Three Homestead Officers Arrested On Assault, Misconduct Charges

HOMESTEAD (CBS4) - Three Homestead Police officers are facing  various charges stemming from the beating of a migrant worker last year.

Sgt. Lizanne Deegan, 44,  Sgt. Jeffrey Rome, 56,  and Govanni Soto, 40, were booked into Miami-Dade County Jail Monday night. Sgt. Deegan is charged with Official Misconduct, Ofc. Soto is charged with Official Misconduct and Battery, and Sgt. Rome is charged with Battery. All three bonded out hours later.

The alleged incidents happened in the spring of 2011.

Sergeant Rome is accused of dragging a 69 year old man to the ground and kicking him in the head. He's also accused of repeatedly spraying a man with pepper spray and tear gas .

Rome also faces addition charges of obstructing a firefighter, false imprisonment, and battery for a case in which he's accused of pepper spraying a man, handcuffing him to a fence and prohibiting him from getting medical treatment when a rescue crew arrived.

Officer Soto is accused of striking a man on the face with such force that it caused permanent disfigurement.

Sgt Deegan charges of official misconduct stem from allegedly failing to properly report a battery involving a Homestead Police officer.

According to the arrest warrants, at least one of the alleged victims was an undocumented agricultural worker.