Detective Fired After Running 47 Illegal Searches to Track Husband’s Ex-Wife

A Florida detective’s own investigative tools became the instrument of her downfall after an internal audit caught her using them for a personal vendetta.

ABC affiliate KRCR reported on Friday, July 24, that Brandy Almany, 40, a detective with the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office since 2019, was fired and arrested after officials say she ran 47 unauthorized searches through the Flock automated license plate recognition system between April and July.

Every search targeted the same license plate, investigators said. The audit also found Almany had accessed two additional restricted databases, Florida’s Driver and Vehicle Information Database and the state’s court records system, without authorization.

According to an official release by the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office-Florida, Almany disguised the searches by attaching fake case numbers, making them look like legitimate department investigations.

In response to the breach, Sheriff Patrick Breeden suspended the department’s entire Flock camera program pending a full review of the system and who has access to it, as per the release.

She later admitted the searches were personal, telling officials she was trying to help her husband track his ex-wife’s routine so he could serve her civil paperwork more easily.

Almany faces four charges — official misconduct for allegedly falsifying records, along with three separate counts of unauthorized computer access, covering the Sheriff’s Office’s own systems, Florida’s Driver and Vehicle Information Database and the state’s Comprehensive Case Information System.

Jail records show she was released the same day she was arrested.

It’s not yet known whether she has retained an attorney.