Bartow Police Officer Hosted Sex Party With 4 Teenage Girls

Lina PortmanMay 30, 2024

0 3 minutes read

A Bartow police officer was arrested Tuesday after evidence surfaced that he hosted a teenage sex party involving underage girls, supplying them with drugs and alcohol, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office .

Markanthony Fernandez, 24, of Lake Wales was arrested and faces four felony and six misdemeanor charges. Criminal charges include promoting a minor in a sexual performance, using a minor in a sexual performance and battery by strangulation. Fernandez is being held without bail in the county jail.

“It’s very disappointing,” Bartow Acting Police Chief Stephen Walker said during a morning news conference with Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd. “We all wear this badge as a sign of public trust, and it is unfortunate that someone would violate it and call it into question for the community.”

The Polk County Sheriff's Office was contacted May 8 by Bartow police asking them to conduct an investigation into Fernandez's actions involving four teenagers, Judd said.

Fernandez had sent a Snapchat video to one of Bartow's crime scene technicians, Walker said. The video showed a teenage girl wearing a Bartow Police Department jacket, while a 17-year-old girl was asked by Fernandez to perform a sex act, according to Judd.

The technician recorded the Snapchat video, recognizing that the girls appeared underage, and shared it with a supervisor.

Bartow police contacted the sheriff's office to take over the investigation because Fernandez's home in Lake Wales is not in their jurisdiction, Judd said.

During the investigation, Polk deputies discovered that two of the girls were 18 years old, one was 17 and another was 16. Fernandez had met one of the girls online through Snapchat, Judd said, and she introduced him to the others.

Three of the girls had attended Kathleen High School in Lakeland and one had attended Auburndale High School, Judd said. It appears that some teenagers have dropped out of school.

One weekend in February, Fernandez picked up the girls and brought them back to his Lake Wales home, Judd said. Detectives found evidence that the officer provided the underage teens with THC candies, or cannabis edibles, and alcohol. There are videos showing teens partying with Fernandez, using THC vape pens, and several showing underage girls in various states of undress, the sheriff said.

After interviewing the girls, Judd said the 18-year-old told deputies Fernandez choked her until she lost consciousness. The teen told deputies she gave Fernandez permission, Judd said, because Fernandez said it was a sexual inclination.

The 17-year-old also told deputies that Fernandez had choked her, Judd said, to the extent that she was afraid of him. Fernandez is accused of entering a bedroom in his home where the 16-year-old girl was, beginning to choke her and touching her inappropriately.

On social networks:Video of Lakeland police hitting 16-year-old during arrest sparks backlash

The sheriff's office is still investigating reports that the teens traveled with Fernandez to a party in Frostproof, Judd said. Anyone with information about the Frostproof Party is strongly encouraged to contact the Polk County Sheriff's Office. Judd said there is no indication at this time that Fernandez engaged in similar behavior with other teens.

“We don’t have any investigative information at this time,” he said. “Any other young women or teenage girls who may have had inappropriate interactions with him, we definitely want to know about that.”

Fernandez first became a Bartow police officer in September 2020, before being hired by the Polk County Sheriff's Office in October 2021. He transferred to the Bartow Police Department in December 2022. He is on paid administrative leave since February, Walker said, and has a pre-disciplinary hearing scheduled for Monday in accordance with the Florida Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights.

Fernandez was previously involved in an officer-involved shooting in September. Judd said it was deemed justified by the state's attorney's office because it was pursuing an armed robbery suspect in Highland City who was trying to escape law enforcement and pointed a gun at them. police officers once surrounded.

So far, Judd said Fernandez has refused to tender his resignation.

Sara-Megan Walsh can be reached at [email protected] or 863-802-7545. Follow on X @SaraWalshFl.

Lina Portman

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