A St. Petersburg police officer with a string of disciplinary infractions was fired this month after leaving his duty belt with a handgun and Taser by a dumpster in Pasco County.
Ramon Ortega, 29, was terminated March 11 after workingfive years as a patrol officer, the police department announced last week. Performance reviews and employee notices obtained by the Tampa Bay Times showed it was not his first violation of the agency’s code of conduct.
On Dec. 30, 2025, a surveillance camera captured Ortega driving his personal car toward a dumpster behind the Village Lake Shopping Center in Land O’ Lakes after his shift ended, according to a spokesperson for the St. Petersburg Police Department.
An employee of a nearby pet supply store found the duty belt next to a pile of old toys and called the Pasco CountySheriff’s Office, the spokesperson said. The sheriff’s office contacted St. Petersburg police, who confirmed the belt belonged to Ortega.
Ortega did not tell a supervisor his belt was missing before his next shift, according to a department spokesperson.
“Ortega claims to have removed old stuffed animals from the car trunk, dropping them off at the dumpster, and did not realize the duty belt was included,” a department spokesperson told the Times.
A command review board led by police Chief Anthony Holloway found that Ortega was negligent in “loss or damage of department property” and was a “chronic offender of the code of conduct.”
Reached by phone Tuesday, Ortega declined to comment for this story.
Ortega was driving his personal vehicle that day because he was barred from taking home his police cruiser for 90 days. That disciplinary action was related to an August traffic stop involving use of force, records show.
On Aug. 26, 2025, Ortega saw a white Tesla “driving recklessly” on 54th Avenue Northjust before 11 p.m.and chased the driver at 95 mph in a 35-mph zone without turning on the cruiser’s overhead lights, “almost causing a crash,” according to the disciplinary report.
Ortega turned off the dashboard camera and cut in front of the driver instead of pulling them over from behind, the report states. Ortega “ordered the suspect out of the vehicle” and onto the ground in the street, the report states.
Ortega then put his knee on the suspect’s back “in order to establish control while handcuffing.” He remained in that position for four minutes “while the suspect was not resisting and there were no cover vehicles behind them blocking traffic,” the report states. He also “failed to document the use of force.”
“It was clear in talking with Officer Ortega that Ortega did not fully appreciate the seriousness of Ortega’s reckless driving until the investigation was conducted,” police Sgt. Marissa Gaddis wrote in his October performance review. “Officer Ortega’s driving is unsafe for Ortega as well as other motorists and pedestrians on or near the road.”
Ortega was suspended for four days.
Gaddis also wrote that she’d responded to citizen complaints about Ortega’s communication skills, according to the report.
“I have been present for a few instances where I noted that Officer Ortega’s tone of voice or lack of communication skills with the public either frustrate or anger citizens to the point of a complaint or no longer wanting assistance from police,” she wrote.
During an earlier traffic stop in January 2025, Ortega crashed his patrol car when he turned in front of another vehicle at the intersection of 18th Avenue South and 12th Street South, according to a disciplinary report.The driver of the other vehicle was hurt, and the damage to both cars totaled $4,716.81, the report states.
Ortega’s first disciplinary report occurred on March 21, 2024, when he failed to properly search a suspect before placing him in a police cruiser.While in the backseat, the suspect took a 9mm handgun from his pocket and placed it on the floor of the car. The gun wasn’t found until the suspect was booked at the Pinellas County Jail, according to the report.
“Officer Ortega’s inefficiency placed himself and others involved throughout the investigation in grave danger,” the report states.
He was suspended for one day.