In February 2026, a Florida Keys sheriff's deputy of about six months, working security on the set of the Apple TV show Bad Monkey, noticed a woman stepping off the extras bus. According to the sheriff's office report, he whistled and catcalled her, and the two traded names and phone numbers even though she told him she had a boyfriend. 1
Then he used the tools of his job. Investigators say Lamar Roman looked her up in DAVID, Florida's driver and vehicle database, and in the state and national crime databases. He then put her license plate on a "hotlist," which alerts an officer whenever the car passes a license plate reader. 1 A hotlist hit is what a plate reader is for: it turns a camera on every road into a tracking system for whichever plates are on the list.
Dashcam footage from his patrol car, obtained by 404 Media through a public records request, shows what came next. Roman speeds down a two-lane stretch of U.S. 1 in the Lower Keys at about 70 miles an hour, passes a dump truck where passing is not allowed, crosses a double yellow line to pass another truck, and nearly causes a head-on crash with a white pickup that veers away. 2 That was February 19. According to the arrest report, he pulled her over in the highway's turning lane at mile marker 10. 3 The woman was not a suspect. He had simply made himself a way to find her.
In body camera footage published later, Roman's explanation was short: "I saw a shiny thing." 4 A detective on the case told the woman that deputies had misused databases before. 4
Roman was arrested in March and fired. In a deal signed July 1, the computer-crimes charges will be dropped if he completes a two-year pretrial program. He must stay away from the woman, do 100 hours of community service, continue therapy and pay about $1,700 in costs. 1
The case is not a one-off. The Institute for Justice has catalogued cases of police using plate readers to track romantic interests. 5 404 Media reports that Flock, a major plate-reader company, said in July that it knew of 15 incidents of abuse, and that the Washington Post later counted at least 50. 4 The pattern is the same each time: a tool built to find stolen cars, a person with access, and a log that only matters if someone reads it. Reason frames the case as a Fourth Amendment problem for the networks themselves. 6
References
- Chris Gothner. (n.d.). Ex-Keys deputy who illegally tracked woman he met on set of ’Bad Monkey’ avoids jail. Local 10 (WPLG). https://www.local10.com/news/local/2026/08/11/ex-keys-deputy-who-illegally-tracked-woman-he-met-on-set-of-bad-monkey-avoids-jail-court-docs/
- Jason Koebler. (n.d.). Footage Shows Cop Stalking Woman He Met on a TV Set After Surveilling Her With a License Plate Reader. 404 Media. https://www.404media.co/footage-shows-cop-stalking-woman-he-met-on-a-tv-set-after-surveilling-her-with-a-license-plate-reader/
- Fla. deputy arrested after allegedly tracking woman he met on movie set, pulling her over after pursuit. (n.d.). Police1. https://www.police1.com/arrests-sentencing/fla-deputy-arrested-after-allegedly-tracking-woman-he-met-on-movie-set-pulling-her-over-after-pursuit
- Jason Koebler. (n.d.). ’I Saw a Shiny Thing’: Cop Explains Why He Used License Plate Reader to Stalk Woman. 404 Media. https://404media.co/i-saw-a-shiny-thing-cop-explains-why-he-used-license-plate-reader-to-stalk-woman
- Police Have Reportedly Used License Plate Readers to Stalk Romantic Interests Dozens of Times in Recent Years. (n.d.). Institute for Justice. https://ij.org/police-have-reportedly-used-license-plate-readers-to-stalk-romantic-interests-at-least-14-times-in-recent-years/
- Florida police officer used mass surveillance network to stalk romantic interest. (n.d.). Reason. https://reason.com/2026/07/10/florida-police-officer-used-mass-surveillance-network-to-stalk-romantic-interest/