By Alex de Armas,
FORT MYERS, FL -
A Cape Coral police officer
accused of having sex with a 16-year-old girl bonded out of jail Thursday
afternoon.
Casey Ortiz, 34, made his first
appearance in front of a judge earlier in the day. His bond was set at $50,000 and
he is to have no contact with the teenager.
Detectives say Ortiz started up
a sexual relationship with the girl after responding to a call at her home.
Her parents filed a complaint
with the department and Ortiz was swiftly removed from the force. He was
arrested Wednesday.
"Please don't make Mr.
Ortiz the devil in sheep's clothing, because he is a good officer and he's been
doing God's work for a very, very long time," said defense attorney Joe
Viacava.
Cape Coral resident Larry
Hoskins met Ortiz when he responded to a call at his home. Hoskins says he was
so moved by Ortiz's help, he wrote a thank you letter to the department.
"[He was] a motivated
young man. I thought he had the background, he had a lot going for him,"
Hoskins said.
Now he's shocked by the
allegations, but says he wants to wait before passing judgment.
Hoskins said no matter the
outcome, the damage is done.
"Nothing good will come of
this, I'm afraid, and even if he's exonerated, and even if he's found
completely innocent of any charges, the community will still have a very bad
feeling about it," Hoskins said.
We obtained Ortiz’s arrest
warrant that contains explicit details leading up to the officer’s arrest.
In the arrest warrant was the
16-year-old’s story about how Ortiz would pick her up in his police car and
take her to his Cape Coral house to have sex.
Investigators say the Cape
Coral police officer picked up the 16-year-old at least three times – twice to
have sex.
Investigators say Ortiz
responded to a call at the teen’s house back in September after she had a
dispute with her parents. That’s when Ortiz allegedly gave the teen his
personal cell phone number.
The girl says she and Ortiz
would talk through text and an app called “KiK.”
A week later, the teen says
Ortiz asked her to ride along in his police car. He then took her to his Cape
Coral home.
A month later, she says he then
picked her up again and took her to his house a second time. That’s when they
had sex after investigators say “the officer then pulled [her] pants off, but
she tried to resist this.”
The teen then says she called
Ortiz for another ride along.
The police department says no
paperwork was ever filed for a ride along.
“It’s going to be very
interesting to see if the State Attorney’s Office is going to have the
witnesses to support this or if it’s just this young lady’s creative mind
alleging this,” said Viacava.
Viacava says Ortiz contacted
him months ago.
“That he turned himself in is
voluntary. He never ran for no reason,” said Viacava.
In the arrest warrant, Ortiz
admitted to picking up the minor in his police car.
While investigators say “Ortiz
was adamant he did not have sex with [the teen], but did admit he was wrong to
take her in his car.”
The teen says Ortiz never gave
her his name and told her not to tell anyone they were involved. She identified
Ortiz when investigators showed her pictures of different officers.
Ortiz is on unpaid
administrative leave.
Police have handed the case
over to the State Attorney's Office, but they will also conduct an internal
investigation of Ortiz's actions.