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Ex-Orange County deputy faces felony molestation charges

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Eyewitness News is working to find out if more victims have come forward in the case of a former Orange County sheriff's deputy accused of molesting a disabled woman while he was on duty late last year.

William Martinez turned himself in to authorities Thursday and then bonded out of jail a short time later.

Martinez faces three felony charges of lewd and lascivious molestation of an elderly or disabled person.

Martinez was fired in August from the force. Back then, investigators were looking at three other possible victims, but there's no word on whether the charges he was arrested on Thursday are connected to a previous ongoing case.

Martinez was arrested on similar charges last year. Investigators said he was doing a well-being check on a 38-year-old disabled woman from Apopka when he touched her several times inappropriately, even though the woman told him to stop.

Martinez even offered her "help to take a shower" or to "help her lie down in her bedroom," according to the arrest report.

The alleged victim spoke to WFTV in February, saying, "I just remember my heart beating out of my skin."

She told authorities that Martinez promised her if she kept his advances a secret, he would help prosecute her ex-boyfriend for hitting her.

A second woman came forward with accusations in February.

Prosecutors later dropped the original charges against Martinez, but the there’s no word on why they recently filed the new charges.

When Martinez turned himself in at the jail Thursday afternoon he offered no response to questions from WFTV's Kenneth Craig.