A Florida Highway Patrol state trooper was arrested on Saturday in Land O’ Lakes, Florida, for having an alleged affair with a 15-year-old girl.
Police arrested Riley Marcus Schwarz, 23, after the girl’s parents found a journal their daughter kept that detailed the relationship.
“The contents of the journal indicate that the relationship was sexual in nature and that they had been talking to each other since Sept. 23, 2018,” the arrest affidavit says, according to reports.
The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office said Schwarz faces two counts of lewd and lascivious battery involving sexual activity of a victim between 12 and 16 years of age.
Authorities discovered that Schwarz had reportedly been involved in a relationship with the girl since she was 14 years old.
Police records state that the first time the two had sex was in October of 2018, and Schwarz reportedly admitted to having sex with her “six to eight times,” once in the back of his car in the parking lot of a Mobil gas station.
In a statement, Captain Thomas E. Pikul said, “The alleged actions are reprehensible, and the department continues to cooperate fully with the investigation.”
The Florida Highway Patrol said Schwarz, who had worked for the department since October of 2017, was fired from his position with the department following his arrest.
Reports state that Schwarz voluntarily drove himself to the Land O’ Lakes Detention Facility on Saturday where he was arrested and his bail set at $20,000.
In a similar instance in 2017, a policeman in Winter Haven, Florida, was arrested on suspicion of having sex with a then 17-year-old girl after authorities received a tip about their relationship.
William Kenna, then 39, was reportedly found alone in a room with the teenager. According to authorities, both individuals said the sex was consensual.
Reports state that instead of being fired, Kenna resigned from the force where he had worked as an officer since 2012.
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