A police sergeant working at a Florida juvenile detention center is now behind bars herself after she allegedly wrote nearly a dozen inappropriate letters to a 16-year-old inmate.
The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday that Sgt. Katelyn Gomez, 27, is charged with one count of solicitation of a child to engage in an act that constitutes sexual battery by a person in familial or custodial authority.
Gomez was hired by the sheriff’s office on Jan. 5 and worked as a sergeant at the Pinellas Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Clearwater.
Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Katelyn Gomez, 27, was arrested Wednesday after authorities discovered inappropriate letters allegedly written by her in the bed of a 16-year-old inmate. (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office)
Gomez’s alleged relationship with the teenage inmate was uncovered when detectives responded to a call from the detention facility reporting approximately ten inappropriate letters found in his bed.
While investigating the letters, detectives learned they were written by Gomez.
“The letters explicitly described what would take place during their first sexual encounter and described an ongoing relationship which had developed while the victim was incarcerated,” the sheriff’s office said, adding that a photo of Gomez was also found in the boy’s cell.
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Gomez, 27, had been assigned to the 16-year-old boy’s pod at the Pinellas Regional Juvenile Detention Center for three weeks. (Google Earth)
When she was interviewed by detectives, Gomez allegedly admitted to writing the letters and said she and the boy began developing a relationship when they met several weeks ago.
The sheriff’s office said she had been assigned to the boy’s pod for the past three weeks.
Gomez had been instructed to not be alone with an inmate, but staff at the facility told the sheriff’s office she was alone with the boy “several times.”
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Gomez also told detectives that “she fantasized about having a sexual relationship with the victim and planned to build a life with him once he was released,” according to the PCSO.
She was booked into the Pinellas County Jail.