A former Miss Nevada is suing the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, claiming deputies busted through her door and forced her to get out of bed naked in a raid at the wrong apartment.
Caleche Ranae Manos, the winner of the 2007 Miss Nevada pageant, claims deputies raided the wrong unit last year in Santa Monica while she and her fiance slept.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies intended to search apartment C on Nov. 15, 2011 before 7 a.m. Manos was in apartment A and the unit was clearly marked in bold, the lawsuit said.
Manos and fiance Eric Ryder were asleep when deputies busted through their door, brandished their guns and pointed them at Ryder, who was not fully dressed and was in shock, the lawsuit said.
Deputies then went into Manos’ bedroom. She was still in bed and was naked. The deputies, all of which were male and armed, ordered her out of bed and then watched as she attempted to do so.
The couple were detained for questioning and subjected to a search at gunpoint, the lawsuit said.
“It took the sheriff’s deputies a significant amount of time before they realized that they had executed the search warrant on the wrong apartment,” according to court documents. “The search warrant was meant to be executed on unit C and not in the unit clearly marked A.”
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After realizing their mistake, deputies continued to ask the couple questions about their neighbors in unit C.
The lawsuit said the deputies did not apologize and instead said the couple would have a story to tell others at Thanksgiving.
Manos’ attorney did not return a call seeking comment.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said the whole story hasn’t been told and that the apartment unit wasn’t as clearly marked as the lawsuit claims.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges negligence, false imprisonment, civil rights violations and sexual harassment. It does not specify a dollar amount.
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