A veteran Pasco County Sheriff's deputy has been fired after being accused of sending pictures of a dead person to a former girlfriend.

According to authorities, Austin Douglas was arrested on Thursday and charged with providing unauthorized photograph or video or audio recording that depicts or records the killing of a person, a third-degree felony.

Authorities said Douglas, 29, obtained graphic pictures of a man who committed suicide at a home on Richwood Lane in Port Richey. Authorities said he later sent the pictures to his former girlfriend and said that's how his weekend was going.

“He was not taking these photographs and putting them in evidence, this was only used for his own personal use,” Sheriff Chris Nocco said.

The woman, who shares children with Douglas, told authorities she did not ask for the pictures and was offended by receiving them.

“She came forward because she was fearful for them, and for the fact these children they share in common, she was looking out for their well-being,” Nocco said.

The sheriff's office is in the process of terminating Douglas, who has been with the agency since May 2006.

Nocco said the sheriff's office has had issues with Douglas before. Nocco said he suspended him for 20 days in 2013 when he Baker Acted a woman while on patrol, gave her his card and began to check up on her.

“He started going back to the house, he started knocking on the door, he would actually also park his car in front of the house and just sit there,” Nocco said.

Nocco said it wasn’t enough to get him fired from the sheriff’s office then. But the pictures most definitely are. Not only did Douglas break the law, Nocco said there are victims when it comes to this crime.

“The people who lost a loved one, and God forbid if these photographs got out their publicly nobody should ever have to deal with that,” he said.

The sheriff’s office says it’s looking into cases Douglas has been involved in to see if he has done anything like this before.

Douglas was released from the Land O' Lakes Jail after paying a $5,000 bond.