2 Deputies Arrested For Misuse Of Law Enforcement Databases: Pinellas Sheriff

PINELLAS COUNTY, FL — Two Pinellas County deputies have been arrested after separate investigations found they improperly accessed law enforcement databases to obtain personal information about women they were interested in, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said during a Wednesday news conference.

Fox 13 Tampa Bay streamed the news conference on social media here.

Deputy Michael Stanton, 33, was arrested on charges of unlawfully accessing a computer network and official misconduct after investigators determined he repeatedly accessed information about a 17-year-old girl he had met while she was working at a local restaurant, Gualtieri said.

Deputy Carl Gwynn, 57, was arrested on four counts of unlawfully accessing a computer system and one count of official misconduct after investigators found he accessed information about a 35-year-old woman 381 times across five law enforcement databases, the sheriff said.

Both men resigned from the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office before their arrests.

Gualtieri said Stanton first met the 17-year-old at the restaurant on July 28. After she told him she drove a Nissan Altima and that she was 17, the deputy used his patrol car computer to run the vehicle's license plate through the Florida Crime Information Center (FCIC).

The search showed the vehicle was registered to the girl's mother, allowing Stanton to obtain the mother's address and information about other people living there, the sheriff said.

Investigators found that Stanton later accessed driver's license photographs of the girl and her twin sister, searched the girl's information in the PCSO records system and accessed information about her mother.

On Aug. 19, Stanton went to Seminole High School, where the girl and her sister attend school, and conducted multiple database searches while in the parking lot, Gualtieri said. He also used his agency cellphone to photograph the girl's driver's license photograph displayed on his patrol computer.

Stanton continued visiting the restaurant in August and September.

During one visit, he inadvertently recorded a 17-minute conversation with the girl. Gualtieri said Stanton told her he had received an automated license-plate-reader alert indicating that her driver's license was suspended for truancy.

The sheriff said that explanation was false and that Stanton knew about the girl's driver's license through his earlier database searches.

During another visit, Stanton asked the girl whether she wanted to see a photograph of a dead person he had taken while responding to an earlier motorcycle crash, the sheriff said. She declined.

Other deputies told investigators that Stanton referred to the girl as his “queen” and that they believed he was romantically interested in her, Gualtieri said.

Stanton acknowledged to supervisors that he had no official reason to access the girl's information and said “curiosity got the better of him,” the sheriff said.

Stanton was placed on unpaid administrative leave during the investigation and resigned Sept. 25. After his arrest, he was booked into the Pinellas County Jail on $10,000 bail.

In a separate investigation, Gwynn repeatedly searched for information about a 35-year-old woman he wanted to date, Gualtieri said.

An audit initially showed Gwynn had queried the woman's license plate through the PCSO’s automated license plate reader system 300 times. Investigators subsequently determined he had conducted 381 searches involving the woman in five databases between January 2025 and July 2026.

Of those searches, 207 were conducted while Gwynn was off duty, Gualtieri said.

Gwynn had previously arrested the woman in 2010. Investigators learned that he reestablished contact with her and her mother around 2024, and later told the woman's mother that he wanted to date her. The woman repeatedly told Gwynn they were only friends, according to the sheriff.

The deputy initially gave supervisors an official explanation for the database searches but later acknowledged that he was interested in pursuing a relationship with the woman, Gualtieri added.

Gwynn resigned Sept. 11 and was arrested on the five charges. His bond was set at $25,000.

Gualtieri said the investigations have prompted the sheriff’s office to increase its scrutiny of database searches, particularly searches involving the automated license plate reader system.

The sheriff said the agency plans to conduct more frequent audits and examine potential warning signs, including unusually high numbers of searches involving one license plate or searches by multiple users.

“We need to do random checks. We need to verify. We need to cross-reference,” Gualtieri said.

The sheriff also defended the continued use of ALPR technology, saying the systems provide still photographs of license plates rather than video and do not continuously track vehicles.

PCSO has about 70 ALPR cameras across Pinellas County, according to Gualtieri. He said a vehicle is only recorded when it passes one of the cameras and that the system does not provide a continuous record of a vehicle's movements.

He said ALPR technology has been used by the sheriff's office since 2006, and has helped investigators solve crimes and locate missing people.

“It's a people problem,” Gualtieri said of the recent database misuse. “When they mess up, we're going to hold them accountable.”

He said the agency has already implemented additional audit and search requirements, although its written ALPR policy has not yet been updated to reflect all of the changes.

Gualtieri said the misuse could potentially affect criminal cases involving the deputies, but that the State Attorney's Office and defense attorneys would have to evaluate whether their actions have an impact on individual cases.

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