A Seminole County Sheriff’s Office detective was arrested on 15 felony charges related to his duties of investigating sex crimes against children, according to a release published late Thursday. He is pleading not guilty.

“Don’t do it, you’re going to get caught,” and “Stay away” are just some of the messages Detective Jose Tirado is accused of sending to predators to help them avoid arrest durng an undercover investigation where suspects thought they were going to meet minors for sex. 

Detective Jose Tirado was assigned to the department’s Crimes Against Children Unit. 

The charges include five counts of unlawful use of a two-way communication device, five counts of use of confidential criminal justice information, and five counts of impairment of government operation. 

He has been booked with a $65,000 bond and has a GPS monitor on him.

Tirado is accused of covertly using technolgy to warn suspects that had planned to meet minors for sex that they were the target of a sting operation, which allowed them to avoid arrest, according to the sheriff’s office. 

Tirado, who is out on bond, is pleading not guilty and is waving his right to see appear before a judge for his arraignment.

We reached out to the state attorney, asking if any of the cases he has worked on were now in danger. They sent a statement saying, “As a result of this arrest, prosecutors will undertake a review of every open case where Jose Tirado is listed as a witness to determine the potential impact and establish if there is sufficient evidence beyond Tirado’s testimony to proceed with prosecution. Tirado will also be flagged within our electronic records system as a witness falling under our Mandatory Disclosure Policy with notification  provided to defense attorneys in those cases.”

Marie Martinez is the director of operations at the Howard Phillips Center for Children and Families. She has dedicated her career to helping abused children. 

"Child abuse is a big problem in Central Florida unfortunately and that is really a function of the fact that we are a large metro area that has demographics that skew toward young children and families," she said.

According to her, 10% of the total abuse reports to the abuse hotline involve sexual abuse. 

"We are in an area of the state that has the highest numbers of child abuse in the entire state," she said.

Martinez says they help about 400 kids a year. They sometimes work with law enforcement to help get statements about what happened.

In the arrest warrant for Tirado, it explains at first the sheriff’s office thought they may have been hacked and collected the detective’s phones. That is when they found evidence pointing to Tirado.

Officials believe he sent these messages to suspects: “she is fake dude, stay away. I’m trying to help you out, delete and go away… don’t do it your going to be caught.”

The suspects also sent messages back saying, “thanks for the advice appreciate it.” with the response, “Enjoy your get out of jail free card.”

From the warrant, it appears 3 people who were en route to meet with an undercover detective posing as a child were warned by Tirado according to officials. One of those people has still not been caught.

The sheriff’s office released a statement saying something like this not only keeps dangerous abusers on the street but could have put other detectives in harm’s way. 

“You (Tirado) were responsible for investigating allegations of criminal child abuse, neglect and abandonment, and sexual based offenses, against minors, and investigating and apprehending those individuals who would travel to meet a minor for the purposes of sexual activity,” Sheriff Dennis Lemma said in a statement. 

“You were responsible for protecting the most vulnerable members of our society, our children, and the actions you are alleged to have committed instead aided those who would seek to victimize children by allowing them to avoid arrest and prosecution,” he continued.

The Sheriff's Office stated that there were no real child victims involved in the sting operations and only detectives working undercover.

Officials have not stated what the motive behind Tirado's alleged actions was.

Tirado has been an employee in the office since May 2010, and he joined the crimes against children unit in 2015. Lemma said the Sheriff's Office is in the process of firing Tirado.