RESIDENTS SPLIT OVER COVERUP SPECULATION

CAPE CORAL - City residents are grappling with what to think about the
arrest of the police chief's daughter Thursday on cocaine charges.

Some suspect Chief Arnold Gibbs and other police covered up Monique Gibbs'
involvement in an Aug. 18 drug bust.

Other residents think those accusations - made by Fort Myers attorney
Michael Hornung - are unfounded. That just doesn't sound like Arnold Gibbs,
they said.

"I know the chief and his wife and their family, and they've been very good
to this community," said Carlos Espendez, president of the city's Citizens
Advisory Committee on Minority Issues. "It hurts me to see this happen to them.

"The chief is a very honest individual, and I don't think there was a
coverup. I'm with him. I think the accusations are groundless."

Ken Ayers, 63, isn't so sure.

"As a father, I understand why he would want to protect his kid," Ayers
said. "For him to go pick up his daughter that early in the morning, and
for Major (Jay) Murphy to be there, to me that's the sign of a coverup."

Monique Gibbs, 19, wasn't listed in any of the police reports of 20-
year-old Brandon Louis Graham's arrest, even though she admitted to
flushing cocaine down the toilet as police entered room 107 at the Del
Prado Inn on Aug. 18.

Graham, her boyfriend, was arrested on drug possession charges while
Monique Gibbs went home with her parents. Hornung said Murphy was also on
the scene.

Gerry Gearing, president of the city's Neighborhood Watch program, said he
was shocked by the news.

"I'm astounded, considering all the programs he (Chief Gibbs) has attended,
and so many of the programs he started for the youth, like Do the Right
Thing," he said. "And then this happens. But you know, this can happen in
any family, no matter what you do."

Gearing said he has trouble believing Chief Gibbs did anything out-of-
line. "He's a pretty straight shooter. He's an honest man."

Resident Vicki McMillen, however, thought it was peculiar Monique Gibbs
wasn't listed on the police reports. That, alone, makes her think something
wasn't right.

"Why wouldn't everybody be listed?" she said. "I don't understand that.
Unless they're a minor, everyone in there should have been listed."

Nobody's above the law, said Kevin Clarey, 46. Not even the police chief's
daughter.

"To me, that's appalling," he said. "I'm just glad to see that justice
prevailed. But I think this goes on at police departments across the country."

Still, others aren't willing to pronounce the chief guilty until all
investigations are complete. No charges have been leveled against the
chief, and the State's Attorney's Office said none are expected.

"I don't think he should be convicted in the press," said Tom Clark, 57.
"If there was something inappropriate, it will come out. The state attorney
is investigating it. The state attorney will do his job."