FORT MYERS, Fla. — A former veteran prosecutor in Lee County says a Fort Myers Police Captain could face felony charges after video surfaced of the officer having sex with a prostitute.
Ft. Myers Police say they there is an active investigation into Captain Jay Rodriguez’s actions in March of 2013.
"I find it shocking, I had cases years ago with Jay Rodriguez when he was just on road patrol, including on a prostitution case,” said former prosecutor Chris Crowley.
Crowley worked in the 20th Judicial Circuit for 16 years, and ran against current State Attorney Amira Fox last year. Crowley says he knew Rodriguez overstepped his bounds during a 2013 undercover sting after a video surfaced of him allegedly engaging in a sex act with a prostitute.
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"I was involved prosecuting a sting with Cape Coral officers years ago, and they would stop at a certain point and make the arrest, or have the other officers walk in, but you are not actually supposed to complete the deed."
Crowley says only if an undercover officer's life is in jeopardy is when they should take it a step further, but he says Rodriguez didn't appear to be threatened. “It's still wrong for Jay Rodriguez to do what he did on the tape."
Crowley says Rodriguez could face felony charges if he used police department funds to pay for sex with the prostitute. He says if FMPD knew about what Rodriguez did before the tape leaked, it could make the department look bad.
“This is from 2013 and it seemed like nobody wanted to do anything with it.”
Cases Rodriguez handled could be reopened according to Crowley, if it’s determined he violated the law.
