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Hunch on robbery leads to top award

A detective's memory and a patrol officer's quick feet make them police officers of the year.

By JACOB H. FRIES
Published January 27, 2005

CLEARWATER - It was only a hunch.

Detective Anthony Monte was sitting at his desk, listening on his police scanner as a robbery at a Bank of America branch on Countryside Boulevard unfolded Oct. 7, 2004.

Five days earlier, he had investigated a robbery at another Bank of America in which the suspect escaped. From witnesses at that branch on Belcher Road, he put together a description of the suspect: a white man of average build wearing a white baseball cap.

It wasn't much to go on.

Monte, an eight-year veteran of the Police Department, then visited another nearby bank, Bank Atlantic. It hadn't been robbed, but a dispatcher told Monte there had been a report of a suspicious person.

Monte talked to a bank employee, who said a man had come into the branch, asked to open a checking account, looked around and then left. The employee saw the man get into the passenger seat of a blue-and-white Cadillac.

It still wasn't much, but as he listened to the robbery on the scanner, Monte recalled that Cadillac. He had a hunch, so he picked up his handheld radio and told officers to look out for the car.

"I just felt that it was the same guy," he recalled.

Less than a minute later, Officer Kurt Rodriguez, responding to the robbery in progress, spotted a blue Cadillac with a white top. He pulled behind it, flashed his lights and the car pulled over.

As he strode up to the Cadillac, it sped away. Rodriguez, an 8-year veteran, jumped back into his patrol car and chased the Cadillac along McMullen-Booth Road and onto Union Street. The Cadillac then skidded to a stop and the driver sprinted into some woods. Rodriguez chased the driver down and handcuffed him.

Inside the car was $2,850 in cash, which the suspect initially said he won at the dog track, but later admitted was stolen from the bank.

The man, identified as James Christian, 27, of Clearwater, has been charged in two other bank robberies in Clearwater and one in Largo, police said. A second man, Chaz Gulan, 22, who investigators say was a get-away driver in at least one of the robberies, also has been charged with armed robbery.

For their actions that day, Monte and Rodriguez were recognized Saturday as Clearwater's Police Officers of the Year, the department's highest honor. The award is given annually by the Joseph F. Cornelius Family Foundation.

Deputy Chief Dewey Williams presented each of the officers with a pin and $1,000 savings bond during a ceremony at the Belleview-Biltmore Resort and Spa.

"This certainly is a case that is deserving of that recognition," Williams said. "It suddenly came together like the meshing of two gears."

The case had all the elements of good police work: investigation, good procedure, intuition and "a heathly dose of pure luck," Williams said.

Monte stressed the contribution of colleagues: "The teamwork involved was just great."

Rodriguez, who works nights, was not available to comment.

Also honored Saturday by the Fraternal Order of Police was Sgt. Mark Trulock, Supervisor of the Year; Detective Sharon Hunter, Detective of the Year; Officer Thomas Dawe, Officer of the Year; Officer Mark Sena, Member of the Year; and Officer James McBride, Citizen of the Year for serving in Kuwait as a Naval Reserve officer.

[Last modified January 27, 2005, 00:40:21]