewis continually asked to see her breasts until finally groping her.

"I started to cry. I was in shock and he was bigger than me, so there wasn't much I could do," she said.

Jackson resigned her position after being forced to continue working with Lewis, saying she felt intimidated and concerned for her safety. She said, today, she wished she'd taken a firmer stance then.

"He doesn't deserve to be a police officer," she said.

Lewis denied the allegations during the investigation, saying he was never even attracted to Jackson. He's also denied the allegations of the 14-year-old girl he's accused of fondling.

Lewis bonded out of jail Monday night facing charges related to the 14-year-old. In that case, he responded to a call from grandparents who found their 14-year-old at home with her boyfriend. Police said Lewis questioned the teen alone and she admitted to having sex with him. The girl claims Lewis told her to drop her pants so he could examine her for sexually-transmitted diseases.

Lewis is charged with a lewd and lascivious act on a minor.

www.wftv.com/news/10470310/detail.html?rss=orlc&psp=news