An Ocoee police sergeant was arrested today after allegations that he pulled down a Seminole County woman's pants and spanked her with a belt at a party Monday night.

Sgt. Thomas Maroney, an eight-year veteran, was charged with sexual battery, false imprisonment and battery, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office. He is being held at the Orange County Jail.

The unidentified 30-year-old woman reported the incident to the Sheriff's Office, according to sheriff's office spokesman Jim Solomons.

The woman told deputies she was attending a party in an apartment with Maroney and other police officers when she left the apartment to speak with Maroney, said Sam Filler, the woman's attorney.

At some point, Maroney threw the woman to the ground, pulled down her pants and beat her bare buttocks with a belt, Filler said.

The woman yelled for friends to help and suffered welts, Filler said. "Nothing was consensual," Filler said.

"He brutalized her. He violated the public trust. And she doesn't want this to happen to anyone else."

Maroney's attorney, Mark Lippman, acknowledged that Maroney was at the party but would not comment on the investigation.

Source: University of New Hampshire