CECIL COUNTY, Md. — A former deputy with the Cecil County Sheriff's Office learned his fate Wednesday after pleading guilty to multiple counts of misconduct in office and unauthorized access to a computer.
Dontae Odom was sentenced to eight years in prison, with all but six months suspended, according to the Office of the State Prosecutor.
Court documents say Odom, who worked as a deputy from 2019 to August 2025, used his police database access to find information about seven different people, including his wife, romantic partners, relatives of his romantic partners, a hotel employee, and a woman who worked in his office building.
He even assured one of the victims that he was not looking for their information, but this was later determined to be false.
Odom began a relationship with one of the victims in September 2024, later texting them that he "looked them up."
The victim asked Odom how he looked them up in an effort to gain clarification that he wasn't using NCIC, a confidential law enforcement database, to search for their address. Odom replied, "Umm no that's stalking and everything is tracked. I'm not getting fired for that."
Two days later, Odom searched the victim's name in the database, and also searched for two of the victim's relatives.
Investigators found that none of the searches Odom conducted were for a "legitimate law enforcement reason."
In December 2024, the Cecil County Sheriff's Office ordered Odom to have no further contact with the victim.
Odom disobeyed the order, later meeting with the victim in March 2025 and recording their conversation without their knowledge or consent.
“You have done incalculable harm to law enforcement. You have truly dishonored the badge you used to wear,” said Judge Paul M. Bowman, who also stated, "Your unlawful behavior while serving as a police officer will not be tolerated."
"Law enforcement officers have access to sensitive and confidential information necessary to discharge their official duties. Our office will continue to do our best to ensure that officers who abuse their positions of trust and misuse their authority for corrupt reasons are held accountable," said Maryland State Prosecutor Charlton T. Howard III.
Following his six-month sentence, Odom will serve three years of supervised probation.
