PASCO COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) – A Pasco County school resource officer is charged with stalking his former girlfriend.
Russell Knieriem, 45, has been fired, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday. Knieriem joined the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office in 1999. He started working at Fivay High School as a resource officer in 2014.
The victim told investigators she lived with the suspect for about six years. They broke up in May 2016, and she moved out, according to the sheriff’s office.
Knieriem allegedly sent the victim multiple text messages and called her, “harassing her,” deputies said. The victim asked the suspect not to contact her and blocked his number.
Deputies said Knieriem then contacted the victim through email, “continuously harassing her over the last few days.”
The victim showed deputies the emails, according to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office. The victim also said she believed the suspect had driven by her home. The responding deputy interviewed the victim in her residence. When the deputy exited, according to the sheriff’s office, Knieriem was driving by in a work vehicle.
The suspect “admitted to continuously harassing, calling, texting, emailing and driving by the victim’s residence,” deputies said.
