‘It doesn’t make me feel good:’ JSO officer arrested using database for personal use

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Developing tonight -- the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office is investigating an arrest involving one of their own. Sheriff T.K. Waters said an officer resigned today after he was accused of breaking the law by using a police database for personal reasons.

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In a news briefing today, Waters said this is the 6th officer arrested within the agency.

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Waters said Allen Lesage was arrested on a 3rd-degree felony charge. He said on May 20th, an internal audit revealed Lesage used a driver’s database for personal reasons, which is against the law.

“You’re trying to determine whether a car is stolen, [and] whether the people have a legitimate reason for being in a certain area,” Action News Jax Law and Safety Expert Dale Carson said.

Carson has over two decades of experience working as an FBI agent. He says officers have access to computers that allow them to type in a license plate number and get information – from who owns the vehicle to someone’s criminal history.

“And those computers have direct access to the Department of Motor Vehicles, they also have direct access now under the National Criminal index,” Carson said. “And if you were to use or gather that information for an improper purpose, it is a crime.”

ORIGINAL STORY: Jacksonville sheriff: Officer arrested after running car tags at ex-girlfriend’s apartment complex

Waters said on April 13, Lesage ran 15 license plates in a parking lot of an apartment complex where his ex-girlfriend lived. He was not on duty at the time, and Waters said accessing this data for non-work-related reasons is prohibited. He says no one is above the law.

“It doesn’t make me feel good,” Sheriff Waters said. “I mean you don’t want to arrest anyone, right? But, I think more importantly, it’s to show our public that we hold our police officers accountable – and corrections officers accountable when they do things they have not business doing, like violating the law. So when that happens we’re going to take action.”

Sheriff Waters said Lesage was with JSO for 6 years and 7 months. But as of today, he is no longer with the department.

Action News Jax obtained Lesage’s personnel record and found he’s been involved in three car accidents and one internal complaint from 2021. Two of the car accidents happened within a month of each other in 2018. The other, happened two years later. In all the incidents, Lesage was ordered to undergo counseling. He also had to do training after the car accidents.

Tomorrow, Lesage has a first appearance at nine in the morning.

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