BROWARD COUNTY - The Broward sheriff's deputy (Jonathan Bleiweiss) accused of intimidating at least eight men into performing sex acts with him during traffic stops in Oakland Park will remain locked up at the county jail following a a brief appearance in court today.

A Broward judge this morning ordered Deputy Jonathan Bleiweiss, 29, to be placed in protective custody while he awaits a bond hearing expected to be held later this week.

"Right now all we have are accusations and he is innocent in of all of them," said Eric Schwartzreich, a police union attorney representing Bleiweiss. "This is something that is very difficult, and he's holding up well despite the difficulties."

"He was disgraceful and he abused his power," Lamberti said at a news conference hours after the deputy's Monday arrest. "And he preyed on one of the most vulnerable people in our community: undocumented immigrants."

Jonathan Bleiweiss has been charged in only one of the alleged incidents. The 14 charges include three counts of sexual battery by a person in authority, four counts of battery and one count of stalking. He's been booked into the Broward Main Jail without bond and will probably face additional charges, Lamberti said.

All of the victims are illegal immigrants who feared reprisal, Lamberti said.

"He was disgraceful and he abused his power," Lamberti said at a news conference hours after the deputy's arrest. "And he preyed on one of the most vulnerable people in our community: undocumented immigrants."

Investigators think Jonathan Bleiweiss, a seven-year veteran of the force, had been sexually assaulting men while on duty since at least August 2008, said Detective Graciela Benito.

His targets always fit a similar profile: young men between the ages of 17 and 30, mostly Latino and all of them in the country illegally, said Benito. The men were from Mexico, El Salvador and other countries.

"He knew where these men worked and lived, and he followed them for some time before actually carrying out his plan," Benito said.

Driving a marked patrol car, dressed in uniform and toting a gun, Jonathan Bleiweiss would pull a vehicle over in a sham traffic stop or approach a man as he waited to be picked up for work, authorities said.

He'd then place his victim against his cruiser and pat him down, moving closer to the groin area before inserting his hands in the man's pants, Benito said.

Officials said he performed oral sex on some of the men and masturbated others.

"They said if it had been anybody else, they would have reported the incidents, but it was different because he was a law enforcement officer," Benito said. "They come from countries where there's a fear of officers, and they brought that with them."

Benito, the lead detective in the case, talked with the men during the four-month-long investigation that ended in Bleiweiss' arrest. She said the victims' cultural taboos may have also stopped them from going to authorities.

"In Latino culture, being raped makes you less of a man. You just don't discuss those kinds of things," she said.

An attorney for two of the victims contacted the Fort Lauderdale Police Department in April, thinking the deputy worked with that agency, Lamberti said. The attorney's name was not released.

The Sheriff's Office began to investigate that month, when it became clear that the alleged molestations were taking place in Oakland Park, one of 14 cities that employ the agency, officials said.

Broward Sheriff Deputy Jonathan Bleiweiss was taken off road patrol in mid-July after he returned from a two-week vacation, Lamberti said. The last known incident happened in June while the deputy was still on street duty, investigators said. He is suspended without pay.

A career law enforcement officer with a sterling record, Jonathan Bleiweiss began at the Sheriff's Office in 2002 and has received many commendations and several employee-of-the-month nominations, according to his personnel file.

In March, the South Florida Blade reported that Jonathan Bleiweiss became the first openly gay deputy to win the Employee of the Year Award for the Oakland Park Division. Bleiweiss told the gay weekly paper that early in his career he worked with a sergeant who routinely made jokes about him and his sexuality, and once referred to him as a "sex offender." A straight officer in the department filed a complaint against the sergeant, and an additional twelve officers testified against the sergeant, according to the story.

In January, Sgt. John Nash nominated Jonathan Bleiweiss for Officer of the Year. In his nomination letter, Nash included a long list of Bleisweiss' heroics, including making well over 100 arrests in Oakland Park. Bleiweiss also helped in the arrest of a serial arsonist and a group of thieves who were sneaking through manhole covers to steal underground wiring, Nash also said Bleiweiss organized a 30-person Broward Sheriff's Office AIDS Walk team for two years in a row.

At the same time, Jonathan Bleiweiss has been the subject of three previous internal investigations on minor complaints, including unauthorized leave and unbecoming conduct. The biggest penalty he received was one day's suspension, according to Broward sheriff's records.

Documents filed with the agency's human resources office show Bleiweiss passed a series of exams and screenings before his hiring, including a polygraph and a psychological evaluation.

"I'm absolutely bewildered that he would do this," Lamberti said. "This is one of the most egregious acts I've seen in my 30 years here."

Staff Researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report. Staff Writer Ihosvani Rodriguez can be reached at ijrodriguez@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4605.