Florida Highway Patrol state trooper arrested for having sex with underage girl after her parents find journal detailing her sexual encounters
LAND O' LAKES, FLORIDA: A Florida Highway Patrol state trooper was arrested after he was accused of having sex with a 15-year-old girl multiple times, including in a public place in the back of his car.
The allegations against Riley Marcus Schwarz, 23, came to light after the victim's parents found her journal where she had detailed the sexual encounters with him, according to the New York Post.
An arrest affidavit filed in connection to the case stated that the "contents of the journal indicate that the relationship was sexual in nature."
He reportedly first started talking to the teen on September 23, 2018, and that they started having sex a month later in October. She was just 14-years-old at the time.
When questioned by Pasco County sheriff's deputies, the girl revealed that she and Schwarz had sex on multiple occasions. She also said she had "consensual sexual intercourse" with the 23-year-old twice at her residence.
Schwarz eventually admitted to the relationship himself and confessed that he had intercourse with the teen "six to eight times," including once "in the back of the seat of his vehicle" at a Mobil gas station.
"The defendant also admitted to engaging in sexual intercourse with the victim in the back seat of his vehicle on an unknown date within the parking lot of the Mobil gas station located at 16055 SR 52, Land O’ Lakes, located in Pasco County," read the arrest affidavit.
The 23-year-old then voluntarily surrendered himself to police and was subsequently charged with two felony counts of lewd and lascivious battery involving sexual activity of a victim 12-15 years of age.
A spokesman for the Florida Highway Patrol confirmed he had been fired from his role. He had held the job for less than two years.
Captain Thomas E. Pikul called his actions "reprehensible" and promised that the department would "cooperate fully with the investigation."
Schwarz was being held at the Land O' Lakes jail on a $20,000 bond — $10,000 for each felony count — but has since been released according to arrest records.