An ICE agent who was arrested in August for drunk driving on the Bahia Honda Bridge while his two young children were in the car pleaded no contest to a driving under the influence charge and on Oct. 30 was sentenced to a year of probation as well as the loss of his driver’s license for a year. The Monroe County State Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute Scott Deiseroth for child neglect and resisting arrest.
On Jan. 8, Deiseroth, 42, through his attorney, asked the court to end his probation early.
In the motion to terminate probation early, Deiseroth’s attorney writes, “The defendant has finished about 4 months of probation with no violations of the probation,” although the calendar shows he completed about two months and one week of probation between Oct. 30 and Jan. 8.
“The defendant is a federal agent and is currently suspended from his job as a result of this case. We cannot say for sure that they will take him back but, we know that they cannot resolve their internal issues until this case is closed and probation is terminated. The defendant would like to get back to work. He has two children to support,” states the motion to end probation early.
The motion also states that Deiseroth has voluntarily used a breath-testing device, attended alcohol treatment through the VA and attended 12-step meetings, which were not required as conditions of his probation.
Judge Derek Lewis of Marathon had not ruled on the request to end probation early as of Jan. 13, according to court records.
Deiseroth’s Aug. 13 arrest occurred after a motorist called 911 to report a southbound pickup truck driving erratically on the Seven Mile Bridge and then going south in the northbound lanes after the bridge.
Monroe County Sheriff’s Office Col. Chad Scibilia and Deputy J. Lane stopped Deiseroth on the Bahia Honda Bridge at MM 36.5. Once the vehicle was stopped, authorities reported an “overwhelming” odor of alcohol, a driver with glassy eyes, who stumbled when he got out of the vehicle, and whose two sons, ages 7 and 9, were in the truck.
Deputies asked Deiseroth where he was coming from, and he said he had driven from Miami to Islamorada and was now on his way back to Miami, the report states.
“I informed Scott he was driving the wrong direction and he informed me that I was wrong,” Lane wrote. “I asked (Deiseroth) where he thinks he is and he began looking around (while sitting on top of the Bahia Honda Bridge) and said, ‘I’m on the stretch,’ referring to the (18-Mile Stretch) between Key Largo and Florida City.
“I informed Scott he was approximately 70 miles or so away from there and he again informed me that I was wrong,” the report states.
When asked what he had been drinking, Deiseroth reportedly became defensive and said that “he is a federal HSI agent with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, and that he had four drinks,” the report states. He couldn’t tell the officers what he had consumed, only saying that the bartender had made the drinks.
Deiseroth stumbled when exiting his pickup truck, then failed all roadside sobriety tests after asking the deputies for “professional courtesy” and asking them, “Really? Are we really doing this?” the report states.
He repeatedly resisted arrest and had to be forcibly placed in handcuffs and the backseat of a patrol car, where he began slamming his head on the Plexiglass partition and screaming Lane’s name.
The children in the pickup truck gave the officers their mother’s number and arrangements were made for deputies to take the kids to Islamorada, where they were handed over to her custody.
Deiseroth’s ICE supervisor was notified of his arrest when he arrived at the jail on Stock Island, where breathalyzer tests revealed blood-alcohol levels of .170 and .174 — more than twice the legal limit of .08 in Florida.
“Due to (Deiseroth’s) level of impairment, he almost crashed multiple times and was unable to care for even himself,” the report states. “He willfully failed to provide both of his children with the care, supervision and services necessary to maintain their physical and mental health.
He must have known or reasonably should have known that his culpable negligence was likely to cause great bodily harm or death to both of his children. The Department of Children and Families was contacted and Deiseroth’s supervisor with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement was also notified of his arrest.”
