Sex Offender Indicted After Plying Teen With Drugs To Abuse Her, Causing Overdose Death

A convicted sex offender in Florida who plied a teen girl with drugs to sexually abuse her and dumped her body after her overdose death has been indicted for murder, officials said.

Robert Gullo, 25, from Clearwater, was indicted on Dec. 2 for the death of a 16-year-old girl Meaghan Cooper whose body was found in the Duke Energy Trail last year, Tampa Bay Times reported.

Gullo faces charges of first-degree murder and unlawful sexual activity with certain minors, reports said.

At the time of Cooper's death, Gullo was out on bail in an unrelated abuse case for having sex with a 14-year-old girl he met on Tinder. Gullo is currently serving a 40-month sentence in Polk Correctional Institution after being convicted in the case, Law & Crime reported.

According to court records, Gullo texted Cooper on Nov. 18, 2021, offering her cocaine and discussing having sex. Gullo picked up Cooper from her home and took her to his home after her mother slept. He then gave the teen high doses of fentanyl which she consumed believing it was cocaine, officials said.

Cooper's body was recovered from Duke Energy easement the next day after construction workers spotted it and alerted the cops.

Based on the ankle monitor that Gullo was wearing at the time of the incident, police traced his movements. They found out that Gullo stayed in his house till about 6 a.m. that day and had visited the spot where police found Cooper's body.

Medical reports suggested that the girl had almost four times the lethal amount of fentanyl in her system and Gullo had "sexual intercourse" with the girl at some point during the incident.

On the same day, Gullo also texted another 15-year-old offering drugs for sex but the girl refused his advances, reports said.

Gullo preyed on teen girls after befriending them and plying them with drugs for sex, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said.

"Gullo is a predator who was preying on as many young teenage girls as he could, the sheriff said, adding that Cooper was one of his victims.

"Addiction is a terrible problem that people have. So – it's against this backdrop, especially to the young people who are easily preyed on by older people, don't take drugs from someone like this. You have no idea what's in it and – in the case of Meaghan Cooper – it will literally kill you," Gualtieri said.