Investigators said a second woman was identified after the initial arrest, expanding the case to multiple felony and misdemeanor counts.
DEERFIELD BEACH, FL — The Broward Sheriff’s Office fired a detention deputy after investigators arrested him in connection with a sexual battery case tied to a house party in Deerfield Beach, where authorities said two adult women later reported separate acts of violence and restraint.
Edwin Horace, 25, was arrested March 17 and then terminated from his job with BSO’s Department of Detention and Community Programs, the agency said. The case quickly widened after detectives said they identified a second alleged victim on March 18. By Friday, Sheriff Gregory Tony said the allegations were serious enough that the agency moved at once to dismiss Horace, who was still a probationary employee and had been with the sheriff’s office for less than a year.
According to investigators, the first report came from a woman who said she was at a party in Deerfield Beach during the early morning hours of March 16 when Horace followed her into a room and sexually battered her. BSO said Horace admitted there had been a sexual encounter but told detectives it was consensual. The woman told investigators it was not. The agency said Special Victims Unit detectives arrested Horace the next morning on two counts of sexual battery and one count of false imprisonment. By March 20, BSO had publicly confirmed he had been fired. In a statement released that day, Tony said he expects employees to act lawfully and with decency both on and off duty. He called the allegations deeply disturbing and said immediate action was taken to terminate the probationary employee.
Investigators later said the case did not end with the first arrest. On March 18, detectives identified a second woman who had also attended the party and said she had been victimized by Horace. In that part of the case, authorities said Horace faced another false imprisonment count, one count of dating violence by strangulation and two counts of touch or strike battery. Reports published by South Florida outlets, citing an arrest affidavit, said the party took place at an Airbnb in Deerfield Beach. Those reports said the first woman told deputies she had been drinking, remembered little of the night and later woke up with damage to her underwear. They also said Horace told investigators the encounter was voluntary and that the woman never told him no, while the woman told detectives she did not consent. The sheriff’s office has not publicly said whether Horace knew either woman before the party, and that remained unclear as of Sunday.
The case drew added attention because Horace was not an outside suspect but a sheriff’s office employee. BSO said he had been hired June 30, 2025, and had worked in the Department of Detention and Community Programs for less than one year. That meant he was still in probationary status when he was arrested, allowing the agency to move quickly on his employment. The investigation was handled by BSO’s Special Victims Unit rather than by Horace’s own work section, and the agency identified detectives K. Schnakenberg and D. Charoudis, along with Sgt. J. Harris, as the investigators assigned to the case. In Florida, sexual battery and false imprisonment charges can carry severe penalties, and the addition of a second alleged victim often broadens both the criminal case and the public scrutiny on how an agency screens and supervises its employees. Even so, key questions remain unanswered, including how the party began, who invited Horace, and whether additional witnesses or digital evidence will shape the final charging decision.
Jail and court details released through local reporting showed the case moving beyond the arrest stage. Horace’s listed bond amounts added up to $125,000 across the charges that had been filed, including $50,000 for each sexual battery count, $10,000 for one false imprisonment count, $5,000 for another false imprisonment count, $5,000 for the strangulation count and $2,500 on each of two battery counts. A judge also ordered conditions that included no contact with the alleged victims, GPS monitoring, staying away from the location of the reported incidents and not possessing weapons or ammunition, according to local reports. One additional battery count appeared in jail records with no bond listed. As of the latest public updates, the sheriff’s office said the investigation was continuing, which leaves open the possibility of more evidence, amended charges or additional court hearings as prosecutors review the file. No public court filing available through the reports reviewed explained whether a formal information had yet been filed by the State Attorney’s Office.
The facts that have emerged so far came in pieces, through the sheriff’s office statement, jail records and local accounts based on the arrest affidavit. Those reports said Horace later sent a text message apologizing for his actions, writing that he had a sister who looked up to him and that it would be the last time his name was involved in a situation like this. Another account attributed to the second woman said Horace took her clothes during the party and told her she would get them back only if she met him later at his home. That same report said she described him as one of the least intoxicated people there. None of those details resolve the case on their own, and Horace, like any defendant, is presumed innocent unless convicted. But together they sketched a night that investigators believe moved from a party setting into alleged criminal acts, then into a fast-moving internal and criminal response once deputies began interviewing the women and comparing their accounts.
As of March 22, Horace had been fired, arrested and publicly identified, and BSO said detectives were still investigating the Deerfield Beach case. The next major step is likely to come in court, where prosecutors will decide whether to proceed on the filed counts, revise them or add others as the investigation continues.
Author note: Last updated March 22, 2026.