MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. — A Martin County man is suing the Martin County Sheriff’s Office after he says he spent 14 days in jail for a crime he never committed.
Michael Brewer said it all stemmed from deputies mistakenly identifying him as a felon because of an error in a national crime database.
Brewer filed a lawsuit against the Martin County Sheriff's Office and the deputies involved in his arrest, accusing them of false arrest, false imprisonment, and malicious prosecution.
Body camera video shows Brewer in March 2025 pleading with Martin County deputies not to arrest him after they pulled him over, believing he was a felon in possession of a firearm.
"They asked me immediately about firearms and I told them I did have a firearm in my work bag and I was taken out of the vehicle, I was handcuffed and I was told I was under arrest as a felon in possession of a firearm," Brewer said.
"I’m not a felon, I have a real estate license, I have a concealed carry license out of Kentucky," Brewer said.
The investigation started days earlier when Brewer went to Lotus Gunworks in Jensen Beach to buy a gun. Surveillance video shows him talking to staff and looking at a gun display.
Brewer said he put down a deposit and filled out paperwork for a background check.
"I went home and was told it was denied," Brewer said.
"I didn’t know why. I went back and got my refund... I didn’t think anything of it, just kind of went about my day and said I would look into it another time," Brewer said.
The failed background check was flagged by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, alerting the Martin County Sheriff's Office. Deputies believed Brewer was a felon trying to buy a gun, but Brewer and his attorney say that was not the case.
The confusion came from the FBI’s National Crime Information Center database, used nationwide by law enforcement agencies to check criminal records. Brewer’s NCIC record showed a felony arrest in Kentucky more than a decade ago, but court documents from Kentucky confirm the charge was reduced to a misdemeanor.
That update was not reflected in the NCIC.
"I said this has to be a mistake. I’m sure they hear that from every body I was adamant," Brewer said.
The State Attorney’s Office told me they, the FDLE, and the sheriff's office all saw the same NCIC record regarding the Kentucky arrest, which read the severity was a felony and the disposition was guilty. NCIC had no mention of the felony charge being amended down to a misdemeanor.
As a result, Brewer spent 14 days in jail.
"The whole time I thought my life was over," Brewer said.
His attorney, Andrew Strecker, said his team worked to prove otherwise.
"We were able to show original documents establishing Mr. Brewer is not a felon…the remedy we were offered was to reduce the monetary bond and to release him on an ankle monitor," Strecker said.
Brewer felt he should have been immediately released without having to pay any money for a bond, and without having to wear an ankle monitor.
"So I’m dealing with clients and my ankle monitor is going off constantly, it was making noises," Brewer said.
That immediately hurt his job and reputation.
"People are going to make up their own assumptions, they’re going to say to themselves well he had to have done something if it went that far," Brewer said.
Assistant State Attorney Kristen Chase said prosecutors needed certified official records from Kentucky, which can take time.
"I can understand the defendant’s frustration but at the same time, the system did exactly what it’s supposed to do. As soon as we were alerted to the issue, we agreed to a bond reduction so he wasn’t sitting in any longer than necessary but still gave the community the benefit of having a bond in place and GPS monitoring," Chase said.
Prosecutors eventually dropped the case after receiving certified records showing the misdemeanor conviction.
"I mean that’s all it would take is one phone call to verify I’m not a felon," Brewer said.
Sheriff John Budensiek defended the actions of his deputies.
"At the end of the day, the deputies did their job, enforcing the law like they’re empowered to do and used the mechanisms in place. If bad information is in the database, it was not information input by MCSO," Budensiek said.
The FBI, which maintains the NCIC, told me it is up to the agency that made the arrest or that court system to update the database when a case changes.
"Whoever reported it into NCIC reported it as a felony conviction," Chase said.
I learned it would have been the authorities in Kentucky who were responsible for updating Brewer’s case outcome.
I reached out to Kentucky authorities to ask whether Brewer’s record was properly updated.
"We have reviewed the electronic record response, which reflects a felony charge. However, the disposition section indicates that the charge was later amended to a misdemeanor," Kentucky State Police said.
Kentucky State Police could not confirm when the NCIC record was updated to reflect the change, but for Brewer, it did not come soon enough to keep him out of jail.
"I’m speaking out because I don’t want anyone else to have to go through this," Brewer said.
Chase stressed it is very rare for NCIC data to be wrong. She said the system is used in nearly every criminal investigation, and this is the first error like this she has seen in her more than 12 years on the job.
Brewer has started a GoFundMe account to help cover ongoing legal expenses.
