Flagler County Sheriff’s deputy Robert Lentino, 26, who has been with the agency three years, was relieved of duty–with pay–just before noon today pending an investigation of an allegation of dating violence against his 21-year-old girlfriend.
The alleged victim, who had been fearful to come forward because of his job–she says she was convinced he’d be protected–claims he has been especially violent toward her since May, threatening to “beat the fuck out of you” and “literally want to blow your brains out,” according to screenshots of texts she took, allegedly called her racially offensive words, and offered her money to delete the texts and not speak of the exchanges to save his job.
The woman, a 21-year-old resident of Daytona Beach, was first in contact with Flagler sheriff’s authorities on Sunday after posting an account on Facebook in which she claimed she would “not stay quiet about this any longer,” describing “how severe and life threatening this relationship was.” But it was not until last night that, according to her, sheriff’s authorities in Flagler directed her to contact the Daytona Beach Police Department and report the alleged violence there, since the incidents took place in Daytona Beach. Daytona police were at the victim’s residence for several hours overnight, and a report was filed.
“I can confirm at this time that we do have an active and ongoing investigation into a domestic violence situation which was reported to us last night,” Messod Bendayan, the spokesperson for the Daytona Beach Police Department, said in an email. That case “does involve a deputy with the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office. I can also confirm that no arrest has been made at this time. We are not releasing any other details at this moment, including any reports, since this case is active and ongoing. We’re also not identifying any of the people involved at this time.”
Lentino, a resident of Palm Coast’s B Section, where he lives with his parents, was on duty on Monday and Tuesday, putting in a day shift as normal even as a number of personnel within the Sheriff’s Office, who had become aware of the allegations and seen some of the Facebook postings, questioned why he had not yet been relieved of duty. He was on his regular days off on Wednesday and Thursday.
When Mark Strobridge, the sheriff’s Chief of Staff, was contacted Wednesday evening, he told FlaglerLive he was not aware of the situation, but said that didn’t mean that others in the organization had not been made aware. The alleged victim told FlaglerLive she had spoke with a sergeant last Sunday. “They’ve known about this since Sunday,” she said.
Early this afternoon, Strobridge said Lentino had been relieved. A set of “administrative suspension” orders issued by the agency at 11:05 a.m. today require him to remain at his home weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., available for contact from sheriff’s personnel, absent permission to leave the house. He is otherwise to conduct himself as a private citizen, disallowed from performing any official sheriff’s duties, or wear his uniform. His patrol vehicle was turned into the Sheriff’s Office, as were his weapons and all other items issued by the agency, including his badge. He is not allowed on sheriff’s property. He is paid $40,000 a year.
The order does not refer to the alleged victim, or to a no-contact order with her, which may only be issued by a court. But the case has not gotten that far, leaving the woman “terrified”–in her words–about her safety. The texts she screen-shot, if authenticated, include the sort of threats that have frequently led to the arrest in Flagler County of those making them, and to second-degree felony charges. Lentino’s phone, however, appears not to have been seized for analysis, and the woman said that once she started taking screenshots, and he became aware of it, he switched to sending her SnapChat messages, which disappear after a set period of time.
In an interview, the woman said she had become friends with Lentino in May 2020, and started dating him that July. She says “he was always very aggressive and mildly violent, like in the sense of slapping me, grabbing me, two months in, but it didn’t start getting really violent until May of this year.” The woman spoke of getting black eyes, bruises on her body, and in the last few days, a cut on her leg that bloodied the bedsheets in her room–evidence turned over to Daytona police overnight. “Most of the time it was black eyes, getting punched in the face, he’s threatened to kill me on multiple occasions,” she said. She alleged he also threatened to tase her.
“I wanted to get out of the relationship but I didn’t know how, because I was worried he was going to hurt me,” she said. She said she had never reported the issues in the past, but had spoken of them to co-workers and friends. She feared making an official report “because he was a cop and he always told me I’d never get taken care of if I reported anything because he has the power, and I believed it, because I didn’t believe the Sheriff’s Office would take anything seriously until last night.” The agency under Sheriff Staly has made countering domestic violence a priority.
Lentino grew up locally, has family members in law enforcement, and had worked at Publix before landing the job at the Sheriff’s Office. “I chose Flagler County because I grew up here, I lived here for like 20 years, kind of know the area pretty well, so kind of figured why not represent the hometown,” he said in a brief video profile by the agency in 2018. Asked what advice he might provide, he said: ” All your dreams, I mean if that’s something that you really want to do, it doesn’t matter how young you are, you know, I’m a younger guy. So I run into situations where it’s kind of like, you roll up and it’s like, ‘You’re a cop,’ and I’m just like, ‘Yeah, I am.’ So I’m a little bit younger, I understand that, but I feel like I bring something different to the table, trying to put everyone else in a better mood. That’s kind of what I try to strive for every day.”
The woman said she was considering leaving the state–she is originally from South Carolina–though she likes her job and has friends locally. “I do not feel safe here, he knows pretty much anywhere I can go,” she said. “There’s really nowhere for me to hide except friends he doesn’t know about.” She said she was convinced he would retaliate.
If an alleged crime took place in a neighboring county, local police in that county has jurisdiction to investigate, not the sheriff’s office from a neighboring county. If charges result from an investigation, an individual in his home county would be picked up by the agency with jurisdiction there–in this case, the Sheriff’s Office, if it came to that–but the individual would then have to be extradited to the county where the charges originate, and where all subsequent court proceedings would follow.
bob says
He is NOT my kind of law enforcement officer
Land of no turn signals says says
He should have “rapped” in those text messages,proven history in Flagler is that it is freedom of speech.
Jason McKinney says
He is back on light duty now as of the 18 of August. It seems strange they will arrest a 13 year old girl that made the same kind of threats to someone. If anyone wonders why there is some distrust in law enforcement, this is why. Makes no sense. Arrest a 13 year old, but let a sorry POS get paid vacation, then put him on light duty. The 21 year old girl is fighting back now and as her father I am so proud she is fighting back now
Concerned Citizen says
Wait a second.
Lot’s of double standards going on here. And the good ol boy network circling Wagons.
@ Sheriff Staly,
Do not protect this guy. If you have screen shots then you have proof to start making a case. And he needs to be terminated immediatley. And then we expect criminal charges as soon as possible.
Any type of violence in any relationship is unacceptable. This guy took an oath to do a job. And that holds him to higher standards than civilians. I know. I spent almost 20 years in the military (Active and Guard) 6 years as a Deputy and retired honorably as a Lieutenant from Fire Rescue. And I expect my fellow Public Safety folks to conduct themselves the same.
Sounds like a hot head about to get himself into all sorts of trouble. Not one I want with arrest powers and authority to carry a weapon/s or drive a high performance emergency vehicle.
Also concerned says
If you READ the article. FCSO isn’t investigating. DBPD is.
Concerned Citizen says
Yes I read it. And being retired from both sides of public safety I understand how the process works. You are getting annoyed at the wrong person here. We have someone abusing his authority and committing domestic violence on a young woman. Be angry with him.
FCSO needs to investigate it as well.
IF any of those messages were sent on Agency time then he committed crimes in Flagler as well. And along with the criminal stuff there’s a host of Internal Discipline that needs to happen regardless.
Irregardless of where he sent messages and what will happen he lost the right to wear that badge. And now my concern is keeping his victim safe while whoever decides to charge him.
FlaglerLive says
The article should have included this detail: the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office opened an internal affairs investigation, and has paused it pending the completion of the criminal investigation. The internal investigation will go forward regardless. However, it remains unclear, and unexplained, why the alleged text messages, which may have originated in Flagler, are not the subject of a criminal investigation in the same way that similar threatening text messages written by students are routinely investigated and prosecuted.
Concerned Citizen says
Thamk you for clarifying.
That was why one of my first comments was about double standards. Staly vigerously prosecutes our children. But there wasn’t an immediate investigation on clear threats being made. So it gives the impression of favoritisim. According to your article and Deputies I have talked to. There was concern expressed as to why he was still on duty with these allegations floating around.
This agency continues to have severe issues with it’s staff. Who the heck hires these days?
Ray W. says
According to forensics experts presenting at seminars, SnapChat metadata remains on cellphones and can be downloaded and preserved by a forensics investigator.
Lady Bulldog says
Truly Backing the Blue would be looking at why the rate of domestic and dating violence is way higher for police officers than for the general public. I say this as the partner of a retired police officer. They see horrible things on the job and there is little outlet provided. They have to bottle up the rage and ugliness that develops from seeing some terrible acts of humanity, and there is an unspoken code about therapy. So some of them knock around their family members or people they think they can get away with mistreating. It is so prevalent.
It is time that a lot of people grow up and understand that truly believing that Blue Lives Matter and All Lives Matter means looking at things that might make us uncomfortable. Uncovering dark truths that live in the shadows is the only way to really improve a situation. LEO’s deserve this, their families deserve it and marginalized folks in our society deserve it. (Psst – also, Black Lives Matter.)
piper says
Well guess what Lady Bulldog, when ordinary, imperfect men continually classify their own profession as the hardest job on earth
(which isn’t true) and have slogans like “back the blue” and “the thin blue line” along with a code of “blue wall of silence” they will get put under a microscope and dissected. Do you know many ex military people I know who have seen combat, abided by awful rules of engagement they themselves didn’t understand, come home and do nothing of the sort these pubescent, local, super cop, wannabe’s try?
I knew when I first started reading the article. “Grew up here” = got
picked on. “Still lives at home with his parents” = Mommy worships him, probably still washes his clothes. “Family of Law Enforcement” = gods in their own minds, probably think they own the street they live on. By the way, what were the racists’ remarks that aren’t listed?
Mark says
Blue lives can’t matter until black lives matter. Also there is no such thing as blue lives. Cop is a job not a race.
Concerned Citizen says
Lady Bulldog,
I retired from a 25 year career in Public Safety. And I have been married almost 15 years. I have never felt the need to bring home my work issues and take them out on my wife. I was raised that you love and respect your spouse. And I don’t think that wanting to beat the F out of them or blowing their brains out is very respectful. Nor is it something she deserves. Please don’t justify domestic violence by a career choice. We chose to work the profession. We weren’t drafted. No one HAS to come home and abuse their family.
It appears that this young man with not much life experience has anger issues. He went into Law Enforcement young. And apparently likes the authority he has. And has used it maliciously to threaten a young woman. Who now has to deal with that the rest of her life.
So much concern for him. Where is the concern for her the victim?
Clarifying says
Just clarifying some things for lay people here. If anyone sends threats electronically, the jurisdiction where messages were sent from, and where the victim was at when they were received could have jurisdiction over the investigation. Typically it is conducted by the agency where the victim received them is. This is because that is more easy to establish. It is much more difficult to prove where they were sent from and by whom. This is because suspect’s have rights and phone providers and social media companies will not provide the information needed to law enforcement, without a court order. The process to meet that burden of proof takes time. Someone simply showing a phone number or Facebook profile is not enough evidence. Just think of the number of spam calls you get that appear to be from local numbers. They are almost exclusively from overseas. There are apps and programs that can make a call appear from almost any number imaginable. It can be determined they didn’t but not from on-scene. That data needs to come from providers. The crime can only be prosecuted in one place. Meaning Flagler could not create a separate case from Daytona beach for the same act and charge the suspect twice, once in each county. Finally, for the sake of trust in the investigation, it is in everyone’s best interest to have an outside entity conduct the investigation. So all this makes perfect sense as the article has laid it out. An internal investigation will follow for any department policy violations. That is completely different. That’s an employer conducting an investigation into employee conduct. It is not governed by the same rules and protections as a criminal investigation, therefore it has to wait until the criminal case is resolved. Conducting them simultaneously would only damage the criminal case. We have become a generation that feels entitled to immediate gratification. Let the process work. It takes time. Once it’s complete, if it appears mishandled, then cry foul. Commenting immediately on any topic having only spent 5 minutes reading an article is just ignorant. The right to comment, behind the anonymity of a keyboard, instantaneously, on any topic, doesnt mean you are qualified to do so so.
Sniffy Joe and his Leg Hairs says
OMG, what is wrong with you people ? Let a court decide if the police officer is guilty or not. Its no wonder this country is in the shape it is now. I’m so sick and tired of “racist”, “white devil”, garbage. Vegas is taking bets that a CIVIL WAR is about to begin in the USA. This time between Marxist Progressives vs. Right wing Conservatives.
Choice your side WISELY America
Kathryn says
What are you even talking about? If defending a guy threatening to blow someone’s brains out and beat the f*ck out of their partner is the hill you want to die on in the name of owning the libs, you do you.
Palmcoaster says
After properly investigated by DBP and FCSO if what reported comes out true , we can’t have this young man with this type of power in law enforcement and no matter how much he likes the police force. These type of individuals are what makes most of our good and fair cops look not worth of confidence for many. He needs to look into another profession and also anger management treatment,
Steve says
Another Rogue being protected allegedly. No excuse for his behavior from what transpired. Take his badge and all the other toys away.
A Friend of a Friend says
Pfft…if this was an affiliated employee of the Sheriff (contractor, County employee, etc) they would’ve been terminated yesterday.
I applaud this young lady for 1) standing up for herself and getting away from a toxic relationship and 2) going public and tying the hands of this violent woman beater and his employer. Otherwise no doubt the FCSO would’ve looked the other way until they couldn’t anymore.
Fernando Melendez says
Good for her
Dawn Warner says
All I know is someone needs to be protecting this young woman. The article even says she is scared to death and he has to remain at home but nothing was out I place to stay away from her.
FlaglerBear says
I would be very careful and let the entire investigation play itself out before judging this deputy. This is why we have “investigations.” Something seems off to me. Of course, if in fact it’s found this deputy is an abuser, he should be treated accordingly; however, I’m taking a step back with this. Best wishes to all, especially the alleged victim.
Only Me says
What gets me is he gets suspended with pay? Wonder how he treated those he may have arrested? He has no business being in law enforcement. Derec Chauvin the police officer the killed George Floyd is now in prison where he belongs. So, this bully needs to realize police officers are allowed to get away with murder or domestic violence which it seems he felt he could.
If I were his parents, I would be toally ashamed of him since the article stated they also were in law enforcement.
Everyone has their right to defend themselves but you would think he wasn’t smart enough to know his threats could be copies and reported, so what it appears is he is rather stupid abuser and got caught.
Knowing the judges in Flagler County he will get his wrist slapped and will move on for his next victim to abuse. And, this girl should be making plans to get out of dodge because I would believe this guy will be following her. Abusers don’t stop just because they are told to stop.
Load Speaker says
FCSO has criminal jurisdiction because the messages were sent from Flagler County but since the fix is in, it will be passed on to Daytona Beach to help with the fix. The DBPD is just as bad as the FCSO. They are one organization like the mafia. Had it been a regular person an arrest would have been made immediately especially since there is a threat to kill and trust me, they would have over overcharged you too. All the elements of stalking and aggravated stalking are present here so there is probable cause to arrest him. He willfully, maliciously, and repeatedly harassed and cyberstalked her and made a credible threat towards her that placed her in reasonable fear for her safety and caused her substantial emotional distress which actions served no legitimate purpose. He has no first amendment right because that defense does not protect threats to kill. It only takes five seconds after reading those messages to see if there is probable cause or not. There is even an element of conscience of guilt when he asked her to delete the messages. They must play the public for a while before they pat Johnny on the head and tell him to be good and give him his gun and badge back. The second that poor girl called the complaint in, the fix was in, but now that you have newspapers asking questions, they need to design the fix a little better to deceive the public. If the news did not get involved they would have not even suspended him.
Right says
This is part of the reason why the tough stance on domestic violence is BS and so many times they look to getting out of taking reports when they respond to a domestic violence incident.
Concerned citizen says
If you want to get really technical.
He used a communications device regulated by the FCC to transmit terroristic threats.
Once the local stuff is involved let the FEDS get hold of it. Maybe if folks start getting Federal charges and stiffer punishment it will make them realize this ain’t no game.
And on another note.
When reasonable cause is found you need to tack on a Malfiscence Of Office Which is also a Felony.
We took oaths to protect and serve the public. Hell I still consider my enlistment oath valid. Even after retiring. When you take an oath to do a job it holds you to higher standards. Let’s start holding sworn officials accountable for that.
TrumpLostGetOverIt says
Anybody remember this Deputy from attempting to copsplain a peaceful protester at the Ford Dealership? Here’s a video of the incident. Always said he isn’t very bright. Should be fired for making death threats to his girlfriend but he won’t cause hey its the good ole boy Florida police fraternity and we ain’t in it. But seriously anyone who sends death threats to anyone and then tries to bribe them to delete the texts is a rotten egg. I smell a Giglio Impaired “Brady Officer” here. Well anyways here is the video. Get your popcorn.
FredZ says
This town is so full of fruitcakes. Seriously; per capita, it’s ridiculous. Go away you malfeasance types. Not just the smug cops, but the weird locals who can’t Florida. Lolol. Peace!
Jason McKinney says
Seems to be the norm up there. Put a cop on paid leave then light duty after abusing a girl. This is why people have a distrust in law enforcement. I guarantee if I did what Robert Lentino did, I would be in jail. He was the one in the beginning.