A South Florida parole officer was arrested after being accused of sexually assaulting a woman on probation, and the victim said she has video to prove it.
According to police, 50-year-old Zachary Thomas Bailey used his authority to target the victim, telling her he needed to do a "study" of her home in Coral Springs. "This is someone who is hired to protect you," said Coral Springs Police Lt. Joe McCue, "hired to say, 'Hey, protect the society,' and you don't expect your probation officer to be acting in this manner."
The victim said, during two separate visits Bailey made to her home, the parole officer forced himself onto her while her daughter was in the next room, even after she asked him to stop.
During the first home visit, the victim said Bailey blocked her from leaving her bedroom and touched her genitals. "The first time he went there, he said he needed to check out the bedroom," said McCue. "While in the bedroom, Mr. Bailey did sexually batter the victim by putting his hands down the front of her pants."
According to the police report, the victim responded by saying: "Mr. Bailey, you can't do that. What are you doing?"
The next day, during the second home visit, Bailey allegedly followed the victim to her bedroom and asked for a massage. When she refused, the victim said Bailey took off his clothes, put a condom on, pushed her onto the bed and raped her.
The victim said she recorded the incident on her phone not only so police would believe her, but so Bailey would not be able to write a false parole violation against her for reporting the rape. "The victim said, 'This is rape. This is rape. I don't want you to do this,'" said McCue. "Unfortunately, she was in fear that if she reported this, he would violate her probation and put her back in jail."
The video shows Bailey taking off his clothes and putting on the condom, which he later left in her home. "The video is extremely explicit," said the victim's attorney, Bradford Cohen. "It actually shows what her accusations are."
Police are using both the video and the condom as evidence.
Bailey has worked with the Florida Department of Corrections for more than 25 years. He was fired on Wednesday.