FL Deputy Fired: Surfed Web On Job, Lied On Reports, Sheriff Says

PINELLAS COUNTY, FL — A Pinellas County Sheriff's Office patrol deputy was fired after an investigation found he was surfing the internet in his patrol car instead of supervising traffic, then covered up by filing a false report.

Deputy Joshua Sacino, 29, was fired effective Tuesday for violation of duties and responsibilities and conduct unbecoming members of the agency. Sacino was originally hired by the sheriff's office on Nov. 13, 2017.

He had been assigned to supervise traffic enforcement initiatives along Seminole Boulevard, according to the sheriff's office's administrative investigation division on March 30.

"He ignored the instructions he was given and sat idle in his agency-assigned patrol vehicle for over four hours surfing the internet," the division reported.

When his assignment was over, Sacino was told to provide statistics and related case numbers to his supervisor based on his traffic enforcement assignment, investigators said. Sacino lied and told his supervisor that he made one traffic stop and gave the driver a "verbal warning" when he actually made no traffic stops, investigators said.

Sacino also ignored requests from his supervisors when asked for the case number and documentation for the traffic stop, investigators said.

After being questioned about his inactivity that night, investigators said Sacino drove to a Walmart and found an unoccupied and legally parked car in the parking lot. Without leaving his patrol vehicle, Sacino ran the license plate of the vehicle, then left the parking lot.

Sacino then fabricated a report on the vehicle and entered it into the agency's report management system, saying the vehicle's owner was involved in drug activity, investigators said.

Sacino said in his report that an anonymous transient flagged him down regarding a suspicious vehicle involved in narcotics activity, investigators said. Sacino claimed he found the vehicle and documented the owner's involvement in drug activity, they added.

Supervisors questioned Sacino after reviewing his Computer-Aided Dispatch activity, body-worn camera activity and in-car camera for the shift, investigators said.

When asked if the traffic stop really occurred, Sacino originally said he pulled up next to the vehicle, made contact with the occupants and gave them a verbal warning for a traffic violation.

When further pressed, Sacino admitted that the traffic stop did not occur and that he made up the entire incident, according to the sheriff's office.

Sacino "intentionally and knowingly falsified the narrative" of the suspicious vehicle report, investigators said.

He later admitted that no transient flagged him down and that the vehicle was legally parked in the parking lot. Moreover, he admitted to investigators that he had no reason to suspect anyone related to the vehicle was involved in narcotics activity.

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said Sacino intentionally attached an innocent resident and his vehicle to a narcotics-related report that could have adversely affected the resident. The report has since been deleted from the system.

During the administrative interview, Sacino also admitted to making up information for official documents.

"It is very serious, and it's criminal grounds and grounds to be fired. It's a serious matter," Gualtieri said. "Deputy Sacino did this for self-serving reasons, to conceal his lack of activity and incompetence, with no regard of the consequences this report could have had for the citizen involved, or for any citizen operating that vehicle in the future."