He typed one word into the reason box: "investigation"
A Florida deputy used a network of license plate cameras to track his ex-girlfriend's car. The only thing standing between her and him was a text field asking why.
Michael Fultz was named Brevard County's Deputy of the Year in 2025. On the day of the ceremony, his ex-girlfriend sent the sheriff's office a letter of complaint about his behavior. That letter started an internal investigation, and the investigation found, among many other things, that he had been using Flock — a camera system that reads car license plates — to follow her movements.
The 43-page report, obtained by 404 Media, is not a story about one bad search. Investigators found Fultz had posed for photos as Adolf Hitler doing a Nazi salute, used racial slurs in texts, masturbated on camera in his police vehicle, and photographed his ex with his service weapon in her mouth during sex — a firearm the report says appears to be an agency-issued Walther. He was allowed to resign rather than be fired.
Here is the part worth slowing down on. When someone runs a plate through Flock, the system asks for a reason. That's the safeguard. Fultz typed "investigation" and marked it as a general inquiry. The system accepted it. He then did the searches off-duty, from his agency-issued phone, before he even left for work — and later bragged to her that he'd done it.
So the protection on a network that photographs the license plate of every car that drives past it is a free-text box. Nobody checks the box in the moment. Someone checks it later, if a complaint arrives.
A complaint arrived here only because he told her.
That's the difference between this case and the others 404 Media lists: an officer in Charlotte, South Carolina arrested in July for misusing Flock; the town of Greer, South Carolina suspending its Flock contract after two officers used it on their exes; another South Carolina officer fired after an audit showed 166 searches on one ex. In most of these, the person being watched had no idea for months or years. The audit trail exists — it just sits there until someone gives it a reason to be read.
Anyone who drives past a camera, which in a lot of towns is everyone. But more specifically: the woman who leaves a relationship and changes her routine to feel safe — and doesn't know her car is a searchable record. And anyone in their twenties or thirties who assumed the tracking risk in their life came from apps they installed. Fultz told investigators he already had her location on Snapchat, so tracking her on Flock "wouldn't have benefitted him." Read that again: the phone app and the municipal camera grid were interchangeable tools to him.
The Brevard County Sheriff's Office closed the investigation and referred it to file, because Fultz no longer works there. That's the end of that document. The office gave 404 Media the investigation but did not respond to a request for comment, and the source names no criminal charge, no hearing and no date. The one thing worth watching is whether other departments follow Greer, South Carolina and suspend their contracts — but nobody has announced that, and we're not going to pretend a timeline exists.
Fultz was caught because he couldn't resist telling her. Every safeguard in this story failed — the reason field, the off-duty access, the four traffic stops he talked his way out of, including one at 111 MPH. What worked was his ego. That's not a system. That's luck.
Sources: 404 Media, "Florida 'Deputy of the Year' Used Flock to Stalk Ex, Held Gun in Her Mouth, Did a Nazi Salute," Matthew Gault, Aug 27, 2026; Brevard County Sheriff's Office internal investigation obtained by 404 Media; News6 reported the story first.
Сеть камер, которая читает номера всех машин, оказалась инструментом слежки за бывшей девушкой — и единственной защитой было поле «причина запроса», куда полицейский вписал слово «расследование».
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