Warning: this article mentions and includes details of sexual assault that may be disturbing to some readers.
BLOOMINGTON — A fired Monroe County sheriff’s deputy turned off his department-issued body camera before sexually and physically assaulting a woman in the front seat of his police car, newly filed court documents show.
Jeffery Freeman Jr., 29, is charged with sexual battery, a Level 4 felony; strangulation; official misconduct; obstruction of justice, each Level 6 felonies; and disabling a law enforcement recording device, a Class A misdemeanor.
Indiana State Police opened the investigation on Aug. 22 after a woman reported she was sexually assaulted in the early morning the day before.
According to court documents, the woman said she was lost after an Uber had dropped her off at the wrong location around 4 a.m. Aug. 21. She noticed a sheriff’s deputy parked at a stop sign nearby and approached to ask for help.
The deputy called Freeman to assist the woman, court documents show.
The woman told investigators that Freeman drove her around briefly before arriving at the apartment complex she had originally intended to reach. Court documents state Freeman moved a bag from the front seat, told the woman she could sit there, and then pulled the police car behind the building.
According to court documents, Freeman turned off his body camera shortly after the woman moved to the front of the car. The woman reported that Freeman brushed her leg with his hand and said, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to grope you,” before asking sexually suggestive questions.
The woman told investigators that Freeman grabbed her phone and began going through private pictures and videos of her and her boyfriend, according to court documents. Freeman continued asking explicit sexual questions, the woman reported, before allegedly choking her to the point where she could not breathe.
According to court documents, the woman also said Freeman pulled her hair and slapped her face several times. At one point, court documents say, Freeman asked her if she would engage in a relationship with a married person, to which she said no.
Freeman is married but was not wearing a wedding ring at the time, court documents state.
The woman then got out of the car, and Freeman allegedly followed her to the hallway of the apartment. According to court documents, Freeman’s body camera was still turned off.
In an interview with investigators, Freeman admitted to flirting with, kissing, and slapping the woman’s face but claimed “she was the aggressor,” according to court documents.
When asked why his body camera was turned off, Freeman claimed it was because the call was complete. However, investigators determined that the camera stopped recording soon after Freeman pulled into the apartment parking lot.
Additionally, Freeman admitted to texting the victim on his department-issued cell phone but told investigators he deleted the texts, court documents state.
Indiana State Police arrested Freeman on Aug. 23, the same day he was fired by Monroe County Sheriff Ruben Marté. He was booked into the Monroe County Jail before being transported to Morgan County to post bail.
The Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office said it waited to file formal charges to determine if Freeman may have other victims. He was appointed to the department on March 10, according to a news release at the time of his arrest.
Freeman was also employed as a corrections officer at the Monroe County Jail from January to March 2024 and was previously a merit deputy for the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office from 2016 to 2020, according to state police.
Detectives are investigating whether there are other people in Monroe County who may have had “questionable or inappropriate interactions and/or interactions that may have violated Indiana criminal code” with Freeman. If you believe this includes you, you are asked to contact the Indiana State Police Bloomington Post.
Online court records show Freeman had his initial hearing on Friday.
If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 12 years for the Level 4 felony and up to two and a half years for each Level 6 felony., according to Indiana sentencing guidelines.
For more information on sexual violence prevention and resources, see http://stopsexualviolence.iu.edu
Additional safety tips can be found at: https://protect.iu.edu/police-safety/safety-prevention/index.html
