Charlotte County deputy arrested in love-triangle crime

The Charlotte County Sheriff's Office has fired and arrested one of its own deputies.

Charlotte deputies held a press conference Thursday morning regarding the arrest of Eric William Ireland, 31, the day before on a felony charge of official misconduct and a misdemeanor count of perjury not in an official proceeding.

Information that Ireland gave the Fort Myers Police Department led to the arrest of the man whose wife Ireland had been having an affair with while the man was in an Alabama federal prison on a drug charge.

The husband was in Lee County Jail for 10 days on a charge of intent to deliver methamphetamine because of Ireland's tip. The charge was dropped the day after he was released from Lee County Jail.

During his arrest, the man "consistently denied having any knowledge of the drugs in his vehicle," an arrest report said.

Ireland said he got the tip from a confidential informant named "Sparkles" — but the investigation showed that "Sparkles" never existed.

The arrest report says the woman broke off the affair with Ireland, who is listed as married on an arrest report, because her husband was being released from prison.

About week and a half after the man was released, he was arrested by Fort Myers police in a parking lot for having narcotics in his pickup.

Ireland tipped off the Fort Myers Police Department that a truck would be transporting narcotics into the city limits. He gave a vehicle description knew where it would be down to the parking spot.

During the arrest, two undercover detectives noticed Ireland driving a black Mercedes. The detectives told investigators Ireland was "circling around the stop and laughing in what was described as a child-like manner."