Jose Robell Hernandez, a police officer of Cuban origin from Miramar, Florida, who was arrested in 2023 for having intimate relations with a 17-year-old teenager whom he met on Tinder, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of aggravated child abuse.
Hernández, 30, had initially been accused of having relations with a minor, which is considered a Serious felony, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
As a result of a plea deal, the defendant pleaded guilty to aggravated child abuse and was sentenced by Judge Carlos López, of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, to 10 years probation or parole.
The plea deal forces Hernandez to renounce his police certification and stay away from the victim, they reported. local media.
The arrest report, in June 2023, indicated that Hernández, who was 28 years old at the time of the events, met the teenager through the dating application Tinder, in whose profile she lied about her age, saying that she was 23 years old. .
The two had three dates in March of that year, and the third ended at the Paraiso motel in Hialeah, where they had intimate relations, according to the arrest warrant.
In April, police discovered the incident following a 911 call from the girl about an incident not linked to the case. Apparently, the teenager was “suffering a mental health crisis” and admitted that she had stopped taking her medications, the official document cited by the agency indicated. press.
One of the agents who went to her home and sought to contact the young woman's parents, received her consent to search her cell phone and found text messages exchanged between her and the police officer, which suggested that they had had a sexual relationship.
But prior to their meeting, the teenager had sent a voice message to Hernández in which she confessed to having lied about her age on the dating platform, and lied to him again by assuring him that she was about to turn 19.
After their date, they exchanged messages again, and in a call on May 23, Hernandez asked her if she had lied about her age and told her that “she was in trouble and was going to lose her job,” according to the arrest report.
Police later confirmed that the girl was 17 years old when the events occurred.
Once arrested, Hernández was booked into the Miami-Dade jail and a district judge imposed bail at $8,000.
Regarding the case, Miramar Police Chief Delrish Moss stated last year that Hernandez, who had been on the police force since February 2020, had been relieved of duty as officer without pay.
“Unfortunately, one of our officers has been arrested by the Hialeah Police Department on very serious charges. "While it is important to respect the presumption of innocence of anyone accused of a crime, he has been relieved of duty without pay pending the developments of this case," Moss said in his statement, while expressing his support for the victim. and to all those affected by the events.
“Incidents like this can damage public confidence in law enforcement, but I want to assure you that we are committed to upholding the law and serving our community with integrity and respect,” the police chief said.
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