By Liz Holland

A deputy with the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office has been arrested following complaints of sexual assault from a woman he detained while on the job, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Steven Victor Abreu, 30, was charged with second-degree rape, fourth-degree sexual offense, second-degree assault, false imprisonment, sexual contact while a person is in law enforcement custody and misconduct in office, according to charging documents filed in District Court.

Abreu had been employed by the Sheriff’s Office for less than a year. He has since been terminated.

On Sunday, Oct. 30, a woman “who was visibly upset and shaking as she spoke” reported to the sheriff’s office that she and a friend met in the Kohl’s parking lot around 1 a.m. on Oct. 26 when a deputy in a marked vehicle pulled up behind them and told them they were not allowed to be there after the store had closed, according to court records.

The deputy had a brief conversation with the friend and then released him. The woman said the deputy then asked for her identification and told her to get out of the vehicle so he could search for illegal substances. When the woman complied, he frisked her, using his hands to grab her breasts and buttocks, the charging documents said.

The woman was then instructed to get back in the vehicle and the deputy reached through the window and put his hands inside her clothing and fondled her genitals and breasts. The woman told investigators that she did not consent to any of the acts and that she was afraid to leave or try to fight him.

When her friend phoned her to find out how she was, the woman said she told the deputy it was her babysitter and that she needed to get home to her kids, according to court records. She left after he wrote his phone number on a piece of paper and gave it to her.

The woman said the deputy called her and sent several text messages which she deleted. She also blocked his number.

Two days after the initial contact at Kohl’s, the woman said she was followed home from work by a marked sheriff’s office vehicle with its emergency lights turned on. She pulled over and stopped on northbound Route 13 at Foskey Lane in Delmar. The deputy told her she had a tag light out and then reached through the window and grabbed her by the jaw.

“She said that he then let her go and told her that he would see her again and that she was not to tell anyone about their interactions,” according to the court records.

The next day, Oct. 29, the woman’s fiancé drove her to work. When he returned to pick her up, there was a Sheriff’s Office vehicle in the parking lot. The fiancé recorded video of the vehicle which then departed and went into an adjacent gas station, records show.

On Oct. 30, the woman reported the incidents to the sheriff’s office.

Abreu was being held without bond pending a preliminary hearing on Nov. 29 in District Court, according to online court records.

The investigation remains open and ongoing. Anyone with additional information is asked to contact Detective Kirkpatrick with the Criminal Investigation Division at 410-548-4898.