Volusia Sheriff's deputy arrested for soliciting a prostitute, other charges, police say

A Volusia County Sheriff's deputy was arrested Wednesday after a woman reported he threatened her with arrest if she did not engage in a sexual act with him, according to the Daytona Beach Police.

The deputy was in plain clothes but driving a marked patrol car at the time, police said. The deputy, who has since resigned, is also believed to have assaulted a second person earlier in the day.

Stephen Corbin, 40, was charged with two counts each of bribery by a public servant, battery, false imprisonment, and solicitation to commit prostitution, according to Daytona Beach Police. Corbin was released Thursday on $90,000 bond from the Volusia County Branch Jail.

Corbin did not make any statement during his first appearance Thursday, but did speak to his defense attorney, Bryan Lambert. Lambert argued that the bond should be lower, asking for a range of about $10,000 to $20,000. Volusia County Court Judge Joseph LeDonne denied the request for a lower bond.

Corbin rolled his head back and then shook his head as the judge read out the bond amounts on each charge, adding up to the $90,000.

The investigation began when a woman contacted Daytona Beach Police early Monday. The woman, whose age was not provided, said she was approached in the South Ridgewood corridor by a man in plain clothes but driving a Volusia Sheriff's Office patrol car.

The woman told police that the man, later identified as Corbin, held her against her will and verbally threatened to arrest her if she did not engage "in a sexual act," police stated. Corbin released he woman after she agreed to show him her breasts, according to a charging affidavit.

Police identified Corbin as the suspect.

Facing termination, Volusia deputy resigns

Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood posted on his Facebook page that he was notified of the allegations against Corbin Monday. Chitwood wrote Corbin was off duty and was reportedly driving a sheriff's office vehicle when he attempted to engage in a sexual act with a woman.

Chitwood wrote Corbin had been a deputy for 11 years and that the sheriff's office would provide everything Daytona Beach Police needed for its investigation. He wrote he began the process of terminating Corbin who ended up resigning Monday.

"This person will not be a deputy sheriff in our community, and his badge will be melted down so it won't represent this agency in the future," Chitwood said. "His actions not only discredit his own name but tarnish the sheriff's office badge and reputation of our entire organization."

Homeless woman says Stephen Corbin asked for oral sex

Daytona Beach Police were contacted by the first woman at 2:48 a.m. Monday, according to a charging affidavit. The woman said she was scared but said she wanted to report that she had just been sexually assaulted and battered. She told police that a man, later identified as Corbin, drove up in a sheriff’s office patrol car and told her to get in at the corner of Cedar and Segrave streets. She asked him if she had to and she said he responded, “Yes, you have to.”

She said Corbin told her to perform oral sex on him. She refused and she said Corbin “inferred she was a working prostitute.” The woman, who was homeless, said she was not a prostitute.

She said Corbin threatened to take her to jail if she didn’t perform oral sex on him. She said Corbin grabbed her left arm and pulled her toward his lap but she pulled away.

She asked Corbin to let her out. Corbin told her that he would let her out if she showed him her breasts. She pulled up her shirt and Corbin drove to South Street and let her out, the affidavit stated.

The woman told police she had talked to other women, some of whom who did work as prostitutes, and they told her about a man in a “sheriff’s cruiser” picking them up and paying for sex, the affidavit stated.

A witness said he saw the Volusia sheriff’s vehicle stopping as the person inside tried to pick up another woman. The witness said he yelled “Don’t get in that car!” The witness said he had seen the vehicle driving up and down Segrave Street multiple times.

Corbin offered second victim a place to stay

The second woman said she got into the sheriff’s vehicle. The driver, later identified as Corbin, asked her if she wanted to make some money but she told him she did not do that, the affidavit stated.

Corbin told her she could make some money and he could give her a place to stay and shower. But she said no. Corbin then grabbed her hand and tried to force it to his genitals but she pulled away, the affidavit stated. She said she asked Corbin to let her out of the sheriff’s vehicle but he refused and she tried the door and it was locked.

She said she gave Corbin directions to the Sunset Inn so it would be on video when he dropped her off. Once he dropped her off she walked back to Segrave Street and saw Corbin in the Ford Taurus patrol car drive back. Corbin tried to get her to go back inside but she heard people yelling at her not to get in the car. She said Corbin opened the passenger door but she slammed it shut and he sped off.

Condoms inside Stephen Corbin's Volusia Sheriff's Office patrol car

Police contacted a Volusia Sheriff’s Office lieutenant with a description. The lieutenant said he knew of a deputy, Corbin, who fit the description of the man in question. The deputy drove to Corbin’s house in South Daytona and found the vehicle’s hood still warm to the touch.

Both victims were asked to pick Corbin out of a lineup and both failed the first time in a photographic array using an old picture of Corbin. But after police obtained a new picture of Corbin, both women picked him out of the lineup.

Stephen Corbin said he had car while working Rockville event

When detectives went to Corbin’s home, he said the sheriff’s vehicle was a “loaner” while he worked the Rockville concert.

When he was asked if he drove the vehicle to Segrave Street, he said “Not normally, no.” Corbin said that working at the courthouse he does take different routes home depending on traffic. He said the only place he had been to after the concert was a 7-Eleven on Big Tree.

Corbin declined to speak to detectives further about the case.

Corbin’s Volusia Sheriff’s Office patrol car was towed to the police station and then searched. Detectives found a sealed box of Trojan “Ecstasy” condoms in the front driver’s side door along with two still sealed condoms in the center of the vehicle.

Daytona Beach Police asks anyone with information about the case to contact its criminal investigation division at 386-671-5202.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Volusia deputy Stephen Corbin arrested in bribery, prostitution case