Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
She sues St. Pete Beach, accusing an officer who maintains parking meters of following her for years.
By AMY WIMMER
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 7, 2001
ST. PETE BEACH -- She ran into him everywhere.
He would lie on the beach, yards from where she placed her blanket, and drive past her house four or five times a day. He once pulled in behind her at her favorite Tampa health food store.
St. Pete Beach resident Julie Gable said she thought Michael Mehill, a community service officer who maintains the parking meters and writes parking tickets, was "just a bit odd."
Then two years ago, police Capt. Todd Kirchgraber shared with Gable a notebook that fell out of Mehill's duffel bag at the police station.
The notebook detailed her comings and goings during 1998, the license plate numbers of friends who visited her home, and whether she waved back when he waved to her.
Now Gable, after two years of trying to get the St. Pete Beach Police Department to fire Mehill or reassign him, is suing the city for damages totaling more than $100,000. Court filings allege Mehill, 54, hadtold his boss he followed Gable for more than eight years.
Gable alleges Mehill stalked her while on duty, as well as during his personal time.
"What gave him credibility is that he worked for the Police Department," said Gable, 43. "I'm suing them so I can get rid of this guy."
"The city vigorously contests the allegations," said Peter Walsh, a St. Petersburg lawyer who is representing St. Pete Beach, "and any other response will be accomplished through appropriate filings in court."
Mehill, who still has the same job with the city, could not be reached for comment; Kirchgraber referred all questions to Walsh.
Shortly after Gable saw the notebook, a circuit court judge granted Gable an injunction that allows Mehill to enter her neighborhood only when working. Her neighborhood, Don CeSar Place, is near the Don CeSar Beach Resort & Spa and immediately north of Pass-a-Grille, where Mehill checks meters.
When he is not working, Mehill cannot go south of the Don, and Gable admits he has not violated the injunction in about a year and a half. But she fears for other women who live on the beach and wants him removed from duties in Pass-a-Grille.
"What makes him dangerous is he works for the police, and he uses it under the guise that he's patrolling the area, but he's following us and watching us," Gable said Monday. "He's in an authoritative position. He's a community service officer. He wears a uniform."
The lawsuit details Gable's frustrations: first with Mehill, then with Kirchgraber.
Her first memorable encounter with Mehill was about 10 years ago, when she received flowers on her birthday arranged in the shape of her Lhasa apso dog Sweetie. There was no card, but the florist told Gable they were from Mehill.
Another time, Gable stopped by the Police Department to pick up sandbags because flooding was expected in her neighborhood. She ran into Mehill at the station, and by the time she returned home14 bags were stacked by her door.
Eventually, Mehill began showing up at the beach about five or 10 minutes after Gable would decide to go. He even brought a camera with a telephoto lens, Gable says, and though she first thought he was taking pictures of the scenery, she soon realized he was photographing her.
"I used to talk to him, but I started to think something's not right, so I tried to really pull away," Gable said. "I'm not a flirtatious person; I'm not an overly friendly person."
About two years ago, after the Police Department learned about the notebook Mehill kept, Gable became fearful. It chronicled what color bathing suits she wore, the return addresses on packages left at her door and whether her garage door and the top on her convertible were up or down.
A sample from the notebook's entry on Aug. 5, 1998: "At 1343 (hours), was on a lawn chair, red halter top, white shorts. Waiting for someone?"
According to the lawsuit, she trusted Kirchgraber's pledge to monitor Mehill's activities in her neighborhood.
But when she reported to Kirchgraber that Mehill waved at her as she drove past him on Gulf Way, the beachfront street in Pass-a-Grille, Gable alleges Kirchgraber questioned why she went to the beach when Mehill was working.
"All I want is to get this guy off this beach," she said. "I just don't want him working down here."