Ex-officer convicted of threatening teenagers

ALLIGATOR ALLEY – Two 18-year-olds had marijuana and alcohol in their car when the Miccosukee police officer who pulled them over put forward a bizarre command: Strip naked and run down a secluded road or go to jail.

The teens ran. In trial testimony to a Broward County jury the young couple said they felt intimidated, threatened and as if they had no choice but to follow Officer Michael Martinez’s orders during that Aug. 5, 2016 stop in the Everglades.

The jury on Thursday convicted Martinez, 30, of Hialeah, of four felonies — two counts of extortion and two counts of unlawful compensation, Broward State Attorney Mike Satz said.

Now an ex-Miccosukee officer, Martinez’s eyes filled with tears upon hearing the guilty verdicts. A sheriff’s deputy immediately cuffed his wrists and took him into custody, televised reports showed.

The teens were pulled over near the Miccosukee Reservation for running a stop sign on Alligator Alley. After finding the marijuana and alcohol, Martinez told the couple to follow him down a secluded road, according to trial testimony.

The officer told the young man and young woman they could take their clothes off and run down the secluded road or go to jail.

“Martinez also tried to solicit a sexual act from the young woman,” a spokeswoman from the Broward State Attorney’s Office said.

Broward Circuit Judge Tom Coleman scheduled Martinez’s sentencing hearing for Nov. 25.

Martinez faces a maximum sentence of 60 years in state prison. State sentencing guidelines suggest a minimum prison term of nearly six years, prosecutors said.