The Clay County teen wrongfully arrested in 2013 because he shared the same name as a schoolmate reached a $50,000 settlement with Clay County Sheriff's Office.

Cody L. Williams was arrested in August 2013 for the sexual battery of someone younger than 12. But police were actually seeking another teenager with the same first and last name who attended the same high school as Williams.

The teen spent more than a month in jail.

Williams did not return a call for comment, but his lawyer Kristopher Nowicki said his client's goal was never to get rich.

"His goal was to make sure this never happened to anyone else," Nowicki said. "The sheriff's department put some new policies in place to prevent this from happening, so that was one of the main factors that encouraged him to resolve the case."

The settlement fee will be paid by the sheriff's office's insurance carrier. The deal is the second settlement for wrongful arrest by Clay County Sheriff's Office in the past four months.

In August, the sheriff's office settled for $67,000 with Ashley Nicole Chiasson, a Louisiana woman extradited from her home state and wrongfully arrested twice earlier this year.

The wrongful arrests of Williams and Chiasson occurred within six months of each other.

Clay County Sheriff Rick Beseler apologized to Williams and Chiasson through press statements. He also immediately requested Cody Williams' record be expunged of the arrest.

The wrongful arrest incidents resulted in the suspensions of five officers and the creation of new policies to verify suspect identities and ensure officers arrest the right people.

Beseler declined Monday to comment on the settlement through spokeswoman Mary Justino.

Williams filed a lawsuit in federal court against the agency in March. The lawsuit was withdrawn days before the settlement was finalized.

Topher Sanders: (904) 359-4169