Cops: Cadet used dad’s patrol car to harass ex

If you’re looking to build a career in law enforcement, it’s probably not a good idea to use dad’s unmarked sheriff’s car to mess with your ex and her new beau.

But that’s exactly what Palm Beach Sheriff’s cadet Christopher Combs — the son of a Palm Beach Sheriff’s lieutenant — did, investigators say.

According to an arrest report, in the small hours of Saturday, Combs:

Pulled over his former girlfriend Jamie DiCarlo and her new boyfriend, Robert Roberts, with red and blue lights flashing;

Used the patrol car’s loudspeaker to order Roberts out of his Ford Bronco and onto the ground — apparently without

disguising his voice;

Told Roberts to empty his pockets.

Someone then stole Roberts’ wallet and a pocket knife, officials say.

When asked for comment Tuesday about the incident, Palm Beach Sheriff ’s Office spokeswoman Teri Barbera wrote in an email, the “son has been fired, effective right now!”

The trouble began after midnight Saturday on the dark, rural, Loxahatchee Road in northwestern Broward County, investigators said.

Combs, 22, of Boynton Beach, and two friends drove back and forth past the couple in a pickup truck, yelling at them before heading off, according to a Broward Sheriff ’s arrest report.

But just after 1 a.m. Saturday, Combs returned, this time in his dad’s patrol car. DiCarlo and Roberts drove away in the Bronco. That’s when a gray Ford Taurus passed them and made a Uturn near Nob Hill Road, investigators said.

Moments later, red and blue lights lit up behind them and Roberts pulled over. DiCarlo immediately recognized a voice from the car’s public address system as Combs, who she dated for five years before recently breaking up, she told deputies.

Roberts said he could hear the voice laughing as he was ordered out of his Bronco to get on the ground and empty his pockets.

At one point, a passenger in the unmarked car got out and put a “metal object” on the back of Roberts’ head before stealing his wallet and pocket knife, Roberts told deputies.

DiCarlo later told deputies Combs was a sheriff’s cadet and that his dad was a sheriff’s lieutenant who drove the exact same type of unmarked Ford Taurus.

Investigators spoke with Combs’ dad, who said he was out of state and that his son had parked his car at a friend’s house.

Deputies went to that house in West Boca and found the car still felt hot, meaning it had been recently driven, according to the report.

Combs denied driving his dad’s car, adding it was parked at his friend’s house all day. In a phone call overheard by investigators, he said he got upset when he saw DiCarlo and Roberts together and started “messing” with them, according to the report.

He appeared in court Sunday before Judge Giuseppina Miranda. Combs was ordered not to have any contact with DiCarlo or Roberts and put on house arrest with GPS monitoring.

His bond was originally set at $300,000 bond but reduced to $120,000 during the hearing.

Combs faces charges of armed robbery, impersonating a law enforcement officer and false imprisonment. He was booked and released from Broward County Jail on Monday after posting bond.

His father, whose name was not officially released, is also under internal review, according to Palm Beach Sheriff’s spokeswoman Barbera.

Christopher Combs