Sheriff honors workers, citizens for achievements

The quarterly awards recognize several people who displayed lifesaving heroics.

By TIMES STAFF
Published July 26, 2007

At a quarterly ceremony on Wednesday, Sheriff Bob White presented employees and citizens with various awards. Among them:

Employees of the quarter

- Deputy Kenneth Petrillo, for meritorious service to the agency's STOP Unit.

- Detention Deputy Raymond Amaya, for developing an internal Web site that helps expedite operations of the Land O'Lakes jail's culinary section.

- Detective James "Ole Blue" Prack, for helping to break open the case of a woman now charged with widespread identity theft.

- Crime Analyst Patricia McCarthy, for exceeding the call of duty in the production of crucial daily crime reports.

Citizen service awards

- Mary Snider and Peggy Sybert, two health care workers at Land O'Lakes High School, for helping to save the life of an unconscious 15-year-old student.

- Kristen Cabiness, for providing information that led to the capture of a man suspected in a string of armed robberies.

Sheriff's Special Service Award

- Vincent Maugeri, for helping to talk a man out of suicide and removing his hand from the trigger of a shotgun, so a deputy could incapacitate him with a Taser and take him into custody under the Baker Act.

Meritorious service awards for accomplishment

- Detention Sgt. Steve Wood, for a superior job in helping to install temporary inmate housing at the Land O'Lakes jail.

- Sgt. Erik Anthes and Cpl. Russell Meissner, for helping to break up a boat-motor theft ring in Hudson.

- Child Protective Investigator Amanda Midgett, for helping to prevent a woman's suicide.

- Deputy Donald Fly, for developing a plan that helped to reduce crime in the Collier Commons shopping center in Land O'Lakes.

- Cpl. Scott Grant, for volunteering his time to start up the Explorer Mounted Unit, a horseback program that may be the first of its kind.

- Detention Deputy Brian Mobley, for an investigation that led to the recovery of two hacksaw blades and a jigsaw blade connected with the escape attempt of a neo-Nazi murder suspect.

Lifesaving awards

- Detention Deputy Brian Mobley and Cpl. Aaron Smith, for helping prevent an inmate suicide.

- Cpl. Robert Grady, for helping citizens Mary Snider and Peggy Sybert to save the unconscious 15-year-old student's life.

- Deputy Chet Cougill, for overpowering a knife-wielding woman who lunged at him and bit him after apparently cutting herself on the arms.

- Detention Sgt. Donald Grogan Jr., Cpl. Anthony Hallaian, Deputy Joseph Nieves, Deputy Andrew Cox and nurses Carolyn Nowak and Julie Merritt, for helping save an inmate who was trying to hang himself.

- Deputy Richard Meagher and K-9 Deputy Adam Tellier, for helping to save the life of a Wesley Chapel man who had cut his wrist and written a suicide note.

- Deputies Marshall DeBerry and Robert Tedeschi Jr., for stopping a man who was threatening to commit suicide by shotgun.

[Last modified July 26, 2007, 06:45:56]