{"id":65266,"date":"2026-04-28T20:47:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T00:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=65266"},"modified":"2026-04-28T20:47:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T00:47:34","slug":"former-polk-county-sheriffs-office-pcso-deputy-and-cadet-advisor-was-arrested-for-sending-inappropriate-romantic-messages-to-a-16-year-old-girl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/04\/28\/former-polk-county-sheriffs-office-pcso-deputy-and-cadet-advisor-was-arrested-for-sending-inappropriate-romantic-messages-to-a-16-year-old-girl\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Polk County Sheriff\u2019s Office (PCSO) deputy and cadet advisor was arrested for sending inappropriate, “romantic” messages to a 16-year-old girl"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A former Polk County Sheriff\u2019s Office (PCSO)<\/strong> deputy and cadet advisor was arrested on Tuesday, April 28, 2026<\/strong>, for sending inappropriate, “romantic” messages to a 16-year-old girl in the agency’s cadet program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Details of the Case<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Skylar Lamar Bush<\/strong>, 29, served as an advisor for the PCSO cadet program. The investigation began on Monday after another cadet reported witnessing concerning messages between Bush and the victim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • The Messages:<\/strong> According to investigators, Bush told the teenager he was “falling in love” with her and expressed a desire for her to have his children.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The Admission:<\/strong> When questioned, Bush reportedly admitted to being “emotionally entangled” with the teen. He also admitted to deleting his messages and instructing the victim to delete hers to hide the evidence.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Current Findings:<\/strong> Detectives stated that while there are no allegations of physical contact, the behavior is being treated as a clear attempt at grooming.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Charges Filed<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Bush is facing multiple felony charges, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • An authority figure engaging in a romantic relationship with a student<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Tampering with physical evidence<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Unlawful use of a two-way communication device<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Official Response<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

      Sheriff Grady Judd criticized the former deputy\u2019s actions, describing the behavior as a “gross obsession.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n

      “He attempted to groom her. At this point in this investigation, there is no evidence that there was any physical contact… but my detectives are still investigating. If he’s done this to someone before, we want to know about it.” \u2014 Sheriff Grady Judd<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

      Bush, who was hired by the agency in August 2022, was immediately arrested and his employment terminated. Investigators are currently looking into whether there are other potential victims.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      A former Polk County Sheriff\u2019s Office (PCSO) deputy and cadet advisor was arrested on Tuesday, April 28, 2026, for sending inappropriate, “romantic” messages to a 16-year-old girl in the agency’s… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDRcL1NjcmVlbnNob3QtMjAyNi0wNC0yOFQyMDQyMDQuMDIwLndlYnA_Zml0PTMwMCUyQzM2MiZzc2w9MSIsInR4dCI6IkZvcm1lciBQb2xrIENvdW50eSBTaGVyaWZmXHUyMDE5cyBPZmZpY2UgKFBDU08pIGRlcHV0eSBhbmQgY2FkZXQgYWR2aXNvciB3YXMgYXJyZXN0ZWQgZm9yIHNlbmRpbmcgaW5hcHByb3ByaWF0ZSwgJiM4MjIwO3JvbWFudGljJiM4MjIxOyBtZXNzYWdlcyB0byBhIDE2LXllYXItb2xkIGdpcmwiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImRvaXMiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.denGBOSrV2iU91bRmKUz2MdoQh75K3zPNoVeuPuQNScMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA0XC9TY3JlZW5zaG90LTIwMjYtMDQtMjhUMjA0MjA0LjAyMC53ZWJwIiwidHh0IjoiRm9ybWVyIFBvbGsgQ291bnR5IFNoZXJpZmZcdTIwMTlzIE9mZmljZSAoUENTTykgZGVwdXR5IGFuZCBjYWRldCBhZHZpc29yIHdhcyBhcnJlc3RlZCBmb3Igc2VuZGluZyBpbmFwcHJvcHJpYXRlLCBcInJvbWFudGljXCIgbWVzc2FnZXMgdG8gYSAxNi15ZWFyLW9sZCBnaXJsIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.aG3VVVnIBB9gNy6rrajlVUvSJDq-Tzu79IXQFIjVb3EMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[14497,14496],"class_list":["post-65266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-romantic-messages-to-a-16-year-old-girl","tag-former-polk-county-sheriffs-office-pcso-deputy-and-cadet-advisor-was-arrested-for-sending-inappropriate"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65266"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65268,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65266\/revisions\/65268"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}