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Karen Maloof spent a year learning to play golf in anticipation of a trip to Ireland with her husband. But as they sat at the gate at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta for their flight to Europe in May 2023, she was met by armed federal agents and police dogs.
Unbeknownst to her, she had a warrant out for her arrest for stealing a U-Haul in Palm Bay, Florida. The problem? She had not stolen a U-Haul, nor had she even been to Palm Bay.
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Nonetheless, she says, cops paraded her through the airport in handcuffs and threw her into a Clayton County Jail, where she spent three days in a cell with meth addicts and confused as to why she was there.
Now Maloof, 54, of Georgia, is suing the Palm Bay Police Department for unlawful arrest and malicious prosecution. According to the lawsuit filed this month in the U.S. Middle District of Florida, the mix-up began back in 2017 she reported her driver’s license stolen.
The ID resurfaced on Nov. 13, 2022, when thieves used it to rent a U-Haul online. They also submitted a fake telephone number, email address and physical address in Florida that did not match Maloof’s actual address in Georgia to complete the rental, the lawsuit said.
The crooks also provided a “selfie” photograph that was supposed to look like Maloof — but, according to the lawsuit, actually bore little resemblance.
After the truck was not returned, U-Haul sent a letter to the Florida address demanding the return of the vehicle but it was rejected because said address did not exist, the lawsuit said. Then U-Haul filed a report with Palm Bay police to pursue criminal charges against Maloof.
Maloof’s lawyers argue that “no reasonable police officer could have investigated the available evidence and concluded that Maloof was the suspect in the U-Haul theft.” Nonetheless, Palm Bay police Officer Cody Spaulding “without further inquiry” completed a probable cause arrest affidavit on charges of grand theft of a motor vehicle and failure to return hired or leased property, according to the lawsuit.
Maloof’s attorneys allege Spaulding failed to spot “obvious red flags,” such as the difference between the ID photos provided to U-Haul and between the Florida address and her actual address in Georgia, and the fact that U-Haul never had any in-person contact with the plaintiff. In addition, the email address and phone number the suspects provided to U-Haul had no correlation to Maloof, per the lawsuit.
Prosecutors obtained an indictment on the charges, but that was based on bad information, according to the complaint.
“The indictment would not have been returned but for Defendant Spaulding’s constitutionally deficient investigation, conclusory statements, false statements, material omissions, and false testimony,” the lawsuit said. “Defendant Spaulding’s investigation was grossly insufficient and failed to meet the most basic standards of investigative techniques.”
Following her arrest, Maloof was not allowed to eat for 24 hours, and when she did jail guards gave her a “plastic bag of rancid lunch meat and wet white bread,” the lawsuit said. She also was subject to a full body cavity search and was forced to take a nude shower with other inmates, her lawyers wrote. When she asked corrections officers why she was there, they allegedly told her to “shut up.” Maloof was set to spend several days being extradited to Florida with other inmates, but she was able to bond out about three days after her arrest.
Armed with the facts, prosecutors dropped the case against Maloof on May 31, 2023. It’s unclear if the actual suspects were arrested in the case.
According to the complaint, Maloof seeks compensatory damages as well as punitive damages for Spaulding’s “intentional and grossly negligent wrongful actions.”
Palm Bay police did not return a request for comment. Maloof’s attorneys declined comment to Florida Politics, which first reported on the suit.