Teen says Florida cop hit deer while viewing nude photo on her phone. Now he’s fired

A Florida police officer has been fired amid allegations of sexual misconduct toward a teenage girl who was in his custody, according to an investigative report.

Cpl. Bobby Lubrido, now a former officer with the New Port Richey Police Department, was tasked with taking a 17-year-old runaway to a juvenile assessment center on the night of July 13, the report says.

But while under Lubrido’s watch, the girl told investigators he made disturbing and sexually charged comments, searched through her phone for explicit photos, and fondled her breasts and buttocks.

The ride in the patrol vehicle was initially uneventful, the girl said, and Lubrido was even accommodating.

She asked him to charge her phone, so he plugged it in and laid it down in the front seat. She wanted to listen to a particular radio station, so he tuned into it.

Then he asked for the password to her phone, the report said. She gave it to him, assuming he had a “legitimate reason.”

He started scrolling through her photo gallery, eventually stopping on a video of her dancing, she told investigators. Lubrido watched, commenting on her body as the video played, the report said.

Next, he opened Snapchat and found a topless photo she had taken, according to the report. Lubrido spent a lot of time looking at this particular photo, she said, adding that he took a picture of it with his own phone.

Lubrido was staring at the image of the girl’s breasts when he crashed into a deer standing in the road, she said.

Dashcam video captured the collision and shows Lubrido getting out of his vehicle to check the damage. Following a brief stop, the drive continues, and Lubrido’s alleged behavior grows bolder and more invasive, the report said.

As the night went on, Lubrido kept making lewd comments toward the teen, she said.

“I really wish I was off the clock right now,” Lubrido said, the girl told detectives. “We could ... have fun together.”

She said she made sexual remarks as well, hoping Lubrido would let her go.

At one point during the long ride, they stopped to eat, the report says. Lubrido gave half of a sandwich he’d packed to the girl, which she ate, unhandcuffed, outside the vehicle.

Once she finished, he told her “that sandwich wasn’t free,” and “you owe me,” the report said. He grabbed her buttocks and fondled her breasts as he slipped the handcuffs back on and forced her into the vehicle, she said.

Lubrido used the computer in his vehicle to look up the girl’s mother on a police database, to see what she looked like, the teen said. She was “kinda fine,” Lubrido said, and asked the girl if she thought her mom might want to have a threesome, according to the report.

Lubrido also told the girl that he would come by her home later on to “check-up” on her, the report said.

“The entire incident made her fearful and untrusting of police,” the report said.

While video evidence and cellphone data back up much of the teen’s story, Lubrido denied any allegations of sexual misconduct.

Lubrido “admitted to breaking protocol” but said he did not do “anything immoral or illegal.”

His body camera captured nothing and wasn’t activated, as it was sitting in its charging station inside the vehicle, he told investigators. The dash camera and a backseat camera recorded video — some of which conflicted with Lubrido’s recollection of events — but no audio was available, according to the report.

However, after Lubrido finished transporting the teen to the juvenile center, his body camera and in-car camera were both functioning, the report said.

Inspecting data downloaded from the teen’s phone, investigators discovered that several images and videos had been opened while she was in custody — and when Lubrido allegedly had access to it — including some that were explicit in nature, the report said. Lubrido said he didn’t look at those videos.

At the conclusion of the internal affairs investigation, New Port Richey Police Chief Kim Bogart fired Lubrido.

“Your on-duty conduct in this matter has absolutely affected your reputation,” the report said.

The department declined to say if criminal charges are being pursued, as the case is still under investigation.

This story was originally published September 13, 2022 at 5:45 PM with the headline "Teen says Florida cop hit deer while viewing nude photo on her phone. Now he’s fired."