Ornellas-Victorio had been sworn in with four other officers during October 2025 ceremony
On April 30, the Sarasota Police Department announced that it had terminated a probationary police officer “following an internal and criminal investigation.”
Gabriel Ornellas-Victorio, 38, of Nokomis was arrested the same day on a charge of simple battery for intentionally touching or striking another person against the will of the other, the agency explained in a news release. “The victim is a 16-year-old girl,” the release added.
A May 1 Sarasota News Leader review of the records maintained by the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office Corrections Division found that Ornellas-Victorio initially remained in custody with no bond. However, on May 4, 12th Judicial Court records show, he was released on $5,000 bond. He has entered a plea of “Not Guilty” and demanded a jury trial, the records also note. He is being represented by Assistant Public Defender Zachary Daniel Vidal, a court document says.
An internal investigation began after the Police Department received a complaint about Ornellas-Victorio’s behavior off-duty, the news release says. He was placed on administrative leave on April 2, during which time a separate complaint was filed with the agency, which led to a criminal investigation, the release pointed out.
Probable cause developed during that investigation resulted in the termination of his employment with the agency, the release added.
“This decision reflects our commitment to integrity and transparency,” said Chief Rex Troche in the release. “The trust of our community is earned and we will protect it,” Troche added in the release. “When someone violates the law and trust placed in them, there is no path forward with our agency.”
“The internal investigation is ongoing,” the release noted.
“Anyone with information on this case or anyone who has had contact with Ornellas-Victorio is asked to call Detective Megan Buck with the Sarasota Police Department Criminal Investigations Division at 941-263-6067,” the release added.
Ornellas Victorio was among five officers whom Chief Troche swore in during a ceremony on Oct. 10, 2025, as the News Leader reported. As is customary, all were given 2nd Class probationary status, an SPD news release explained at the time.
From presumed mentorship to alleged battery
The Probable Cause Affidavit in the case says that the incident that sparked the investigation occurred at 3 p.m. on April 23 in a parking lot.
On April 28, the affidavit explains, two detectives met with the 16-year-old complainant at the Police Department’s headquarters in downtown Sarasota. Some information was redacted from the affidavit, but it indicates that the teen had become acquainted with Ornellas-Victorio while she was at work in a job that she had held since late 2025. He “put his phone number into her contact list in case she needed anything or was ever in trouble,” the affidavit continues. “She assumed this was his work phone number,” the affidavit says.
She told the detectives that, during his shift, Ornellas-Victorio had been coming into the business where she worked and that he talked with “the female employees. She said he was always nice and cordial” and that they would discuss her plans after she graduated from high school. When the teen expressed “aspirations to be a doctor … he told her that he knew a lot of doctors and [could] give her some guidance,” the affidavit continues.
Further, the teen reported that he talked with her about his previous military service and that he had noted that she could serve as a doctor in the Armed Forces, the affidavit says.
Additionally, she reported to the detectives that she was aware that he is married and has a child. “She looked up to him as a police officer and a mentor,” the affidavit explains.
About two months after she met him, the teen continued, she and Ornellas-Victorio “made plans to meet at Starbucks near the hospital to talk about college plans and military options. She said her mother agreed to her meeting him and drove her to Starbucks,” where her mother waited in the car, the affidavit continues.
The teen told the detectives that “Officer Ornellas was very professional during this get-together and they only talked about her future plans.”
However, the affidavit points out, in April, the teen said Ornellas-Victorio stopped coming into her place of work. At some point between April 10 and April 13, the affidavit says, she texted him to ask whether everything was OK. He responded that he was OK, the affidavit notes, “but could not talk about it over text.” Instead, he asked to meet with her in person; they agreed on the date of April 16, the affidavit says.
Yet, on April 16, she received a text from him about his need to cancel their get-together because he had been called to a meeting at the Police Department, the affidavit adds.
On April 19, she told the detectives, he texted her an apology for canceling the April 16 meeting and asked to reschedule it for April 23. The time they settled on was about 2:30 p.m., at the Barnes and Noble store located at 4010 S. Tamiami Trail in Sarasota.
On April 23, the affidavit continues, the girl’s mother drove her to Barnes and Noble and, again, waited in the car while she went inside the store. After she texted him to let him know she was there, the affidavit says, Ornellas-Victorio texted her to let her know he was outside, asking her to come to his car. “She said she [had] thought they were going to have coffee inside the bookstore,” the affidavit notes.
When she met him outside Barnes and Noble, the affidavit says, he suggested they go to another place “to get a snack,” offering to drive them there. “She said that she trusted him because she knows he is a police officer,” the affidavit adds; her mother agreed to let her accompany Ornellas-Victorio in his vehicle.
They went to Pure Vida, standing at 4994 S. Tamiami Trail, the affidavit notes, where they sat outside and talked. “She said he explained to her what was going on with his job” and that they did not remain at that location “very long,” the affidavit continues. He then drove her back to Barnes and Noble.
However, on the way back to the bookstore, the affidavit says, he “told her he wished she was 18 years old [and that] this would be easier if they were in Brazil” before requesting that she refrain from telling anyone about their “meeting up.”
At that point, the girl told the detectives, “she started to feel uncomfortable … and just wanted to get out of the car.” When they arrived back at Barnes and Noble, the affidavit says, he parked in an area of the parking lot where they would not be visible to her mother.
After he parked his vehicle, the affidavit continues, while she remained in the passenger seat, facing forward, “he gave her a side hug with his right arm. She said she was frozen.” Then “he pulled her toward him with his arm around her,” so she was facing him,” the affidavit adds. “She said she was frightened and didn’t know what to do.”
The girl told the detectives that Ornellas-Victorio proceeded to give her “kisses on her cheek that were unwanted.” Immediately afterward, the affidavit continues, “he grabbed her face with his fingers and kissed her lips. She said she pushed him off of her and jumped out of the car [and] immediately went to her mother’s car and they left the parking lot.”
The teen added that she told her mother only that he had kissed her on the cheeks and that “she was very upset.”
While she and her mother were driving home, the affidavit says, she texted Ornellas-Victorio and asked why he had acted as he had. Although he responded, the affidavit notes, she could not recall what the message said. She “immediately deleted all text messages and his contact information from her cell phone,” she told the detectives, adding that he had broken her trust in him as a mentor, since he knew she was only 16, the affidavit adds.