What did Nicolas Paloma do? Incident explored as Clearwater police officer arrested for exploiting a tourist 

A Clearwater police officer, Nicolas Paloma, was arrested on Tuesday, October 17, 2023, over extorting s*xual favors from a tourist, in exchange for overlooking jaywalking charges.

In a News conference, Clearwater police Chief Eric Gandy said that 29-year-old Paloma was taken into custody after the victim who was incidentally involved in another unrelated incident, told the story to a responding officer.

Police Chief Eric Gandy said that Paloma was charged with s*xual battery and false imprisonment. Gandy urged civilians with any information regarding the case to contact authorities before also saying:

“What this officer did is reprehensible,” Gandy said. “He’s someone who took an oath to enforce the law, not break the law in an egregious way while wearing a badge and a uniform.”

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Charges against Clearwater police officer Nicolas Paloma explored

Detailing the incident, in a news conference Tuesday, police Chief Eric Gandy said that on Sunday, October 15, Nicolas Paloma, who has been a ClearWater police officer since 2018, conducted a pedestrian stop on a 32-year-old woman who was allegedly Jaywalking near the Clearwater Beach roundabout.

During the stop, Paloma reportedly asked the victim, who was visiting the area to get inside the car and told her she could get out of a citation or a charge in exchange for s*xual favours. Paloma then reportedly drove around with the woman for thirty minutes, where they engaged in various acts before dropping her off at her hotel. During this time, Paloma, who was on duty, turned off his tracker for about 30 minutes.

Gandy said that authorities disinterred Paloma’s disturbing actions after they responded to a dispute between the victim and a friend, and the former spoke about the incident. In a news conference, Ganday slammed Paloma’s disreputable conduct as a law officer. He said:

"I had to check myself before coming in here because I'm exceptionally upset at the betrayal of trust in the level of confidence that people have in our officers," Chief Gandy said at a press conference Tuesday. "It's exceptionally damaging to our reputation and the reputation of everyone in law enforcement."

Gandy revealed that they are currently investigating if Nicolas Paloma was embroiled in any past transgressions of a similar nature and asked anyone with information on this case or other cases to contact them at 727-562-4385.

"We have to proceed in an abundance of caution," Chief Gandy said. "This is a guy who under the cover of law took this action, and we have to be very careful to ensure that we don't have somebody else out there. We just don't know at this juncture."

Chief Gandy said that Nicolas Paloma, who was booked into the Pinellas County Jail, was placed on administrative leave.