A Jurupa Valley woman has sued the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department on claims that deputies needlessly arrested her for cough syrup then made her look like a member of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang.

Tiffani Ferraro, 46, was arrested as part of a multi-agency gang sweep targeting the Hell’s Angels in February 2015. Police raided 17 locations, including the gang clubhouse in San Bernardino. Police also searched Ferraro’s home, looking for her ex-boyfriend, who is a suspected member of the motorcycle gang.

The ex-boyfriend wasn’t at the house, however. Instead, sheriff’s deputies found a half-empty bottle of expired cough syrup in a medicine cabinet in Ferraro’s bathroom. The cough syrup contained codeine, and was prescribed to someone else, so deputies arrested Ferraro on narcotics allegations.

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Later that day, the sheriff’s department issued a news release about the raids on the motorcycle gang saying 10 people had been arrested and 19 guns were seized. Ferraro’s name and mugshot were included in the release, which said she was accused of “possession of narcotics,” but provided no other details.

“(The sheriff’s department) publicly humiliated plaintiff and her family by publicizing the ‘narcotics’ arrest – failing to mention that plaintiff had been arrested for possession of couch syrup,” the lawsuit claims. “As a result of defendant’s deplorable behavior, plaintiff has lost friends, been publicly humiliated, lost work opportunities and been ostracized.”

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Prosecutors later dropped all charges against Ferraro “in the interest of justice,” according to court records. A declaration filed in the case, signed by a sheriff’s deputy who was at the raid, confirms Ferraro was arrested for cough medicine only.

In her lawsuit, Ferraro said the cough medicine belonged to a friend who sometimes came to her house to babysit. The lawsuit also argues that the cough syrup fell outside the scope of the sheriff’s department search warrant, which empowered deputies to search for weapons, computers and links to the motorcycle gang – but not medication.

Ferraro filed her lawsuit on Dec. 6. The sheriff’s department has not yet responded in court, and declined to comment. Ferraro’s attorney did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Reporter Brett Kelman can be reached by phone at (760) 778-4642, by email at brett.kelman@desertsun.com, or on Twitter @TDSbrettkelman.