CLEARWATER, Fla. — A man is accused of giving drugs to a 16-year-old girl the night before dumping her body in November 2021 at a Clearwater park.
Those drugs, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said during a news conference Monday afternoon, ended up being a significant amount of deadly fentanyl.
He announced 25-year-old Robert Gullo is facing a charge of first-degree murder for the death of Meaghan Cooper — a freshman at Countryside High School. Gullo reportedly sent texts to the girl on the night of Nov. 18, 2021, so the pair could hang out at his house while using cocaine.
However, Gullo had given Cooper fentanyl instead of cocaine, Gualtieri said based on the results of a toxicology report. Cocaine was not found in her system.
"Cooper had 26 nanograms per milliliter of fentanyl in her system," Gualtieri said. "According to a toxicologist, someone is rock hard dead and can't recover once they have 7 nanograms of fentanyl per milliliter in their system."
Cooper met up with the 25-year-old after he picked her up from her house when the mother fell asleep, the sheriff said. In a series of texts between the two revealed at the news conference, Gullo sent Cooper inappropriate messages about how to dress when they meet up.
"Gullo sexually preyed on young teenage girls he met online and befriended them by furnishing them drugs for sex," Gualtieri said.
While she was using the fentanyl given to her by Gullo, Cooper texted one of her friends saying that she "just did so much coke and how good that it feels" — completely unaware of the fentanyl she had consumed, according to the sheriff.
Law enforcement was said to have connected Gullo to Cooper's death by using a tracking device attached to him that was in place when he was released from bond from Hernando County jail on an unrelated crime to see what times he left and came back to his home.
"Gullo remained at his house until about 6 a.m. the next morning [that Cooper died]," Gualtieri said.
During that time, Gualtieri said that Gullo texted another 15-year-old girl if they could meet up because it was an "emergency." After the 15-year-old declined to see him, Gullo took Cooper's body the next morning to a trail behind Countryside Community Park near Countryside Boulevard in Clearwater and left her.
The next day, authorities say Gullo texted that same 15-year-old girl if she wanted to hang out at his house and do drugs and have sex.
"This guy is a predator," Gualtieri said. "He's walking around with an ankle monitor and is texting young teenage girls for sex and for drugs. He's a bad guy."
Records show Gullo is facing an additional charge of unlawful sexual activity with certain minors.
Construction workers found Cooper's body when they arrived for work on Nov. 19, 2021. Initially, her death appeared to be drug-related and not criminal in nature, deputies said.