Sheriff's Office Worker Allegedly Threatened to Reveal Affair Unless Doctor Paid $7,000

Closing arguments are forthcoming in Florida trial.

ByABC News
May 7, 2015, 10:10 AM

— -- Closing arguments are scheduled for today in the trial of a Florida sheriff's office worker accused of using work resources to shake down a doctor she met online.

According to court documents, Debbie O’Flaherty-Lewis, 48, met the southern Florida doctor -- who has not been identified -- on AshleyMadison.com, the self-proclaimed most-successful website for finding an affair.

O’Flaherty-Lewis used the name "Discrete Fun" to start chatting with the married father of four in 2013, and they had a one-night stand, according to court documents.

But after the doctor later suggested they take a break from seeing each other, O’Flaherty-Lewis allegedly became angered and used her resources with the Broward County Sheriff’s Office to track down information about the doctor’s family.

In a deposition, the doctor said that O’Flaherty threatened to tell his wife about their relationship unless he paid off her $7,000 credit card debt. The doctor allegedly enlisted the sheriff’s office where O’Flaherty-Lewis worked to set up a sting operation.

O’Flaherty-Lewis is charged with extortion, and if convicted, could spend 15 years behind bars.

Gerald Kuchinsky, O’Flaherty-Lewis’s defense attorney, said the allegations against his client are false, particularly the part about demanding a credit card bill payment.

“The question is: Did she demand it of him?" Kuchinsky said. "There’s no evidence that she ever made such a demand. Did he volunteer it to her? Did he offer it to her? ... He offered to pay that credit card bill.”