After five years of appeals, a former Florida police officer convicted of coercing a teenage boy and girl to strip naked at a traffic stop in exchange of avoiding arrest in 2019 began a 10-year prison sentence last Thursday.
Former Miccosukee police officer Michael Martinez was convicted of extortion in 2019 for forcing two teens to run naked in order to avoid arrest, FOX7 Miami reported.
Martinez had reportedly run out of appeals as of last Thursday and was handcuffed in a Broward County courtroom to begin his sentence, according to Fox News.
“One of the victims actually made his way down here today, because he wanted to see this to get some sort of sense of closure,” prosecutor Chris Killoran said, FOX7 reported.
A former Miccosukee cop found guilty of forcing teens to strip naked to avoid being arrested has been sentenced to 10 years behind bars https://t.co/g6srayVHsv
— WSVN 7 News (@wsvn) December 18, 2019
In August 2016, teens Remy Riley and her then-boyfriend Kyle Shoulta, both now in their 20s, were driving from Tampa, Florida to Fort Lauderdale to attend a concert when Martinez pulled them over for running a stop sign, according to Fox News.
The former officer reportedly pulled them over and threatened to arrest the teens on drug and alcohol possession charges after finding marijuana and alcohol in their car. (RELATED: Video Shows Police Officer Breaking Down In Tears After Killing Woman Who Allegedly Shot At Him)
Martinez then gave the teens a choice — follow him to a remote location, strip naked and run or face arrest.
In testimony during a Broward trial in October 2019, the teens both said they felt intimidated, threatened and as if they had no choice but to follow Martinez’s orders, the Florida Sun Sentinel reported.
“I was given a choice of go to jail or run, so I took the choice to run naked,” Shoulta testified in 2019, according to the station, Fox News reported.
“I took my pants off. I took my shirt off,” Riley told the jury during the 2019 trial, according to Fox. “I kind of looked at him like, ‘Is this enough?’ He’s like, ‘That’s it?’”
Martinez also tried to solicit a sexual act from Riley, according to a spokeswoman from the Broward State Attorney’s Office.
“That is not what I wanted to do. I felt like I had no choice,” Riley said on the stand, Fox reported. “At 18 years old, I don’t feel like you should know what to do. I felt like that was his job.”(RELATED: Florida Cop Goes Free After Allegedly Forcing Woman To Give Him Oral Sex)
The former officer was fired one year following the incident and will serve 10 years in prison, Fox News reported.
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