Hillsborough deputy arrested after fight in Wesley Chapel, authorities say

A Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office deputy has been arrested after a disagreement turned physical in Pasco County on Tuesday, authorities announced Wednesday evening.

Deputy James Linen, 51, was walking in Wesley Chapel when he got into an argument with someone in the 1500 block of Tallulah Terrace and it “escalated into a physical altercation,” the Hillsborough Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

The Sheriff’s Office did not name the person or provide information about their age, gender or their relationship to Linen, if any. Deputies say that person “sustained several non-life-threatening injuries.”

Linen, a bailiff in the Hillsborough agency’s court operations division, was arrested by Pasco County Sheriff’s Office deputies around 4:20 a.m. Wednesday, according to the release. He faces a charge of aggravated battery causing bodily harm or disability.

Linen was booked into a Pasco County jail before being released on a $10,000 bond, records show.

Linen has worked for the Hillsborough Sheriff’s Office since August 2005. The agency says he has been suspended without pay “pending the results of the criminal and administrative investigation.”