A North Carolina woman who reported being sexually assaulted in 2020 during a traffic stop in Abingdon, and who was charged with and then acquitted of filing a false police report, is suing Washington County Sheriff Blake Andis and one current and two former detectives in his office.
Dyanie Bermeo filed an amended complaint Nov. 28 in U.S. District Court in Abingdon claiming that her civil and constitutional rights were violated. In addition to Andis, the suit names Jamie Blevins, who was captain of criminal investigations and retired in 2021; Scott Adkins, a detective; and Brad Roop, a detective who left to take another job, according to the suit.
The lawsuit was originally filed in 2022 North Carolina, where Bermeo is from, but was refiled in Virginia, where the traffic stop was reported.
The 46-page complaint accuses Andis and his detectives of unlawful seizure, malicious prosecution, violation of Bermeo’s right to privacy, conspiracy to interfere with her civil rights, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and fraud.
Alexis Tahinci, Bermeo’s attorney, said her client’s civil rights were violated.
“Under the Constitution, law enforcement can’t charge you with a crime unless they have probable cause, and so our argument is that they did not have probable cause to charge her with making a false report,” she said. “Rather than truly investigate the case, they turned it around on her, which has really big implications.”
It could have a big impact on whether women who are victims of sexual assault come forward in the future, she added.
The accusation that the defendants violated Bermeo’s right to privacy stems from a news release issued by the sheriff’s office that announced Bermeo’s arrest, identified her by name and included a photo and personal information, including where she lives in North Carolina. The suit says the sheriff and his detectives collaborated to publicly intimidate, shame and humiliate Bermeo in the release, which was sent to local news outlets and posted on the sheriff’s office’s Facebook page.
Andis did not return a phone call seeking comment about the lawsuit. Nathan Schnetzler with Frith Anderson and Peake of Roanoke, the attorney for the defendants, could not be reached for comment Monday. As of Monday evening, no response to the suit had been filed.
Bermeo, now 24, of Mint Hill, North Carolina, was a 21-year-old student at King University in Bristol, Tennessee, with a dream of working for the FBI when she reported the traffic stop, the suit says. She was driving back to school from Charlotte at about 9:30 p.m. on Sept. 29, 2020, when an unmarked vehicle with flashing blue lights stopped her on Old Jonesboro Road, it says.
A man who appeared to be a law enforcement officer and was wearing a badge approached the car, asked her how fast she was going and demanded that she get out of the vehicle, the suit says. Bermeo asked why she needed to get out and the man threatened to call for backup if she didn’t comply, so she did what she was told, according to the complaint.
The man then spun her around, pinned her hands against the driver’s side window and patted her down, touching her breasts and fondling her vagina, the suit states. A few minutes later, he returned to his vehicle and sped off.
Bermeo reported the incident to the sheriff’s office the next day, after confiding in another student and a professor, according to the suit.
She was questioned several times. After reporting some text messages that threatened her if she continued to work with law enforcement, she was coerced into an “involuntary false confession,” the suit claims.
On Oct. 15, 2020, Bermeo was charged with knowingly filing a false police report with the intent to mislead law enforcement. She was convicted at her first trial, appealed and was acquitted at a second trial in August 2021.
Due to her arrest and fight to clear her name, she suffered “irreparable harm” to her mental health and well-being, the suit states. She battles depression and anxiety, was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, had thoughts of suicide and lost her part-time job and an internship opportunity at the FBI, it says.
Bermeo is seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages.
Her story was featured in a 2023 Netflix documentary, “Victim/Suspect,” about women who report sexual attacks and end up being charged with filing a false police report.
