INDIANAPOLIS — A former Marion County Jail deputy claims she was wrongly terminated, falsely arrested and publicly defamed by the sheriff's department after being accused of wage theft and fired from his position. The charges against Mariam Adamson-Alverez were dropped nearly half a year after her arrest. But the damage to her reputation had already been done. Now, Adamson-Alverez has filed a lawsuit against the Marion County Sheriff's Office, Sheriff Kerry Forestall, Prosecutor Ryan Mears and several sheriff's department officers. The lawsuit accuses the defendants of wrongful termination, defamation, false arrest and imprisonment, retaliation, violation of civil rights and more. In the lawsuit, the attorneys of Adamson-Alverez argued the "baseless" allegations of wage theft were leveled against Adamson-Alverez as an act of retaliation. In April 2024, Adamson-Alverez claimed she was "intentionally placed into a dangerous situation" by being locked into a confined cell block with 50 male inmates following a dispute with another deputy. Adamson-Alverez claims she complained to a supervisor but was met with "verbal and racial harassment." After this, Adamson-Alverez's attorneys allege that retaliatory actions began such as Adamson-Alverez being given "unreasonable changes" to her work assignments. Adamson-Alverez said she sought answers to these changes by emailing officers in the department. A few weeks after this, Adamson-Alverez was accused of logging 22.5 hours of fraudulent overtime which amounted to wage theft of $691. Mears and Forestall released a news release to various media outlets at the end of June that accused Adamson-Alverez, among others, of wage theft. She was charged with a Level 6 felony. But the lawsuit argues that Mears "neglected to conduct a thorough investigation prior to filing charges" and only took a closer look six months later. This closer look led to the charges against Adamson-Alverez being dropped on Nov. 18, 2024. The lawsuit states that Adamson-Alverez "suffered loss of income, damage to her professional reputation, emotional distress and impediments to future employment opportunities due to her termination and public defamation. She is seeking reinstatement, back pay, front pay and punitive and compensatory damages. The Marion County Sheriff's Office and the Marion County Prosecutor's Office do not comment on pending litigation.