MIAMI – Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation Department Officer Christy Laster threatened him. She told him that if he didn't give her cash she was going to destroy his life, Keno Bridgewater said Saturday.
Bridgewater said he was trying to get his life together, after ending up at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. He was in a rehabilitation boot camp program that allowed him to work. Laster was supposed to supervise his progress, but instead, she is accused of stealing from him.
Laster had a gambling problem that investigators said took her to losing about $40,000 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.
"I gave her the money," the 20-year-old said.
Bridgewater believes authorities are going to find that many of her victims kept quiet. So far, prosecutors said, she stole about $20,000 from at least 19 victims.
Bridgewater said he started the boot camp in 2015. Laster has been with the department for about 12 years. Bridgewater hopes more victims will come forward and that authorities will find a way to return the money she stole.
Bridgewater was charged with armed burglary in 2014 and petit theft in 2013, records show. He was working at a restaurant at the Dolphin Mall when Laster forced him to give her about $1,000 of his hard earned money, he said.
"I came here with nothing, and I'm leaving with nothing," Bridgewater said.