Orlando officer Brandon R. Loverde was arrested on false imprisonment, battery charges.

By Susan Jacobson, Orlando Sentinel

9:34 PM EST, January 7, 2010

An Orlando police officer has been charged with false imprisonment and battery after a young mother told investigators he fondled her breast and squeezed milk from it outside a downtown Orlando nightclub.

Brandon Reed Loverde, 31, who was working an off-duty detail in uniform at Firestone Live, ordered Rachelle Cortez, now 21, to follow him into a parking lot at the rear of a nearby business and made her sit on the ground, she told authorities.

Loverde left with Cortez’s cell phone and identification card and returned with a bottle of water for her and a blue latex glove on his right hand, according to a police report. He then squatted in front of her, reached inside her bra and squeezed her right breast until milk squirted into his glove, the report states. Her breasts were full because she is nursing her children, she told investigators.

“Officer Loverde told her he wanted to ‘Suck on them,’ ” the report says.

Loverde turned himself in at the Orange County Jail Thursday morning. He was released two hours later after posting $5,500 bail and ordered not to have contact with Cortez. The three-year Orlando officer was relieved of duty Dec. 17, the day the incident was reported to police. He will not return until the criminal case is resolved, a department spokeswoman said. Orlando police plan to conduct an internal investigation.

Loverde could not be reached Thursday evening for comment. Earlier, he refused media interview requests sent to him via jail officials.

Cortez of Melbourne, her sister and some friends had driven to the club to attend a concert by the “electro-hop” group LMFAO on Dec. 14. The groping incident, which investigators say happened about 10 p.m., became public Thursday when Loverde was charged.

A surveillance camera in the parking lot where Cortez said she was held corroborates her and her friends’ version of events, at least in part. It shows Cortez following Loverde between two parked cars and sitting on the ground out of public view, the police report states. Loverde had a glove on his right hand.

On Dec. 23, Cortez submitted to a lie-detector test, which she passed.

A bouncer ejected Cortez from Firestone Live the night in question after warning her about dancing over a yellow line in front of the stage, the report says. However, Cortez said she didn’t know why she was removed from the club. Firestone Live owner Jan Harrold said Cortez got into a disagreement with other patrons. He also said she was not drinking and was not given a trespass warning.

Once outside, Loverde told Cortez to come with him, she said in a sworn statement.

Realizing that she had been thrown out of the club, Cortez’s sister and friends went outside to find her — her sister was screaming her name — and encountered Loverde, the report says. The officer asked, “Did you find her?” according to the report. Almost immediately, Cortez walked toward them from the same area Loverde came from. He then asked, “Oh, is this her?” the report states. “Here she is.”

Cortez’s sister’s boyfriend told police that he asked Loverde if he had seen a “girl” who was ejected from the club. Loverde told him he had not but asked for her name and the boyfriend’s phone number, according to the report. A few minutes later, Cortez’s sister and her boyfriend returned to the parking lot and saw Loverde come out, followed by Cortez.

On the way home, Cortez told her friends what happened.

After the officer went outside, he was gone for the rest of the night — until he came to pick up his paycheck, Harrold said. The club paid Loverde $40 per hour, Harrold said.

“It’s despicable if this incident happened,” he said.

Bianca Prieto, Willoughby Mariano and Sarah Lundy of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report.