A Pasco County Sheriff’s Office deputy and school resource officer at Pinecrest Academy in Wesley Chapel is out of a job after an arrest affidavit states that he sent flirtatious messages and an image of a dead body to a 13-year-old girl.
According to an arrest affidavit, the teen said she saw Deputy Justine Lopez-Rodriguez at school and realized that he added her on Snapchat.
She told detectives that she and Lopez-Rodriguez communicated regularly over Snapchat for several weeks, discussing things like food, basketball, working out and other small talk.
However, according to the affidavit, the teen said that Lopez-Rodriguez’s messages started getting flirtatious, and she felt uncomfortable because he was 31, and she was 13.
The affidavit stated that the teen said that on March 1, 2026, Lopez-Rodriguez sent her a photo of a dead body lying on the ground in a wooded area.
She told investigators that she looked at it briefly and clicked off of it.
The teen added that Lopez-Rodriguez told her where she was located and that he was driving by her house, which made her feel uncomfortable so she blocked him, according to documents.
When interviewed by detectives, the affidavit states that Lopez-Rodriguez said he sent the photo of the dead body to his wife and couldn’t remember if he sent it to the teen.
After Lopez-Rodriguez was informed of a criminal allegation, he deleted his Snapchat account and claimed that it was the only thing he believed it could be about, according to the affidavit.
According to a public information officer with PCSO, deleting the Snapchat application from his phone hampered the investigation.
Lopez-Rodriguez was charged with tampering with physical evidence.
The sheriff’s office said he was terminated immediately upon his arrest.
