Instagram/Facebook L: James Cousins and wife Billie, R: Rebecca Turner with her husband Wade and two children.
Florida Sheriff’s Deputy James Cousins and high school counselor Rebecca Turner both lost their jobs after they were caught having sex in a patrol car in September, The Daily Mail reports.
Cousins, 25, was forced to resign from the Indian River County Sheriff’s Department in December after he was accused of having a sexual encounter with Turner, 36, after a high school football game in September when Cousins drove Turner to her home.
According to the Daily Mail, the incident was reported in November, when Vero Beach High School officials learned of rumors that the two were exchanging nude photos during work.
Cousins, who married 31-year-old mother-of-three Billie in July, admitted to receiving oral sex from Turner but denied it was in uniform in his patrol car. Investigators found what they believed to be semen in his patrol car.
Turner has lost a position at the school after she admitted to officials that she performed oral sex on the deputy. Turner also admitted to exchanging nude photos with Cousins.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. James Cousins Was Married Just Months Before The Incident
Cousins, 25, married 31-year-old mother-of-three Billie in July. Cousins had been at the sheriff’s department for more than two years.
Cousins met Turner, a counselor at Vero Beach High School, earlier in 2018 after he was assigned to patrol the school.
Turner, a mother-of-two, has been married to Wade Turner, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission officer, since 2007.
2. Rebecca Turner, A Married Mother of Two, Admitted to Sexual Encounter After Football Game
In a recorded interview with investigators, Turner admitted that she asked to sit in Cousins’ squad car after a high school football game in September.
Turner, who said the incident was a “stupid mistake ruining my whole life,” told investigators that she asked Cousins to eat in his patrol car because she was not allowed to eat on the school’s brand new bus.
“So I was like hey, can I sit in your car while we stop to eat, and he said, ‘sure, do you want to just ride with me … the rest of the way there?'” she told investigators.
During the ride, Turner admitted that she leaned over and performed oral sex on Cousins while he drove.
“It was in his patrol car,” Turner said, before admitting she also performed oral sex at his house three weeks later.
Turner also admitted to receiving a photo of Cousins’ penis on her phone at work.
“Yeah, that is why this is ruining my freaking marriage,” she says in the interview. “It’s going to be, you know, when I don’t have a house or anything now because my husband is going to divorce me because this keeps coming up and up … It just sucks. The one like … the stupid mistake is ruining my whole life … my whole life pretty much.”
3. James Cousins Denies Turner’s Version of Events
Cousins admitted to having a sexual encounter with Turner but denied doing so in uniform and in his patrol car. He said the only time she performed oral sex on him was at his home three weeks later, claiming that she showed up while his wife was working a 13-hour shift.
“I don’t know if she [Turner] followed me home,” Cousins says in the recorded interview. “But she came after school, yes sir … I don’t recall how I specifically invited her.”
Cousins denied that anything inappropriate happened during the ride in his patrol car.
“I did give her a ride, but I was ending a 20-hour work day and I was really tired,” he said. “I knew I had a long ride home through the middle of nowhere and I figured she’d help keep me awake.”
Forensic investigators discovered what they believe to be a semen stain on the driver’s seat of his patrol car.
Asked about the stain, Cousins claimed to investigators that “it was a Kit Kat that fell and melted.”
During her interview, Turner was asked why Cousins denied the incident in the car.
“I really don’t know,” she said. “I wouldn’t have ruined, you know, ruining my marriage if it didn’t happen and lost my job with something that I love, if it didn’t happen.”
Cousins told The Daily Mail two months later that he still denies the incident in the patrol car happened.
“It’s her word against mine, and obviously they chose hers,” he said.
4. Cousins Was Forced to Resign From The Sheriff’s Department
Internal Affairs investigators determined that Cousins violated multiple policies, including unbecoming conduct, intentional abuse of police equipment, and two counts of neglect of duty.
Cousins was forced to resign from the department.
Sheriff’s officials wrote on internal documents obtained by The Daily Mail that Cousins could have been fired if he did not resign.
5. Turner Lost Her Job at Vero Beach High School
EXCLUSIVE: Sheriff’s deputy and high school counselor lose their jobs for ‘engaging in oral sex in patrol car following school football game t.co/v2vevIzR4d
The Daily Mail reported that Turner, a guidance counselor at Vero Beach High School, has since lost her job as a color guard instructor after a school investigation.
Principal Shawn O’Keefe told investigators that Turner had been telling colleagues that “her marriage was in jeopardy” and that she “was having regrets about what had happened.”
Turner also admitted the encounter to her husband, who confronted the deputy.
“I did reach out to James Cousins,” Wade Turner told investigators. “And, you know, told him how I felt that he not only disrespected, you know, myself as a person, but disrespected the uniform and the brotherhood. He simply stated he was sorry and I hung up on him.”
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