AGENCIES DISPUTE GIBBS' EXONERATION CLAIM

Two law enforcement agencies dispute Cape Coral Police Chief Arnold Gibbs'
claim they exonerated him of wrongful or questionable conduct in his
department's failure to arrest his daughter during an Aug. 18 drug raid.

Assistant State Attorney Marshall Bower and Florida Department of Law
Enforcement Supervising Agent Steve Emerson said Monday their agencies
never investigated the conduct of Gibbs or his department regarding events
leading to the arrest of Brandon Graham, 20, outside a Cape Coral motel in
the pre-dawn hours of Aug. 18.

Graham is the boyfriend of Gibbs' daughter, Monique.

Gibbs issued a written statement Oct. 4 which stated: "Both the Florida
Department of Law Enforce-ment and the State Attorney have reviewed the
facts of the investigation and have determined conclusively that there was
no improper or unethical actions by myself or any member of the Police
Department and that the investigation was professionally and thoroughly
conducted."

Both agencies say that's not the case.

Bower said Gibbs did not try to interfere with the State Attorney Office's
filing of the charges against his daughter.

"We have not looked at the behavior of the chief and his department as to
what went on that night. We have not been asked to do that," Bower said.

Emerson said his office also hasn't made any conclusions on the conduct of
Gibbs and his department or whether they violated any laws.

"For us to question possible witnesses in the prosecution of the drug cases
would not be appropriate until after these cases go through their normal
course." He said his agency may investigate what went on during the Aug. 18
drug raid later.

Bower also said Monday that Gibbs' department wrongly arrested Graham in
that raid and could have charged Monique Gibbs with a felony, but instead
let her go home with her parents.

Bower also said it appears Cape Coral police either were afraid to charge
the chief's daughter or they don't know the law on cocaine possession.

Six telephone calls to Gibbs' office and his department's public
information office were not returned Monday.

Emerson said Gibbs admitted to him he called Graham's family after his
department arrested the man and charged him with possession of cocaine.

Emerson said Gibbs told him he asked the family to fire Graham's attorney
and he said he would get another lawyer for them.

Graham's lawyer, Michael Hornung, claims Gibbs called family members and
told them he would get the charges dropped against his client if they fired
Hornung.

Asked if it was proper for Gibbs to call and offer Graham's family a
different attorney, Emerson said Gibbs may have been merely upset over the
fact his daughter was involved in a drug case.

Bower said he believes Cape Coral police wrongly arrested Graham and could
have arrested Monique Gibbs but didn't.

Instead, police sent Monique Gibbs home with her parents on the night
Arnold Gibbs' detectives entered room 107 of the Del Prado Inn and found
her in the room with a bag of cocaine.

Donna Carter, another woman found in the room, also wasn't arrested.

Bower later dismissed the possession of cocaine charge police brought
against Graham at the motel that night and charged Monique Gibbs with that
crime.

Graham was in the motel parking lot with no evidence of drugs on him, Bower
said. Monique Gibbs and Donna Carter were in the motel room where police
said the drugs were.

Assistant State Attorney Dean Plattner said Cape Coral police told him they
believed the drugs were Graham's and not Monique Gibbs' and that's why they
didn't arrest her.

However, Plattner said, there is no requirement to prove who owned the
drugs in order to make an arrest for possession.

"Whether they were clouded by the fact that she was the chief's daughter or
they don't know the laws on constructive possession, I can't answer," Bower
said. "There are things that could have been done differently.

"They told us they weren't sure if she knew the drugs were in the room.
They said Carter may not have known either, she may have been asleep.
You'll have to ask them why they did what they did."

Gibbs and other members of his department repeatedly refuse to answer
questions about the Aug. 18 drug bust.

Bower said Cape Coral police could have also arrested Monique Gibbs two
weeks after the Aug. 18 bust when they took a taped statement from her.
Bower said she admitted to police flushing cocaine down the toilet moments
before they came through the motel door.

At that point, Bower said, Cape Coral police had evidence she not only knew
the drugs were in the motel room but that she had some control over them.

Cape Coral police didn't arrest her then, either.

Bower's office arrested Monique Gibbs on Thursday when she came to the
State Attorney's Office in Fort Myers with her attorney and her father.

She was then charged with possession of cocaine, a third degree felony and
faces a maximum of five years in prison if she's convicted.

Prosecutors say if she pleads guilty she probably will get what other first
time offenders on drug possession charges get - pre-trial intervention by
agreeing to attend drug counseling.

Bower also filed a charge of sale of cocaine against Graham in connection
with what Cape Coral police say was a sting operation a day before the Aug.
18 arrest at the Del Prado Inn.

Police claim Graham sold $100 worth of cocaine to a confidential informant.