Officer Rey Munoz had been with the Melbourne, Fla., Police Department for
less than a year when he was caught hitting on a police sergeant's niece and
trolling for women outside a gym.
By Nicole Hensley /
A Florida cop resigned last month after using his police cruiser a bit too literally, cruising for women while on the job.
One
of the victims was related to a high-ranking officer in his department.
Dashboard
camera footage shows Officer Rey Munoz driving his patrol car in the parking
lot of a Melbourne gym and asking two women for their phone numbers, according
to documents released to the Daily News by the Melbourne Police Department.
That
wasn't the first offense.
The
department first learned of the cop's unprofessional habit when a Melbourne
police sergeant said Munoz approached his niece in a Walmart parking lot Dec. 23,
documents show.
One
of the victims, 22-year-old Brittany Youney, said Munoz drove up to her as she
walked to her car outside an LA Fitness and asked for her age and phone number.
"He
said he wanted to know because I was beautiful," Youney wrote in a Feb. 18
police report. "I told him I was spoken for."
An
internal investigation of Munoz's behavior began Feb. 19, but Monoz resigned
Feb. 21.
Chief
Steve Mimbs says Munoz violated the department's policies by behaving in a way
unbecoming to an officer on duty and by not recording audio during traffic
stops.
The
department's internal investigator said Munoz either removed a microphone
connected to his patrol vehicle's dash cam system or turned it off while
talking to women outside the fitness club.
Munoz
had been with the department for less than a year
