On the stand, officer details a shady past

During cross-examination, Robert David Dixon elaborated on his life and career with the Plant City police.

By GRAHAM BRINK, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published July 11, 2002

TAMPA -- Prosecution witness Robert David Dixon admitted at trial Wednesday that he was far from an ideal officer during his 11 years with the Plant City Police Department.

He said he lied, stole and forged documents. He lived with a convicted felon, routinely violated department policy and on at least two occasions used his influence as a cop to help friends skirt criminal problems.

Dixon's past was on full display during his cross-examination in the trial of Officer Armand Cotnoir, who faces federal charges including conspiracy, mail fraud and obstruction of justice.

Dixon assured the jury that if what he was saying about corruption in the department wasn't true, he would have fought the charges himself. Instead, he pleaded guilty and agreed to testify in return for a lighter sentence.

"I know what I did. I know what we did (at the department)," Dixon said. "There is no denying it."

The first three days of trial featured Dixon and a former officer painting a grim picture of the department's Special Investigations Unit. They said several ranking officers, including police Chief Bill McDaniel, condoned or participated in illegal behavior ranging from stealing pornographic videotapes from suspects' homes to lying to judges to secure search warrants.

Cotnoir, 27, hired in 1996, is the first officer to go on trial in connection with the three-year federal inquiry. Others are under investigation.

Another former officer, Shawn Corgan, is expected to reiterate many of Dixon's allegations when he begins to testify today. Like Dixon, Corgan pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the prosecutor.

During questioning Wednesday, Cotnoir's lawyer, Arthur Eggers, highlighted the fact that Cotnoir never stole any of the pornographic movies. Dixon said that Cotnoir, like everyone else in the SIU, knew about the thefts of the movies, but he never stole any himself.

Eggers also walked the jury through Dixon's shady past, using Dixon as the storyteller. The lawyer pointed to allegations that Dixon embezzled money from a meatpacking plant in Plant City before he joined the police department in 1989.

Prosecutor Jeffrey Del Fuoco countered, however, with records that showed the lie detector test given to new police recruits indicated Dixon had told the truth about not being involved in the incident.

Eggers also accused Dixon of lying on his tax returns and mortgage applications for the many rental properties he owns. He suggested that Dixon listed $68,900 of net rental income on a loan application but negative $18,000 in net rental income on his tax return. Dixon said Eggers misunderstood the records and that they were all legitimately filled out.

During the four hours of cross-examination, Dixon admitted that some of his superiors knew he lived on and off with a woman convicted of a felony for writing bad checks.

"No one was going to do anything about it," he said.

Dixon also said he helped the woman avoid an arrest for violating her probation in 1999 by intervening with the probation officer. On another occasion, Dixon said he made a friend's charge for selling alcohol to underage drinkers "go away" by having a detective call the State Attorney's Office and ask the prosecutor to drop the case.

Eggers also asked Dixon about an incident in which several law officers, including a Florida Department of Law Enforcement agent, watched as Dixon walked into the home of a suspect without a warrant. Upon returning, Eggers said Dixon told the other officers that he had gone in to confirm that the suspect was not home and to urinate.

Dixon said he remembered walking in without a warrant but not the part about urinating.

The tenor turned testy a few times. Eggers asked about phone calls Cotnoir had recorded in 2000 with his "good friend" Dixon in hope of getting Dixon to say something incriminating. Dixon remarked to Eggers that he needed a new set of friends.

"I think you already have them," Eggers fired back, referring to the prosecutor and the lead investigator.

The trial is expected to last through next week.

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