Deputy fired, arrested on stalking charges

Tallahassee, Florida -- A Leon County deputy was arrested June 10 on a misdemeanor charge of stalking, the same day he was fired after an unrelated internal-affairs investigation, said Tony Drzewiecki, spokesman for the Sheriff's Office.

Eldridge "Lee" Fuller, 38, was arrested on charges of stalking and harassing communications and booked at the Leon County Jail, Drzewiecki said. He was placed on pre-trial release June 11.

The Sheriff's Office began an investigation after receiving a complaint May 23 from a former girlfriend of Fuller's, Drzewiecki said. The woman said she and Fuller had an off-and-on relationship for five years that ended in 2007, but that he had continued to contact her after she told him to stop.

According to court records, Fuller sent the woman messages in May such as, "Where have you been? Who did you meet?" and "Why haven't you checked on me?" The woman said Fuller called and sent text messages "constantly" May 10 because she was with her boyfriend. Phone records confirmed her testimony, according to court records.

"(Investigators) discovered that his contact and continual inquiries to maintain contact with her had risen to the level of stalking," Drzewiecki said. This included sexually explicit texts sent to her on June 9, according to court records.

Fuller has a case-management conference set for Aug. 5. He was ordered to wear a global-positioning device and have no contact with the woman.

Meanwhile, an internal-affairs investigation found that Fuller violated standards of conduct, disregarded job duties and was untruthful in an unofficial proceeding, Drzewiecki said.

The investigation began after the Sheriff's Office received phone calls April 5 about a marked patrol car that had been parked outside a woman's residence on White Hill Lane for long periods of time, he said.

Lt. Todd McKissack drove to the residence and found Fuller's patrol car parked outside. McKissack asked dispatch to have Fuller state his location over the radio, and Fuller responded by saying he was at another location, Aenon Church Road and U.S. Highway 90, according to Sheriff's Office records.

Drzewiecki said that later, when McKissack asked Fuller what he had been doing, he said he was patrolling and doing business and house checks.

"(This) was determined to be untrue based on the watch commander's observations of Fuller parked at the residence," Drzewiecki said.

Fuller began working for the Sheriff's Office on June 29, 1990, Drzewiecki said.