Two Pinellas deputies were arrested Wednesday after separate investigations found they allegedly used restricted law enforcement databases to obtain information about women they were personally interested in — including a 17-year-old Florida high school student.
“They knew they did wrong, especially with a 17-year-old girl,” Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said, according to the Sheriff’s Office announcement of the arrests. “Both of them are clearly wrong.”
Former deputies Travis Stanton, 33, and Karl Gwynne, 57, resigned before their arrests, according to the sheriff’s office. The cases are unrelated, but both involve allegations that deputies tapped law enforcement systems for personal rather than official police business.
Sheriff: Deputy repeatedly sought information about 17-year-old
The investigation into Stanton began Aug. 26, when a 17-year-old girl submitted an online complaint, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said in its official account of the case.
Investigators said Stanton had first encountered the girl while she was working at a fast-food restaurant in July. She told him she was 17 and mentioned the vehicle she drove, according to Sheriff Gualtieri’s account reported by FOX 13 Tampa Bay. Minutes after leaving, Stanton allegedly ran the vehicle’s license plate through a law enforcement database.
Because the vehicle was registered to the teenager’s mother, investigators say Stanton then used law enforcement systems to obtain information about the mother, the home address and other family members as he tried to identify the girl.
The sheriff said Stanton later accessed driver’s license photographs and other records involving the girl and her twin sister. On Aug. 19, investigators say he went to Seminole High School and conducted additional database searches from the school parking lot.
Stanton allegedly returned to the girl’s workplace multiple times over the following weeks. The sheriff’s office says he visited at least nine times between July 28 and Sept. 17 and referred to the teenager as his “queen” while talking with other deputies.
During one conversation that was inadvertently recorded, authorities say Stanton acknowledged knowing the girl was a minor. Gualtieri also said Stanton falsely told her that an automated license plate reader had alerted him that her driver’s license was suspended because of truancy.
When investigators questioned why he had accessed the information, Stanton allegedly said “curiosity got the better of him,” according to reporting from Tampa Bay 28 on the sheriff’s news conference.
Stanton resigned Sept. 25 while under investigation. He was arrested Wednesday on one count of accessing a computer or electronic device without authority and one count of official misconduct, according to the sheriff’s office.
Second deputy accused of making 381 searches involving woman
The second case centers on Gwynne, whom investigators accuse of conducting 381 searches across five law enforcement databases involving a 35-year-old woman.
The investigation began after a media inquiry raised questions about an unusually high number of automated license plate reader searches. An audit ultimately found Gwynne had searched the woman’s information between January 2025 and July 2026, according to the sheriff.
Those searches included roughly 300 queries through the agency’s automated license plate reader system. Investigators said 207 of the 381 searches were made while Gwynne was off duty.
Gualtieri said Gwynne had arrested the woman years earlier, in 2010, and later reestablished contact with her. Investigators said Gwynne wanted to date her, purchased gifts and allowed the woman and her mother to stay at a condominium he owned, while she repeatedly told him she wanted to remain friends.
Authorities said the woman was not under investigation and found no legitimate law enforcement purpose for Gwynne’s searches.
Gwynne resigned Sept. 11, the day he was questioned about the database use. He was arrested Wednesday on four counts of accessing a computer or electronic device without authority and one count of official misconduct.
Arrests expose questions about database oversight
The allegations are also raising new questions about how closely the sheriff’s office monitors deputies’ access to automated license plate reader data.
Gualtieri acknowledged the department’s previous auditing approach was “inadequate” when it came to identifying unusually large numbers of searches, according to Tampa Bay 28’s report on the agency’s oversight procedures.
“The audits were there, but we were not focusing on high quantity,” Gualtieri said. “We are now.”
The Gwynne investigation was triggered after a media inquiry highlighted suspicious search activity. Creative Loafing Tampa reported that the inquiry came from TCPalm reporter Jack Lemnus, whose reporting has examined law enforcement use of automated license plate readers.
Gualtieri said the arrests have not changed his support for license plate reader technology, but he said the agency plans to strengthen its controls and auditing.
“This is a people problem,” the sheriff said. “We have to make sure our people use it properly.”
Both former deputies now face felony charges. The cases will move through the court system, while the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office says it is reviewing safeguards designed to catch improper database searches sooner.
