GIBBS CASE TO BE STUDIED

Cape Interim Manager Contacts Fdle

CAPE CORAL - The city's interim manager asked Florida's top law enforcement
agency Tuesday to investigate how Police Chief Arnold Gibbs and his
department handled a drug bust involving the chief's 19- year-old daughter.

Interim Manager Howard Kunik - who last week said he was confident neither
Gibbs nor members of his department did anything wrong - asked the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement to investigate "from beginning to end, in as
much detail as necessary."

At the same time Kunik was writing the FDLE, three other city officials
questioned Gibbs' actions in the case and wondered who could investigate.

Mayor Arnold Kempe and council members Alex LaPera and Paul Asfour said
many questions needed to be answered about the Aug. 18 drug raid at a Cape
Coral motel.

Monique Gibbs and a second woman, Donna Carter, were found in a motel room
along with a bag of cocaine, prosecutors say.

Instead of being arrested by Cape police her father came to the scene and
took her home. Carter was also let go.

State prosecutors charged Monique Gibbs Oct. 4 with cocaine possession.

Arnold Gibbs claimed last week the State Attorney's Office in Fort Myers
and FDLE found he did nothing wrong.

Officials denied that Monday, saying their agencies never investigated the
police department's actions at the Del Prado Inn or the decision to allow
Gibbs to take his daughter home.

Kunik didn't return several calls to his office Tuesday. Speaking to the
city council later Tuesday, Kunik said he stood by an earlier statement
that he believes Gibbs conducted himself properly.

"There seems to be lingering questions about the involvement of Chief Gibbs
and the procedures followed by the Cape Coral Police Department," Kunik
said in his letter to Steve Emerson, supervising agent of FDLE's Fort Myers
office.

"Rather than continue to read statements questioning the chief's conduct in
this process and the professionalism and knowledge of the police
department, I am officially requesting an independent investigation by your
agency into alleged impropriety by the chief and department."

Emerson didn't return calls to his office Tuesday. He said Monday he didn't
know if his office would investigate Cape Coral police.

Some lingering questions Kunik wants answered were addressed directly
Tuesday by Kempe.

Kempe, a former criminal defense attorney, said Gibbs had no business going
to the scene to get his daughter and should never have called the family of
the man his department arrested there on drug charges.

Kempe and Asfour said Kunik jumped too quickly last week to exonerate Gibbs
and the department.

LaPera said she believes Kunik and the police "slanted" the facts when they
claimed the chief and the department were cleared of any wrongdoing in the
matter.

"I think we are finding out more and more the truth is not really there,"
LaPera said.

Prosecutors say Monique Gibbs later admitted both to them and police that
she flushed more crack cocaine down the toilet as officers came in the door.

Instead of arresting her, they arrested her boyfriend, Brandon Graham, 20,
and charged him with possession of cocaine.

Prosecutors later dismissed the charge when they learned Graham wasn't in
the room.

"The chief standing there and being there at that motel, saying he was
standing out of the way, waiting for his daughter, that's just impractical
for him to be doing," said Kempe. "He'd have been better off staying away
from the scene. He probably had an effect on his police officers by being
there."

Assistant State Attorney Marshall Bower said Monday that police either were
afraid to charge their chief's daughter or they don't understand the law.

Arnold Gibbs refused comment on the action. Instead, he issued a prepared
statement just before 6 p.m. Tuesday.

"The one piece of good news today is that FDLE, at the behest of Cape Coral
Interim City Manager Howard Kunik, will now conduct an investigation after
which all the facts will be known," Gibbs said. "Perhaps certain media
organizations will then cease their personal attacks on me, their
unwarranted attacks on the integrity of the Cape Coral Police Department,
and their reporting of unsubstantiated allegations, half-truths, and
outright lies."

Gibbs also criticized The News-Press and said Bower and Emerson told him
they were "grossly misquoted" in a story Tuesday.

Efforts to reach Emerson were unsuccessful.

Bower said he had no problems with the story and was not misquoted. He said
he tried to explain to Gibbs that there are two issues involved in the case.

They include the incident at the Del Prado Inn and his own office's
investigation. He said his office has never investigated Gibbs' behavior or
what Cape Coral police did at the hotel.

Kempe, LaPera and Asfour also criticized Gibbs for calling Graham's family
to talk

about lawyers.

Graham's lawyer, Michael Hornung, claims Gibbs called Graham's sister and
told her he'd get the cocaine charge dropped if Graham fired Hornung.

FDLE's Emerson said Monday that Gibbs told him he asked the family to get
another attorney but didn't offer to get the charges dropped.

Kempe said Gibbs was wrong to call Graham's family for any reason.

"It is improper of the police to contact the defendant or their family
rather than the defendant's attorney. They should call the attorney. How
well did Gibbs know the Grahams? Has he been in their home? I'd like to
know all the facts here," he said.

LaPera agreed.

"There's too big a cloud here to be left hanging there," she said. "The
council has a right under the city charter to ask for an investigation, and
I think we will. Maybe it should be the State Attorney's Office, I don't know."

Kempe, LaPera and Asfour also took aim at Kunik's earlier defense of Gibbs.

"The manager did that precipitously. It would have been far more prudent
for him to hold up on that," Kempe said. "I don't think we have all of the
facts, and I'd like to get them. I've learned more about it in the
newspaper than I've learned from the city."

LaPera also questioned Kunik's actions.

"Being that there was no investigation into the chief's behavior or the
department's behavior, it certainly was very forward for them to say he was
exonerated," she said. "They knew they wouldn't be investigated and what
they've said is just typical spin - 'Please don't put any bad information
out there or any cloud over anyone. Put a little slant on it.'"

Asfour said Kunik can't be involved in any formal investigation.

"He's too close to the situation. I don't know, based on the fact he's
already given his support to the chief, that he could objectively conduct
an investigation."

Council member Dick Stevens said he didn't support an investigation, saying
it would be bad for the city.

Council member Gloria Tate said she had not paid enough attention to the issue.

It's Kunik's job to call for the investigation, said Council member A.J. Boyd.