Former Miramar Police Capt. Juan De Los Rios, a 28-year veteran with the force, was sentenced to four years in prison and five years' sexual offender probation on Friday after being convicted of forcing a teenaged girl to strip naked during a traffic stop in 2012.
In June of last year, De Los Rios turned himself in to authorities after being charged with lewd or lascivious conduct on a child younger than 16.
The girl was 15 at the time.
The incident began when De Los Rios approached the girl and her boyfriend as they sat in the backseat of their car in the parking lot of the Fountains shopping plaza in January 2012.
De Los Rios apparently asked the teen couple if they were having sex.
"Well, are you having sex? What are you doing here?" he allegedly said, according to court documents.
The 15-year-old girl responded, "No, no, no, officer. No."
That's when the cop said he needed to "check" and forced her to "remove her pants and underwear so he could see if she had had sex," according to the Broward State Attorney's Office.
"I need to see inside," De Los Rios told her as he gestured in between her legs. "I need you to pull down your pants."
According to the girl's testimony, De Los Rios said this to check her vagina, to see if anything was coming out if it.
"No anal sex? No sex in general?" he then asked, according to the documents.
De Los Rios also allegedly forced the girl to pull down her shirt so he could "inspect" her breasts for bruising.
Days later, the victim told her sister about the incident. The sister then then told her mother, who notified the Miramar PD. After an investigation, De Los Rios turned himself in.
Chief Ray Black of the Miramar Police Department issued a statement following De Los Rios' sentencing:
"Captain De Los Rios' conduct that led to his arrest and conviction is abhorrent and certainly not representative of the dedicated men and women of the Miramar Police Department.I want to extend my deepest sympathies to the victim and those who were affected by this unfortunate incident. No member of the department is above the law and any report of such officer abuse of authority will be thoroughly investigated and if wrongdoing is found, appropriate measures will be taken."
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