Advertisement FHP trooper gropes, kisses woman during traffic stop, deputies say Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Lake County deputies said Florida Highway Patrol Trooper David Gonzalez, 35, groped a 21-year-old woman after pulling her over for allegedly speeding earlier in September."He crossed the line, it appears," Lt. John Herrell, with the Lake County Sheriff's Office, said. "We hate to hear something like this. I will tell you we have a lot of troopers who work this area and they do a fantastic job ... she did the right thing by ultimately reporting it so we can investigate and this man can be held accountable."The woman was pulled over near the VIA Port Florida Mall on Highway 441 in Leesburg. She told detectives that during the traffic stop, Gonzalez complimented her looks, then asked her to drive her car onto a less busy road and get out of it.Deputies said at some point Gonzalez groped, kissed and touched the woman's chest against her will.The two did not know each other prior to the stop. According to Sheriff's Office documents, Gonzalez also took the woman's cellphone and connected her social media Snapchat account to his own, then asked her to take a picture.It was with that same social media application that detectives set up and monitored a conversation between the victim and the suspect."I kind of liken it to a modern-day controlled call. Now we have social media, so these detectives were able to monitor that Snapchat conversation during which the defendant not only admitted to the allegations, but apologized for them. So that conversation and the statements he made solidified the victim's account of what took place," Herrell said.Gonzalez left Lake County Jail a few hours after he was booked on $10,000 bond. He faces a battery charge.