A 23-year-old Florida Highway Patrol Trooper is facing lewd and lascivious battery charges for having sex with a 14-year-old girl, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office says.
Deputies arrested Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Riley Schwarz early on July 27. Schwarz admitted to having sex with the underage girl, approximately six to eight times at her residence, according to an arrest report.
October 2018 was the first time Schwarz and the teen girl had sex. Schwarz and the victim met several times in a couple of different locations within Paso County, Florida.
The arrest comes after the victim’s parents found a journal detailing the sexual relationship, Bay News 9 reports. The girl, who is now 15, began talking to Schwarz in September 2018.
The contents of the journal indicate that the relationship was sexual in nature between Schwarz and the victim and that they had been talking to each other since Sept. 23, 2018, the arrest affidavit says
Schwarz also admitted to having sex with the teenager in the back of his car in the parking lot of a Mobil gas station in Land O’ Lakes, Fl.
The teenager admitted to having a “consensual” sexual relationship with Schwarz, according to the arrest report. She told deputies the last time they had sex was in April 2019.
Schwarz voluntarily traveled to the Land O’ Lakes Detention Facility and surrendered himself. He faces two counts of lewd and lascivious battery.
On Saturday evening hours after his arrest, Schwarz was fired by the highway patrol. He started working with the department on October 23, 2017.
The Florida Highway Patrol says,
“The alleged actions are reprehensible, and the department continues to cooperate fully with the investigation.”
As of Sunday, Schwarz remains at the Land O’ Lakes jail. His bail was set at $20,000 on first appearance.
