Florida Sex Slaves Arrest: TV Station Shows Competitor’s Mug Shot, Apologizes
A Jacksonville, Florida, television station has landed in some hot water after showing a competitor’s mug shot during a report on a man who was arrested for holding three women as sex slaves.
TV Spy reports that CBS and Fox affiliates WTEV-WAWS reported the arrest of Timothy Deegan on the sex trafficking charges, which was accurate reporting. Unfortunately, the accuracy was only in writing, with a major mistake appearing on television screens across northeast Florida, the blog reports.
“When CBS and FOX affiliate WTEV-WAWS reported the story about the Timothy Deegan in jail, it showed a picture of Tim Deegan the meteorologist. The picture was from the TV Deegan’s DUI in November 2013.”
The pictured Deegan is a meteorologist for NBC and ABC affiliates WJXX-WTLV and had nothing to do with the sex trafficking case involving the other Deegan.
The error was quickly realized by WTEV-WAWS’s news director Robert Longo, who tweeted apologies to his competitor.
Apologies to FCN’s Tim Deegan. Our CMS-Inergize-apparently mistakenly pulled your picture regarding another story & other Tim Deegan.
— Bob Longo (@BobLongoANjax) June 16, 2014
Longo told TV Spy that he also reached out by telephone to Deegan and Deegan’s boss to apologize, though Deegan was unavailable to take his call and instead received a voicemail from Longo.
In reporting the correct photo of the suspect, The Inquisitr noted several details of the sex trafficking case against the defendant Deegan.
“A Florida accountant kept sex slaves in his home. According to authorities, Timothy Deegan had three sex slaves living with him, doing whatever it is that he told them to do. Not only did Deegan rape these women, but he also “pimped them out,” and manipulated them. According to The New York Daily News, the women (who were given cocaine as “payment”) were monitored by “hidden cameras and GPS devices.” They were forced to clean Deegan’s home, and basically do whatever else he wanted them to do for the past several months.”
Defendant Deegan is being held on a $300,000 bail, while meteorologist Deegan has made no public comment on the matter.
The case of the three women in Jacksonville was similar to the Ariel Castro case in Ohio, The Inquisitr, adding that Castro had accepted a plea deal in that case. Castro was later found dead of an apparent suicide by hanging in his jail cell. Since his arrest, Castro’s house has been torn down and his victims have been reintroduced to life on the outside.
[Image via TV Spy]
