Pinellas County Jail nurse faces charges of sexual battery
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A nurse who worked in the Pinellas County Jail faces charges after a woman said he raped her and recorded it, according to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office.
Edward Ross, 37, faces charges of sexual battery, false imprisonment and extortion. He is on unpaid administrative leave from his job at the jail as the investigation continues, according to Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Corporal Travis Sibley. Ross, a Hudson resident, has been an employee with the Sheriff’s Office since 2013.
On April 9, Ross hid three video cameras in the woman’s bedroom without her knowledge, according to an arrest affidavit. When the woman said she wanted to go to bed, Ross got into bed with her and tried to take her clothes off.
After telling him no and attempting to get away, the woman fell off the bed and onto the floor. Ross told her he was going to have sex with her, and the woman urinated on herself, the report said. She asked to use the bathroom, but Ross told her she could “finish peeing in bed,” according to the arrest affidavit.
After the battery, the woman tried to leave the house but each time Ross would not let her. When he fell asleep, she took her car keys and left.
At about 3:20 a.m. on Saturday, the woman got a text from Ross where he admitted to setting up cameras in her home, “so answer the phone.”
“If you block me, it’s gonna piss me off, and I’ll show it to whoever” he wrote, according to the report.
He also said that he had her garage door opener and keys and that if something happened to him because she told someone “I will make sure to be your worse (sic) nightmare,” the report said.
The woman went to the Sheriff’s Office and said she was in fear for her and her children’s lives. She said she didn’t want to have sex with the defendant and was scared he would hurt her.
In a monitored phone call between the woman and Ross, Ross told her he was sorry for forcing her into sex, according to the arrest affidavit.
Ross’ medical license shows no disciplinary actions. He’s been a licensed practical nurse since 2011. He remains in the Pasco jail on a $265,000 bond.
