A police officer in Florida won’t face charges after allegedly sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl he was transporting to juvenile detention in July.
Bobby Lubrido, a 43-year-old police corporal for the New Port Richey Police Department, lifted up the teen’s shirt and bra and groped her breasts while she was handcuffed, according to an internal report obtained by Tampa Bay Times and WTSP. He also allegedly looked through pictures on her phone and said he was “really trying to see what your titties look like.”
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Lubrido, who had been with the New Port Richey department for five years and worked in Florida law enforcement for over a decade, was fired from his job Aug. 12 after the report found that Lubrido’s “actions in this matter were in violation of numerous departmental rules, regulations and departmental procedures.”
Lubrido, however, has not been criminally charged and isn’t likely to be, according to WTSP. New Port Richey Police Chief Kim Bogart, who initially said the girl’s story was “unfathomable,” told WTSP that he “had a preponderance of evidence but I didn’t have probable cause” to charge Lubrido.
A forensic analysis of the girl’s phone and a review of Lubrido’s vehicle footage appeared to corroborate her story, but Lubrido denied the allegations in interviews with investigators.
A detective wrote in the report that Lubrido “said he did not believe he did anything immoral or illegal,” but he did admit to breaking protocol.
Neither Bogart nor the office of State Attorney Bruce Bartlett, whose prosecutorial district covers New Port Richey, immediately responded to a request for comment from VICE News. Lubrido could not be reached for comment but declined to comment last week to both WTSP and the Tampa Bay Times.
According to the report, the girl was a “juvenile runaway” with two “pick-up orders,” and Lubrido was assigned to transport her between a hospital for medical clearance and the juvenile detention center on July 13.
During a ride to the hospital, Lubrido allegedly looked through her phone’s photo gallery and Snapchat account and found pictures of her twerking as well as her naked breasts. Lubrido then allegedly took a photo of her phone with his own phone.
Lubrido hit a deer while he was driving, according to the report; the girl said in an interview with investigators that he was looking at the picture of her breasts when he hit the deer, and that overall, he looked at the picture “like 30 times.”
Later, Lubrido gave the girl half of his sandwich to eat but afterward told her “that sandwich wasn’t free,” the girl told investigators.
Lubrido also allegedly pulled up a picture of the girl’s mother and asked her if she would want to have a “threesome” and told the girl that he would come to her house to “check up on her.”
“She told me the entire incident made her fearful and untrusting of police,” a New Port Richey police detective wrote in the internal report.
