Woman Arrested by Mistake Gets $625,000
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A federal jury has awarded a Firebaugh woman $625,000 for the 14 hours she spent in custody after she was mistakenly arrested by Fresno County sheriff’s deputies.
Maria Munoz, 59, was handcuffed, strip-searched and denied her medication, despite her protests to officers that they had the wrong woman, according to testimony at the trial of her civil suit against the Sheriff’s Department.
Munoz was arrested Sept. 20, 2002, at her home.
The search warrant authorities used was 11 years old, and the woman they were looking for was five inches taller and 50 pounds heavier than Munoz.
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