A female traffic magistrate was accused of following a man into a courthouse bathroom, taking a picture of him with her cellphone as he stood at a urinal, and then trying to bite the finger of a deputy who questioned her about it, according to an arrest report.
Rhonda Hollander, 47, was arrested Thursday after a brief physical struggle with the female deputy at the West Regional Courthouse, according to the report obtained Tuesday from the Broward Sheriff's Office.
Hollander faces charges of resisting an officer without violence, assaulting an officer, and obstruction with violence. The obstruction charge is a third-degree felony carrying a maximum penalty of five years in prison. The other charges are misdemeanors.
Hollander, an attorney since 1990, has no disciplinary history with the Florida Bar.
She declined to comment on Tuesday. Traffic court officials could not be reached for comment on her status as a magistrate.
According to the arrest report, a man named Willie Jackson Jr., of Tamarac, said Hollander snapped a picture while he prepared to use a urinal in the courthouse at 100 N. Pine Island Road in Plantation. She took a picture of another man as he entered the bathroom, according to the report.
When Broward Sheriff's Deputy Darlene Harden confronted Hollander a short time later, the magistrate admitted taking a picture but refused to turn over her phone, arguing that it was a public restroom and she was not violating any laws, according to the report.
As Harden escorted both Hollander and Jackson to an office in the courthouse, Hollander continued to take pictures, according to the report. Harden pointed her finger at Hollander and ordered her to stop.
"At that time she lunged towards my finger in an attempt to bite it," Harden wrote in the report. The two women struggled and Harden arrested Hollander. There was no indication in the report of whether Hollander and Jackson know each other.
The phone was taken into evidence.
Hollander is free on $700 bail.
