TDFP EXCLUSIVE: Former Lee County K-9 Deputy Sues Sheriff Marceno, Says He Was Punished for Calling Homeland Security on Smuggling Stop
A former Lee County Sheriff's Office K-9 deputy has sued Sheriff Carmine Marceno, saying the office told him to let suspects in a 2022 human-smuggling stop go and then retaliated against him after he called Homeland Security Investigations instead, according to a federal complaint reviewed by The Digital Free Press.
Mark Elsaid filed the lawsuit on Friday, Oct. 23, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Fort Myers Division. The case is Elsaid v. Marceno, No. 2:26-cv-02900. It names Marceno in his official capacity as sheriff and claims violations of Elsaid's First Amendment rights to free speech and political association. Elsaid is asking for damages, a jury trial and a correction of his personnel records.
According to the complaint, Elsaid joined the sheriff's office as a deputy in 2014 and became a K-9 handler in 2019. He says he was forced out on Nov. 22, 2024.
The 2022 Lee County Traffic Stop
The complaint says that on Feb. 25, 2022, Elsaid made a traffic stop that "uncovered a human-trafficking operation involving two victims." According to the filing, a sergeant relayed a directive from the sheriff's office administration to gather the victims' and suspects' information and let them go.
Elsaid says he refused. He says he called the Florida Highway Patrol, which referred him to Homeland Security Investigations, and that HSI took over the case and arrested the suspects. He was placed on paid administrative leave the same day, the complaint says.
When he returned in March 2022, a captain told him to stop taking proactive actions, according to the complaint. Asked who opposed them, the captain named "the sheriff and CAR 2," meaning Marceno and Undersheriff John Holloway, and said they "don't want that look right now or these events documented," the complaint says.
"If You Resign, All This Can Go Away"
In December 2023, Elsaid was accused of stalking an ex-girlfriend with a tracking device. The complaint says that the next day, Holloway told him: "If you resign, all this can go away. If not, I will give a copy of the allegations to Wink News. It's up to you." Elsaid says he refused and was placed on administrative leave during a criminal investigation.
The complaint also says that during a September 2024 traffic stop in which detectives seized his phone under a search warrant, "the body-worn cameras of every officer present were deactivated," which Elsaid says he was told was "not usual practice."
Elsaid says he was a known supporter of Michael Hollow, who ran against Marceno for sheriff in 2024. After Marceno won, the complaint says, Elsaid agreed to leave the office on the promise that all pending internal-affairs allegations against him would be deemed unfounded and kept off his separation paperwork, and says the office then broke that promise.
The 2024 Reprimand
The Fort Myers News-Press reported in June 2024 that the sheriff's office's internal affairs process found policy violations against Elsaid after his former girlfriend reported finding an Apple AirTag registered to his sheriff's office-issued phone on her vehicle. According to the News-Press, Elsaid said he was tracking her, citing stalking concerns, and he received a written reprimand. The State Attorney's Office found insufficient evidence to charge him, the paper reported.
The complaint says Elsaid was cleared of the stalking allegation on June 13, 2024, though internal affairs issued other findings he disputes, and that in October 2024 the State Attorney's Office declined to file charges against him on separate allegations.
The claims in the complaint are allegations and have not been tested in court. The sheriff's office has not yet filed a response.
The Digital Free Press found no news coverage of the lawsuit before publication.
A Lee County Sheriff's Office spokesperson said the agency does not typically comment on pending litigation. The Digital Free Press reached out to Elsaid's attorney, Marie A. Mattox, for comment on Oct. 25; no response was received by publication.
A Mark Elsaid is also named as a defendant, alongside Marceno, in a separate federal civil-rights lawsuit filed Aug. 14, 2026, by Branden L. Williams, according to court records. Both have filed an answer, and the claims have not been proven in court.
Images: U.S. courthouse in Fort Myers, Florida, by Ebyabe, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0; Lee County Sheriff's Office patrol car by Niteshift36, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Yossi Schmidt, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, The Digital Free Press
Hold Everyone Accountable.
Sources: Complaint, Elsaid v. Marceno, No. 2:26-cv-02900 (M.D. Fla., filed Oct. 23, 2026): https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flmd.468880/gov.uscourts.flmd.468880.1.0.pdf ; Court docket: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/75014595/elsaid-v-marceno/ ; The News-Press (Fort Myers), June 12, 2024, via Yahoo News: https://www.yahoo.com/news/lee-sheriffs-deputy-reprimanded-policy-200745700.html ; Gulf Coast News, 2024: https://www.gulfcoastnewsnow.com/article/lee-county-deputy-reprimanded-alleged-lcso-policy-violations/60887626 ; Williams v. Marceno et al., No. 2:26-cv-02364 (M.D. Fla.), docket: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/74649221/williams-v-marceno/
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