Pinellas Deputy Fired For Inappropriate Conduct: Sheriff

ST. PETERSBURG - A Pinellas County sheriff’s deputy was fired Monday after offering to pay a woman he had arrested and her friend to come to his home, according to a sheriff’s office document. After an internal investigation, Deputy Brian Britt was terminated for inappropriate conduct involving two adult entertainers/dancers who worked at a strip club in St. Petersburg.

On Dec. 31, 2016, Britt responded to an Oldsmar home to arrest an 18-year-old woman wanted for domestic battery. When he entered the home, Britt found the woman wearing only a towel as she had just emerged from the shower. When Britt followed the girl into the bathroom to get her ID, he saw a second woman naked in the shower, according to the document.

After making the arrest, Britt took her to a second location to wait for a prisoner transportation van. The deputy admitted that he removed the woman’s handcuffs while waiting and engaged the woman “in personal and flirtatious conversation,” the document said.

“You admitted that the day after you arrested this female and within minutes of her release from the Pinellas County Jail, you called her using your department cell phone at a phone number she provided through the investigation. You explained you did this as you ‘cared about her feelings,’ and you ‘genuinely felt that, I don't know, in some way that she was probably arrested for something that didn't occur.’ You explained that you ‘felt bad for her’ and were ‘sympathetic to her situation,’ " the document said.

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During the next seven to 10 days after the woman’s release from jail, Britt communicated via text messaging, exchanging several texts. “Your texts were flirtatious and included information about your marital status and your personal life. You also admitted to sending a photograph of yourself to the arrested dressed as the "Hulk," the document said.

Britt said that during his off-duty time he wanted to go to the club where the two women worked, the document said.

Britt offered the woman and her friend $100 to come to his Pasco County home for “conversation” during a visit. Britt said when they arrived at his home, they both showed signs of impairment. Britt said he also was impaired after taking about 12 shots of tequila.

The woman got angry when Britt started rubbing her thigh, saying she and her friend only came to his house for conversation, the document said. Britt told the woman that he was not going to pay them for only "conversation," according to the document.

Britt provided the woman and her friend with gas from a gas can at his residence to compensate them for their travel and they departed, the document said.

Britt said that he invited the women to his home because he was drinking, depressed and wanted “interaction.” He also admitted his 11-year-old daughter was at home and sleeping at the time the women visited, the document said.

"It was determined by the Administrative Review Board that you failed to demonstrate responsibility and your duty to maintain a standard of conduct in your personal and professional life which is ethical. You failed to adhere to the principles of and to display the degree of integrity required through the law enforcement code of ethics established by the Pinellas County Sheriff s Office," the document said.

Britt said he recognized that he made a “crucial and regretful error in judgment,” according to the document.

Image via Pinellas County Sheriff's Office