Hillsborough deputy arrested after placing tracking device on woman’s SUV, authorities say

A Hillsborough County sheriff’s deputy was arrested Tuesday on stalking and other charges after he placed a tracking device on a woman’s SUV because he thought the woman, who is also a deputy, was cheating on him, according to authorities and court documents.The investigation focused on Deputy Justin Thornsberry, 37, began Saturday “after reports of misconduct were received,” according to a news release issued Wednesday by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.Detectives learned that Thornsberry had placed a tracking device on the vehicle of a person with whom he’d had “a personal relationship dispute,” the release said.The sheriff’s office released few other details. An arrest affidavit made public Wednesday outlines how the investigation unfolded.The victim, whom the Tampa Bay Times is not identifying because she is considered a domestic violence victim, was visiting another Hillsborough deputy at his Zephyrhills home on Saturday when she received an alert on her iPhone, according to the affidavit.“eGuard detected near you,” the alert said, along with “first seen April 2, 2026 at 9:43 p.m.” and “last seen on April 3, 2026 at 12:33 p.m.,” which was the time the woman received the alert on her iPhone.The woman selected “play sound” on the alert, and an audible ping sounded on the tracking device. The woman and her co-worker found the device under a rear wheel well of her SUV.According to Apple Support, the iPhone’s “Find My” app can detect nearby unknown GPS tracking devices that aren’t registered to the phone’s user and trigger an audible alert on the tracking device so that it can be located. The feature is intended to guard against unwanted tracking.Upset by the discovery, the woman threw the device across the street toward a retention pond in the neighborhood. She later told investigators she thought it landed in the water.The woman said she and Thornsberry had been dating for seven years and lived together for the last four years but had broken up several times in recent months and had been sleeping in separate rooms.When the woman referenced the tracker in a text exchange with Thornsberry, he denied having anything to do with it, according to the affidavit.Another witness, who is also a sheriff’s office employee, told investigators that Thornsberry told him that he’d placed the tracker on the woman’s SUV “because he believed she was cheating on him,” the affidavit states. Thornsberry told the witness that he’d bought some “Chinese knock-off” devices from Amazon because they didn’t have serial numbers or any other identifying information and were “virtually untraceable,” according to the affidavit.Thornsberry also said that when he learned from the tracking device where the woman went on April 2, he learned a fellow Hillsborough deputy lived there. Thornsberry then looked up that deputy in the sheriff’s office employee database.Concerned for the woman’s safety, the witness informed his supervisor at the sheriff’s office.On Saturday, a detective in the sheriff’s office’s domestic violence section went to Thornsberry’s home. Thornsberry denied placing the tracker on the woman’s SUV, the affidavit states.The detective obtained a search warrant for Thornsberry’s cellphone and went to his home with other investigators to retrieve the phone. An initial search of the phone revealed a Google search for “Florida can be charged for tracker if not found,” the affidavit states. The “Find My” application, the same one used for the GPS device on the woman’s SUV, was also open.Thornsberry agreed to speak to a detective and this time provided a different story, saying he bought four trackers on Amazon and placed one on the woman’s SUV with her knowledge, according to the affidavit.Other Google searches in Thornsberry’s history included “hidden app on phone for tracking” and “how does find my notify you.”There were also text notes in the phone, including one that said “March 31 right rear,” an apparent reference to the wheel well where the tracker was placed.Detectives on Tuesday obtained a warrant for Thornsberry’s arrest. He was being held without bond Wednesday in Hillsborough County’s Falkenburg Road Jail.Thornsberry was suspended without pay while criminal and administrative investigations are ongoing. He has been with the sheriff’s office for seven years and is assigned to the Department of Patrol Services.In a prepared statement, Sheriff Chad Chronister called the case “a serious abuse of personal privacy and authority.”“Anyone who chooses to engage in this kind of behavior will face the consequences,” Chronister said. “We hold our deputies to a higher standard, and when that standard is violated, we take action.”Thornsberry is the latest in a recent spate of Hillsborough deputies to be arrested for alleged off-duty conduct. Last month, three deputies were arrested within a week on domestic violence charges. In one of the cases, the deputy put a gun to a woman’s head and into her mouth while threatening to kill her, arrest reports state. In another, the victim was taken to a hospital with injuries.

Hillsborough deputy arrested after placing tracking device on woman’s SUV, authorities say

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