KEY WEST, Fla. – A Monroe County sheriff’s deputy was booked into jail Monday morning on a misdemeanor battery charge after an incident at a bar on Key West’s famed Duval Street, according to his employer.
According to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and the Key West Police Department, Jesus Abdiel Rojas Burgos, 28, “touched or grabbed (a) female victim against her will” at Rick’s Bar at 202 Duval St., at around 1 a.m.
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The victim told Key West police that she was speaking with a woman at the bar and Rojas Burgos asked her for the woman’s phone number, according to a KWPD arrest report.
The report states that she told him that he would ask her himself and then said she no longer wanted to speak with him; he then grabbed her arm as she left.
Police said she pulled away and reported the incident to security, who told police that the off-duty deputy became “argumentative” and refused to leave.
Security officers told police that after they threatened to call 911, Rojas Burgos responded, “I am a cop.”
The arrest report states that “several” security officers flagged a Key West police officer down. Police came up on Rojas Burgos and a friend arguing with security.
“I didn’t do anything, why do I have to go?” police said he asked a Key West officer who asked him to leave the property.
The report states Rojas Burgos then squared up to the officer with a clenched fist. The off-duty deputy’s friend stepped in to lead him away.
Police said they detained Rojas Burgos in a vehicle while they viewed surveillance footage of the incident, which corroborated the woman’s story. All the while, the sheriff’s deputy started to “bang, kick and scream” loud enough to draw the attention of a concerned passerby, the report states.
Authorities would later arrest Rojas Burgos, who invoked his Miranda rights, according to the report.
Rojas Burgos has been on the job for less than a year: According to the sheriff’s office, he was hired in April 2023.
“I take these incidents very seriously, will investigate this matter fully, and take the appropriate action,” Sheriff Rick Ramsay said in a news release. “I am committed to keeping this community informed of significant events that occur in this agency — good or bad.”
Rojas Burgos remained held in MCSO’s Key West jail facility as of Monday afternoon.