A well-known Florida accountant is accused of imprisoning three women in his home for use as sex slaves. Alachua County Sheriff’s deputies said the man, Timothy Deegan, detained the women for months by keeping them addicted to drugs, setting booby traps, watching them on surveillance cameras and threatening them with homemade weapons.
“They stayed, because they were afraid,” Sgt. Becky Butscher told My Fox Orlando. “He made traps, he watched their every move.”
The women were allowed the leave the home — but only when supervised by Deegan, who profited by forcing them into prostitution.
“He has also been providing transportation, hotel rooms, in order for them to participate in the prostitution activity,” Sgt. Butscher said.
In the Gainesville community, Deegan was known as the successful owner of Deegan Professional Tax Service. However, neighbors in his upscale neighborhood were suspicious about his extracurricular activities and called cops on two occasions. One neighbor told The Gainesville Sun he heard screams from inside Deegan’s home and once observed a woman “slumped in the fetal position on the driveway.” Sgt. Butscher confirmed officers were dispatched to Deegan’s home 11 times within the past year.
Detectives began an earnest investigation of Deegan in December 2013, when a woman reported that she found a video of him raping her while she was passed out on sleeping pills. Detectives then learned Deegan was affiliated with several known drug dealers. He was arrested in April for cocaine possession, but was released on his own recognizance in May.
Deegan was again arrested last Friday, after authorities searched his home last week and discovered hidden cameras, drugs, syringes, and sex tapes. He is being held on $300,000 bond.
State Attorney’s Office spokesman Darry Lloyd told The Gainesville Sun he hopes Deegan’s case will show others that human trafficking is a real issue within this country.
“It is not all on television in a place far away or just at the border,” he said. “It’s here locally, and a lot of it involves young people that are vulnerable.”
