BSO --

Press Release
June 29, 2012

A veteran Miramar Police Department captain was charged with two counts of Lewd or Lascivious Conduct on a 15-year old girl whom investigators say he made disrobe to prove she and a friend were not having sex in the back seat of a parked car.

Capt. Juan De Los Rios, a 18-year veteran of the force, turned himself in at the Broward County Jail Friday.

According to the arrest affidavit, Capt. De Los Rios approached a vehicle in a parking lot behind some office buildings in a Miramar industrial park early the afternoon of January 18 and found a 15-year-old girl sitting in the rear seat talking with a 19-year-old boy.

The girl told investigators that De Los Rios asked her if she and the young man had had sex in the car. She said no, that they were just talking. The police officer, she said, then told her that she needed to remove her pants and underwear so he could “see” if she had had sex. Fearful of the officer, the girl complied. She told police the officer proceeded to “inspect” her with the light from his flashlight, then had her pull down her blouse to check for “bruising.” The officer then let the couple drive off.

The girl, initially scared to report the incident, was convinced by her older sister to tell her parents about the encounter. The family reported the incident to the Miramar Police. She and the boy identified Capt. De Los Rios from photo line-ups.

The case was investigated by the Miramar Police Internal Affairs unit and the Broward State Attorney’s Office Public Corruption Unit.

Lewd or Lascivious Conduct on a child younger than 16 by someone over the age of 18 is a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.