PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. – On Monday, December 5, 2022, Sheriff Gualtieri held a press conference to discuss the Grand Jury’s indictment regarding a First Degree Murder in Clearwater.
Detectives assigned to the Robbery/Homicide Unit have charged 25-year-old Robert Gullo with First Degree Murder, who was indicted on December 2, 2022, by a Grand Jury.
According to detectives, on November 19, 2021, deputies responded to the grassy area of the Duke Energy easement behind the Countryside Recreation Center located at 2640 Sabal Springs Drive in Clearwater after receiving a report of a deceased person.
Detectives say construction workers found the victim as they arrived at this location for work. When deputies arrived on the scene, they located the victim, who was later identified as 16-year-old Meaghan Cooper.
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Throughout the last year, detectives learned that 25-year-old Robert Gullo made arrangements with Cooper via text message to do cocaine and have sex.
Detectives say Gullo picked up Cooper at her residence at approximately 9:20 p.m. on November 18, 2021. Gullo drove Cooper to his residence, located at 2629 Brewton Court in Clearwater, and arrived at about 9:30 p.m.
According to Gullo’s GPS ankle monitor, he left his residence at approximately 6:00 a.m. on November 19, 2022, and drove to the exact location where Cooper’s body was later found. Gullo then immediately drove back home.
Throughout the course of the investigation, detectives learned Cooper had four times the lethal amount of Fentanyl in her system. There was no cocaine found in her system.
Sheriff Gualtieri said, “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 Gullo had a history of giving underage girls drugs for sex. In fact, before he was indicted in Megan’s death, he was convicted on lewd and lascivious battery out of Hernando County for having sex with a 14-year-old girl he met on Tinder.
“This guy’s a predator,” the sheriff’s said.
At the time of Megan’s death, Gullo was out on bond for the Hernando County charge and had to wear an ankle monitor.
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