CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. — An internal probe by the Coral Springs Police Department found that a now-former school resource officer behaved inappropriately with students during their time at J.P. Taravella High School ― and as adults after they graduated.
The department sustained several allegations against former Officer Raymond Kerner, four of which came under the internal policy violation of “failure to adhere to laws.” Those laws, according to the July 30 CSPD internal affairs report, were battery, lewd and lascivious exhibition, showing obscene material to minors and sexual battery.
While the report alleges that Kerner broke the law, he is not facing criminal charges; the report states that prosecutors couldn’t pursue them because the alleged incidents fell outside of the statute of limitations. In one case, a woman said she did not want to pursue charges for an allegation from 2025, according to the report.
CSPD announced the results of the investigation into Kerner and publicly announced his “termination” on Friday. The department said Kerner served as a full-time SRO at Taravella from 2013 to 2021, retired in 2022, then rejoined the department as a seasonal SRO at Eagle Ridge Elementary.
They said the internal probe into the officer began after reports from “several women who described inappropriate behavior and conversations of a sexual nature” while serving at Taravella. Police said he was “immediately” relieved of duty following the allegations and is “no longer employed” by CSPD.
In one case, Kerner was accused of inappropriately touching a 21-year-old former student “and placing cash inside her shirt.”
Internal investigators said he also sexually battered a young woman on an August 2025 boat outing. According the CSPD document, the woman told investigators that she “doesn’t want to press charges” and “does not think Officer Kerner should be working in a school with young females or be a police officer anymore.”
Investigators also sustained allegations that Kerner showed a student, then 15 or 16, pornography during a FaceTime call and masturbated during another FaceTime call, according to the report.
According to the report, they also sustained complaints that Kerner, who allowed students to “routinely hang out in (his) office,” once likened a student to a type of sex toy because of “how small she was,” said “she would be fun to be with (during sex)” and “physically massag(ed) her back.”
An investigator finding Kerner violated the agency’s unprofessional behavior policy concluded: “Officer Kerner engaging in criminal sexual conduct is unprofessional and is not a standard of a Coral Springs Police Officer.”
Kerner did not provide a statement during the investigation.
In Friday’s announcement, CSPD Chief Brad Mock called Kerner’s conduct “inexcusable.”
“Wearing this badge gives an officer authority, but it also places great responsibility on that officer to exercise good judgement and protect the trust placed in us,” Mock said. “That responsibility is especially important when an officer works with our youth.”
“Accountability matters. Transparency matters. We investigated these allegations, took immediate action, and now the investigation is closed. We will not hide from conduct that falls short of what this department and our community expects,” the statement continued.
Mock said that the “recognize(s) there may be others who have had similar experiences and never reported them.”
He said anyone with “information concerning inappropriate conduct involving Officer Kerner” is asked to call Sgt. Ernesto Bruna at 954-346-1234.
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