INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A newly sworn-in deputy was arrested and fired after sheriff’s officials discovered a video of an underage girl performing sexual acts on his cell phone. Deputies were tipped off after a juvenile high school student told them that Kai Stewart Cromer asked her to send him a nude picture via Snapchat, Indian River County Sheriff Eric Flowers said.
Cromer had just started the law enforcement job on Monday.
“Kai is no longer an employee of the sheriff’s office. Within 24 hours he was arrested and terminated,” Flowers said during a news conference late Tuesday at the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office. “Before the end of his first workday, we were taking his cell phone from him for a search warrant. (Cromer) grew up in the community. Other people know him. This is a bad situation.”
Cromer, 19, of Vero Beach, was charged with possession of child pornography. Cromer was released Tuesday from the Indian River County Jail on a $15,000 bond.
Deputies did not identify the school where Cromer approached the girl. The School District of Indian River County created a Facebook post saying that a newly hired deputy was arrested for soliciting explicit photos from underage students at Vero Beach High School.
“The safety and well-being of our students are our highest priorities, and any behavior that violates the trust and integrity of our school community is completely unacceptable. We are thankful for the courage of the students who came forward and reported to law enforcement that this individual was engaging in inappropriate behavior and making them uncomfortable, which ultimately led to the arrest,” school district officials said in a statement.
“The individual in question was immediately removed from their position, and we are fully cooperating with law enforcement in their investigation. Counseling and support services are available to any students who may have been affected by this situation. Our district remains committed to providing a safe and supportive learning environment for all students, and we will take swift and decisive action to address any violations of our policies and standards.”
Deputies said they were investigating additional cases where Cromer demanded girls send him explicit photos. Flowers said Cromer used his first and last name as his Snapchat handle.
“He was telling people ‘I’m going to be in law enforcement. I’m very powerful.’ These girls felt like they had no choice but to do these things,” Flowers said. “We know four people he was contacting. The people who have come forward are concerned for their safety. There are other victims we know about already and others we haven’t identified.”
Cromer was sworn in as a deputy on Monday before an investigation was launched on him that afternoon. A Vero Beach High School student called the sheriff’s office after she saw Cromer walking on campus the same day responding to a call for service.
“A brave young female came forward and alerted our staff,” Flowers said. “She said (Cromer) contacted her via Snapchat and asked her to send naked pictures.”
Flowers said the sheriff’s office does a full evaluation of deputies’ accounts on social media that are available to the public, including Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram. Snap Inc., a privately-owned company, owns Snapchat, according to its website.
“Unfortunately, Snapchat is a private exchanging of information,” Flowers said. “Until (Cromer) walked on campus, we had no indication this guy had anything like this going on.”
Deputies seized Cromer’s cellphone and looked over more than 100 gigabytes of data, Flowers said. The deputies found the video depicting child pornography and detained Cromer.
The sheriff’s office hired Cromer on Jan. 8 as a deputy trainee. Cromer passed the State Officer Certification Exam on Feb. 9, and was officially sworn in by Flowers on Monday.
Flowers said other possible victims should speak with sheriff’s deputies. The sheriff said more charges were expected to be filed against Cromer.
“We’re very proud of the victim who has come forward to talk to us. We want to encourage other victims out there to do the same,” Flowers said. “We want you to know that we’ll make sure you’re protected. Our detectives are trained in this and are happy to talk to you. They want to bring justice in this case. If you’re somebody out there who had contact with this Snapchat handle (Kai Cromer), we want to know about it.”
Photos by Joshua Kodis
