A Florida sheriff’s deputy was arrested last week for allegedly striking his live-in girlfriend with a gun before forcing the gun into her mouth and threatening to kill her when she tried to call police for help.
Hillsborough County sheriff’s deputy Brian David Juliano was then charged in connection with a previous domestic incident six months earlier, where he allegedly handcuffed his girlfriend and struck her with the gun for several hours, dragging her around the house and urinating on her.
Juliano, 45, who has worked for the sheriff’s office since April 2020, remains jailed with no bond on two counts each of armed kidnapping, tampering with a witness, aggravated assault and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon – charges that could send him to prison for decades.
Juliano has also been suspended without pay. Despite working as a full-time deputy where the average salary is about $70,000, the deputy has been appointed a public defender, according to court records.
Court documents also indicate his live-in girlfriend did not report the first incident that reportedly took place in September until after St. Petersburg police arrested Juliano for the second incident that took place on March 24.
“The defendant held the victim against her will with a firearm to her head, committing further felonious acts to include aggravated battery, aggravated assault and tampering with a witness, preventing her from calling the police,” police stated in the arrest report for the March incident.
‘Trying to Gouge Out My Eyeballs’
Juliano’s girlfriend described the latest incident in her own words in a petition for risk protection filed by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office which is a legal action in Florida to temporarily remove firearms from individuals who may pose a risk to themselves or others.
Tuesday, March 24, 2026, Brian and I were having a tense discussion where he became more and more upset. I started recording him for my own protection and he walked around the bed and grabbed his personal firearm, he then pulled the phone out of my hand and stopped recording.
I reached for my Apple Watch which was on its charger and he took that while threatening me with the firearm. He forced me onto the bed in a sitting position and pressed the firearm to my left temple, he straddled me and then decided he was going to make me suffer and began trying to gouge out my eyeballs.
He then stopped that and proceeded to force the barrel of the firearm into my mouth. He then pulled me to the end of the bed, instructed me to stand, then instructed me to lay on the carpet facedown though I refused to give access to my hands or arms, then back against the end of the bed where I began to diffuse the situation by bringing up his deceased grandparents.
He did hold the firearm to his own head after I brought up his grandparents.
His girlfriend confirmed Juliano regularly beat her and kept her “under almost complete surveillance.”
She also stated that on September 28, “he held me captive for almost six hours, threatening to kill our pets, me, and himself.”
The petition states they removed three guns along with several hundred rounds of ammunition from his home. It also states the allegations against Juliano were confirmed through video evidence recorded by his girlfriend.
‘Urinated on Her’
Juliano was arrested on March 24 for the second incident, which was when police learned of the first incident and added additional charges two days later.
According to the arrest report from the first incident:
During this incident, the defendant pointed a firearm at the victim, ordered her to the ground and handcuffed her with his issued handcuffs. The defendant then spent several hours beating the victim who remained in handcuffs and was unable to escape or call the police.
The defendant struck the victim in the face multiple times with a firearm, drug her around the residence by her hair, and urinated on her.
After several hours of abuse, the defendant released the victim from handcuffs but would not allow her to seek medical attention despite her injuries, and would not allow her to go to work for a week.
The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office lists Juliano as still in custody as of March 31 with no projected release date. His next court hearing is scheduled for April 8, according to court documents, which also state he is being represented by attorney Tisha DeAnne, who is a public defender. He has pleaded not guilty.
“This arrest is deeply concerning and does not reflect the standards,” said Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister in a statement to the media.
“Any actions that violate the law or the trust of our community will be met with swift and decisive accountability.”
But despite the rhetoric from the sheriff, multiple studies over the years have repeatedly shown there is a much higher rate of domestic violence within families of law enforcement compared to the general population.
“Two studies have found that at least 40% of police officer families experience domestic violence, in contrast to 10% of families in the general population,” according to a report from the National Center for Women and Policing.
“A third study of older and more experienced officers found a rate of 24%, indicating that domestic violence is 2-4 times more common among police families than American families in general.”
“Victims often fear calling the police, because they know the case will be handled by officers who are colleagues and/or friends of their abuser,” the report continues.
“Victims of police family violence typically fear that the responding officers will side with their abuser and fail to properly investigate or document the crime.”
Juliano, in fact, was one of three Hillsborough County sheriff’s deputies arrested on domestic abuse charges within a single week, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
