BOCA RATON, Fla. — A Boca Raton mother exonerated of child sex crimes has now filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the detective who investigated the case and the Palm Beach County sheriff.
Walquiria Cassini, 40, was arrested in March 2024 along with her fiancé, Ryan Londono, and her then-20-year-old son Matthew. They faced allegations of sexually abusing Cassini's children and livestreaming the abuse for financial gain over five years.
In October 2025, nearly two years after her arrest, the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office filed a dismissal document stating "new information brought to the state's attention" led to the decision to drop all charges.
"I love my children, I would never, ever hurt them. That did not happen in my home. I am innocent," Cassini said in an exclusive one-on-one interview with WPTV.
On March 5, 2026 — the second anniversary of the arrests — attorneys filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in the Southern District of Florida against Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Detective Amy Hoffman and Sheriff Ric Bradshaw in his official capacity. The complaint alleges Hoffman conducted a "deeply flawed and constitutionally deficient investigation" that led to the wrongful arrests, and that Bradshaw, as the elected head of the agency, failed to implement adequate oversight policies.
Case began during custody dispute
Cassini and her attorneys, Mac Kenzie Sacks and Matthew Goldberger of South Florida Justice, say the sexual abuse allegations stemmed from a bitter custody dispute over Thanksgiving 2023.
Cassini said the father of her two children never returned them after the holiday, despite promising to do so.
Text messages WPTV obtained show Cassini messaging her ex-husband dozens of times on Nov. 26, asking where her children were and threatening to call the police. Her messages went unanswered until the next day, when she finally called 911.
Body camera footage from Nov. 27 showed Marion County deputies responding to her ex's home in Ocala after he reported the allegations. However, hours later, Palm Beach County deputies questioned his claims.
"It's possible that the kids are just lying about this because they want to stay with dad, because dad hasn't witnessed any of this," a Marion County deputy told Palm Beach County deputies in body camera footage. "This was reported to him two days ago, but he didn't call us until tonight. He's more concerned with keeping his kids than he is with the actual allegations."
Detective under investigation
The arresting Palm Beach County sheriff's detective, in the arrest affidavit, claimed to have found sex toys, suspicious payments and an adult website account tied to Cassini's IP address, with files deleted the day after the investigation began.
In court motions, Cassini's attorneys accused the detective of fabricating evidence, saying the website never had accounts linked to Cassini, the sex toys were unrelated, and the FBI found no child exploitation material on any of her 56 devices.
"The sensational probable cause affidavit that was authored was authored to generate headlines, not to reflect facts or evidence," Sacks said in October.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, the same month the charges were dropped, confirmed the detective is now the subject of an internal affairs investigation.
The federal lawsuit, filed by Sacks, Goldberger and co-counsel Harry Kaklamanakis of Tarnovsky Lopez, PLLC, alleges Hoffman fabricated and distorted material evidence in her arrest affidavit, gave false testimony at a May 2024 pretrial detention hearing to keep the defendants jailed, withheld 31 pages of supplemental investigative reports from prosecutors, suppressed a cellphone extraction report containing messages that allegedly showed a pattern of parental manipulation, and repeatedly refused or obstructed deposition testimony as the trial date approached.
The lawsuit also names Bradshaw, alleging the agency had no policy requiring detectives to proactively disclose newly discovered or exculpatory evidence to prosecutors after an arrest was made.
"Two years ago, the power of a badge was weaponized against innocent people. Today, we draw a line," Sacks, Goldberger and Kaklamanakis said in a statement. "When a detective sits on exculpatory evidence while three people face life in prison, that is not an oversight — it is a violation of the most fundamental guarantees our Constitution affords."
The complaint states that Walquiria Cassini and Londono were held in the Palm Beach County Jail for more than 135 days before being placed on house arrest with GPS ankle monitors for 473 days. Matthew Cassini spent 178 days in jail and 80 days on house arrest. All three faced charges carrying mandatory life sentences.
Cassini's attorneys also noted that the children and their father refused medical examinations.
"We really feel like they are victims here of manipulation," Goldberger said.
Moving forward without her children
After reviewing digital evidence, depositions and witnesses, prosecutors said the state "no longer has a good faith basis to proceed."
"Relieved, happy obviously, but I'm also a little sad too, because you think about this day forever," Cassini said in October, breaking down during the interview. "I kept imagining myself in a courtroom, and then they give me the not guilty, my kids would come. But that's not what happens here."
Cassini still doesn't have custody of her children, who remain with their father. According to the civil lawsuit, a permanent injunction was issued against her with respect to her children. She lost her job, friends and reputation during the nearly 2-year ordeal.
"Obviously, I want my story told. I know there's going to be people that probably don't believe it," Cassini previously told WPTV. "That part is tough, but I'm willing to share the story if it helps somebody else in the future and prevents this from happening to anybody."
"The charges were dismissed, but my fight is not over. I still cannot see my children. I am still fighting in court for the right to be their mother — a right that was stolen from me by the unconstitutional acts of a detective who lied and a Sheriff who looked away," Cassini said in a press release. "I filed this lawsuit because the law must mean something. I will not stop fighting until I am back in their lives and until every person responsible for what was done to this family is held accountable."
Attempts to reach the children's father for comment were unsuccessful.
WPTV reached out to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office for comment on the lawsuit.
Public Information Officer Teri Barbera said the sheriff's office does not comment on pending litigation.
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