Broward deputy locked up after threatening to kill her husband multiple times, cops say
A Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy was arrested Wednesday after she threatened to kill her husband several times, according to Palm Beach County detectives.
Ashley Lynn Richardson is facing a felony charge of making written death threats and a battery misdemeanor. The 39-year-old deputy, who was been with BSO since 2014, is being held at Palm Beach County’s Main Detention Center on a $15,000 bond as of Thursday afternoon.
A Palm Beach County judge on Thursday ordered Richardson to stay away from her husband and children, and prohibited her from having firearms, court records show. She was suspended without pay and forced to surrender her badge and BSO-loaned firearm immediately.
Richardson is also being investigated by BSO’s internal affairs division in connection to the domestic violence allegations, her suspension notice shows.
According to a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office report, Richardson sent threatening text messages to her husband in December 2021. “Ur gonna f**** die I don’t care who I hire or what I do mother f****,” one message said. Another one read, “I don’t f**** care if I do corrupt s*** as a cop and get a bloods member in d5 for a hit on you I will see you die.”
Broward detectives recovered a video from the cellphone of Richardson’s husband that shows her repeatedly hitting him inside their vehicle on Florida’s Turnpike in Palm Beach County in June 2022, the report states. Investigators discovered photos from the husband’s phone, which shows him with “various injuries.” Richardson also has put a gun to his head and hit him with her firearm, her husband told investigators.
Then in October, deputies visited her home twice.
On Oct. 26, a Palm Beach County detective assisted Broward deputies with removing Richardson’s firearms from her home because she was the subject of a risk protection order, the report states. Five days after the removal of her weapons, Palm Beach County deputies went to her home in response to a domestic violence call. But in absence of video footage, witnesses and injuries, no arrests were made.
Over the last several weeks, Richardson sent multiple text messages to her husband expressing how she no longer wants to live, that she stopped taking her medication and she was driving 145 mph on Interstate 95, according to the report — prompting her husband to contact the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
Following a criminal investigation, Richardson was arrested Wednesday at BSO’s headquarters.
Her arraignment is set for Jan. 5, county court records show.
This story was originally published December 22, 2022 at 5:45 PM.
