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The state attorney's office is trying to decide whether to charge a St. Petersburg police officer in the cases.
By MIKE BRASSFIELD
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 13, 2001
ST. PETERSBURG -- Prosecutors may be closer to deciding whether to have a St. Petersburg police officer arrested on robbery charges.
On Friday afternoon, prosecutors questioned several people who think Officer Antonio Garner robbed them at gunpoint.
The crime victims who spoke to prosecutors Friday included one man who was nearly robbed outside a Gulfport apartment complex and at least three people who were robbed in their own driveways in St. Petersburg.
They were all summoned to the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office, which will decide whether to pursue a case against Garner, 32, who has not been charged in any robberies.
Christopher Croley, 36, was the target of an attempted robbery Jan. 6 in Gulfport. A gunman in a white Ford Bronco tried to mug him. Croley chased the Bronco and got its tag number, which showed Garner owned the Bronco.
Croley says the gunman was tall, skinny and wore a hooded jacket with the hood pulled tight, so Croley could see only his eyes and his nose. Prosecutors on Friday asked Croley about his initial 911 call on Jan. 6, when Croley described the gunman as white. Garner is black.
"When I was saying it was a white guy, it was right after the chase and the adrenaline was pumping," Croley said after meeting with prosecutors. "It was 30 seconds of conversation with a dispatcher trying to pry stuff out of me. I was trying to give her the tag number.
"No more than two minutes later, once I got calmed down a little bit, I thought it could be a white man or a light-complected black man."
Croley says St. Petersburg police internal affairs investigators have repeatedly asked him whether the robbery attempt might have actually been a road-rage incident. Croley says it wasn't.
When police tried to question Garner shortly after the attempted robbery, they say Garner drove away on a motorcycle and was arrested on a charge of obstruction. He bailed out of jail and is on paid leave from his job while he is being investigated.
Police also are investigating whether Garner might be linked to a series of five driveway robberies on Dec. 23 and Dec. 28 in west St. Petersburg.
Two women who were robbed in separate incidents Dec. 28 have picked Garner out of a lineup of photographs. They say Garner robbed them.
Those women -- Angela Osgood, 29, and Kathleen Nalbach, 46 -- were questioned by prosecutors Friday, as was Nalbach's 83-year-old father, Robert Starke, who was pistol-whipped in the robbery.
However, a couple robbed in their driveway Dec. 23 say Garner was not the man who robbed them.
"The individual who robbed me was a very dark-skinned black man," said Dan Varanelli. "(Garner) is a light-skinned black man."
Police never showed Garner's photo to Varanelli and his wife, Danielle. They saw Garner's photo in the newspaper.
"I have not been contacted at all," Varanelli said.
Authorities are saying little about the case. State Attorney Bernie McCabe did not return a phone call. Garner, a six-year police veteran, is not commenting. Neither is his attorney, Joseph Ciarciaglino.
2 women link officer to robberies (January 11, 2001)
Officer called suspect in robbery on paid leave(brief) (January 10, 2001)
Investigation of robbery attempt leads to officer (January 7, 2001)