Woman says Broward corrections deputy molested her during her elementary school years
A Broward Sheriff’s Office detention deputy has been arrested after a woman told detectives he “repeatedly sexually battered” her from the time she was 7 through age 11.
Port St. Lucie resident Verol Cowans, 58, sits in Palm Beach County Jail on four counts of sexual battery by an adult against a victim under the age of 12.
BSO said Cowans has been suspended without pay. He has been a detention deputy for 12 years, split into two six-year runs: February 2005 through June 2011, when he retired “for personal reasons” BSO said, and February 2013 through Friday’s arrest.
“The sexual battery charges Cowans is facing are very disturbing, and I demand lawful, honorable conduct from all BSO employees,” Sheriff Gregory Tony said. “Any employee found guilty of a criminal offense, especially as it relates to the nature of these allegations, will be permanently removed from service.”
The probable cause affidavit says the woman, now married and living elsewhere in Florida, told Palm Beach County sheriff’s detectives on Feb. 11 that she thought Cowans was a police officer because he drove a BSO marked car and wore a police-like uniform.
The woman “said she was intimidated by [Cowans’] profession and that is the reason she has never come forward any earlier,” the affidavit says, “because she feared retaliation from his fellow police officers.
“However, [the woman] also told me that she also feared that Cowans would offend again ... and she did not want that on her conscience and has now been able to find the strength to come forward...”
She said Cowans’ abuse began when she was 7 years old. While driving her to school, he would fondle her under her skirt and underwear. She said Cowans would tell her “Don’t tell anyone. Keep it between us” as he did this two or three times a week.
Cowans and the woman’s mother moved to another West Palm Beach apartment when she was 8. At this location, she said, when her mother would leave, “Cowans would take her in the bedroom and molest her.”
This included, she said, making her give and take oral sex.
She detailed other occasions of fondling, oral sex, as well as Cowans making her watch pornography “so she could watch and see what the girl does.” Cowans later penetrated her, she said, never using a condom.
On Feb. 23 of this year, the affidavit says, police listened in on a call between the woman and Cowans.
After telling Cowans she was working on forgiving him to she could move forward, she asked him, “I just want to know why you did the things that you did when I was younger and why you never called to reach out.”
She said she remembered an apology from Cowans after her mother spoke to him, but “you didn’t say why you were sorry. Even after that, when she wasn’t home or whatever, it still kind of continued. I don’t know if you are actually sorry or were you say it just because.”
Cowans, the affidavit said, replied that he also had found Christianity and understanding the “ramifications of my actions. No. 1, whatever I did was totally wrong and there are no excuses or anything of the sort and I do, sincerely, with all my heart, apologize. I never thought you would want to talk to me, to be honest, and that i s why I didn’t reach out.”
They continued to talk, and Cowans offered to meet to answer her questions: “It would give me confidence that I am talking to you, alone.”
The 50-minute call ended after Cowans referred to “my perversion” and that he’d be willing to meet in a public place so he could answer her questions and tell her how sorry he was.
This story was originally published March 18, 2019 at 1:22 PM.
