MONIQUE GIBBS TO FIGHT DRUG POSSESSION CHARGE

Cape Chief's Daughter To Plead Not Guilty Today

Monique Gibbs will fight the cocaine possession charge she's facing, said
her attorney, who says the accusation can't be proved in court.

"The Cape Coral Police Department acted properly in their investigation in
not arresting Miss Gibbs on the night in question," said attorney Scott T.
Moorey, who will enter the not guilty plea today on Monique Gibbs' behalf.
"The laws on constructive possession are clear. The State Attorney's Office
should have supported the Cape Coral Police Department."

Monique Gibbs, 19, was arrested by the State Attorney's Office Oct. 4 in
connection with a case that's put Cape Coral police and Monique's father,
Police Chief Arnold A. Gibbs, in the hot seat.

Monique Gibbs was in Room 107 of the Del Prado Inn when police broke in
Aug. 18 to arrest Monique's boyfriend, Brandon Louis Graham.

Monique Gibbs - who admitted flushing crack down a toilet while police
tried to get in - was allowed to go home with her parents. Graham, wasn't
in the room when police arrived, but he was escorted to the room and later
taken to jail.

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Monique Gibbs' name didn't appear in any of the initial reports of the
arrest. Graham's attorney, Michael Hornung, has accused Cape Coral Police
of trying to cover up her involvement.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating.

Cape Coral Police wanted Graham, 20, prosecuted for possession of cocaine
and marijuana and for selling cocaine to an informant Aug. 17.

After reviewing the evidence, the State Attorney's Office decided not to
pursue the possession charges against Graham. A decision also was made to
arrest Monique Gibbs for constructive possession of cocaine.

Officials say she was in constructive possession because she knew there was
cocaine in the room and had control over it.

The case has been assigned to Lee Circuit Judge Thomas S. Reese.

At a press conference last week, Chief Gibbs declared his daughter is
guilty of nothing other than "being in the wrong place at the wrong time."
He took issue with the State Attorney's Office, saying officials there are
misinterpreting laws on constructive possession.

Moorey took the same position.

"She made an admission that she flushed drugs, or flushed Mr. Graham's
drugs, down the toilet," Moorey said. "An admission alone is not enough to
convict Miss Gibbs of possession. There must be evidence that the
contraband was drugs."

Moorey said the State Attorney's Office can't prove the crack flushed down
the toilet was crack because it no longer exists. He said it can't prove
Monique Gibbs was in constructive possession of some cocaine residue found
in the room because she didn't know it was there.

Neither did the other woman in the room that night, Donna Carter, said Moorey.

"Monique Gibbs had no knowledge of the cocaine residue found in a brown
paper bag in the hotel room," Moorey said. "That is clear from her
statement. ... There were two people in the room and both denied knowledge
or control over the residue found in the bag."

Moorey said he believes the State Attorney's Office has overreacted to
Hornung's accusations and is attempting to transfer Monique Gibbs'
knowledge of the crack she flushed into knowledge of the residue.

"That's not proper," he said.

The State Attorney's Office had little comment on the issue.

"Whether she wants to plead guilty or innocent, that's her prerogative,"
said State Attorney's Office spokesman Tony Schall.

Chief Gibbs has refused for weeks to discuss the case with The News- Press.
At the press conference last week, he blasted Hornung and the media for
what he called "outrageous lies and insinuations."

"At some point, the unedited and unadulterated facts will come to light,"
Chief Gibbs said.