2 women link officer to robberies

By MIKE BRASSFIELD

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 11, 2001

ST. PETERSBURG -- Two women robbed in their own driveways have picked St. Petersburg police Officer Antonio Garner out of a lineup of photographs, saying Garner was the man who robbed them at gunpoint.

The women are wondering why the officer isn't in jail.

Garner, 32, was arrested Saturday on a charge of obstructing an officer. He quickly posted $150 to bail out of jail.

Garner is a suspect in an attempted street robbery in Gulfport on Saturday morning, and detectives are also investigating whether he might be linked to a series of five driveway robberies on Dec. 23 and Dec. 28 in west St. Petersburg.

Garner has not been charged in any robberies. Police are saying little about their investigation of Garner, a six-year police veteran who is on paid leave from his job.

"We are aggressively investigating those robberies," said Sgt. Al White, head of the city's robbery squad.

Late Saturday night, after Garner had been arrested, a St. Petersburg detective visited victims of the five driveway robberies. The detective showed the victims a lineup of photos, including Garner's.

Two women who had been robbed within 15 minutes of each other Dec. 28 picked Garner's photo.

"I went right to it. I said, 'That's him, that's the man who robbed us,' " said Kathleen Nalbach, 46, who was robbed along with her father after arriving home from a restaurant. "I had a very good look at him. He stuck his face in my car, which was lit up."

Angela Osgood, 29, had been unloading groceries with her young children Dec. 28 when a gunman ripped her necklace from her neck. She picked Garner's photo, too.

"He was one of the photographs," Osgood said. "I could see his face in my head. That's something you don't forget."

Victims in the other three driveway robberies could not be reached Wednesday.

Garner has a mustache. But a police composite sketch of the driveway robber, based on some victims' descriptions, shows no mustache.

"I said there was facial hair all along," Nalbach said. "The composite was awful."

Garner, a patrol officer and former narcotics investigator, is not commenting.

Shortly after an attempted street robbery Saturday morning, police went to Garner's house because the robbery victim had written down the license tag number of Garner's white Ford Bronco during a car chase that zigzagged for 10 blocks.

Garner was charged with obstruction because he drove away on a motorcycle even as Gulfport and St. Petersburg police were telling him to stop, authorities said. When Garner returned 15 minutes later, he said he had gone to get baby medication.

The attempted robbery occurred outside an apartment complex at 711 58th St. S in Gulfport.

Christopher Croley, 36, was walking to his car when a gunman got out of a Bronco and said, "Give me everything you got!" Croley ran away, and the would-be robber drove off.

When Gulfport police later asked a judge for search warrants for Garner's vehicle and house, they reported the following:

Croley described the gunman as a tall, skinny, light-skinned black man, about 6 feet 1 and 180 to 190 pounds. The gunman wore dark pants, boots and gloves, as well as a white hooded jacket with the hood pulled tight, so Croley could only see his eyes.

Garner, 6 feet 3 and 200 pounds, was wearing dark blue jeans and brown boots when he was arrested.

About 17 minutes after the attempted robbery, Garner called the St. Petersburg Police Department and told dispatchers that his wife had just been chased through their neighborhood in their Bronco.

By that time, police were already watching Garner's house on First Avenue N and saw that the Bronco was backed into the driveway.

Prosecutors will decide whether to charge Garner in the attempted Gulfport robbery. Gulfport police haven't charged him because Croley didn't positively identify Garner at the scene of the crime, said Gulfport Lt. Larry Tosi Jr.

But Croley's lawyer, John Trevena, said: "He can identify him as well as any other victim in a criminal proceeding can identify a suspect. How much evidence does the state need to prosecute this case?"

- Times staff writers Bryan Gilmer and Chris Tisch contributed to this report.

Recent coverage

Officer called suspect in robbery on paid leave(brief) (January 10, 2001)

Investigation of robbery attempt leads to officer (January 7, 2001)

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