JUDGE SAYS DETECTIVES LIED TO OBTAIN WARRANT IN MARIJUANA CASE

Evidence Gathered In Search Can't Be Used

CLEARWATER - Pinellas County sheriff's detectives misled a judge to
obtain a search warrant for an Oldsmar house filled with marijuana
plants, a judge said in a ruling released Friday.

A sworn affidavit used Dec. 11 to persuade Pasco-Pinellas Circuit
Judge Dee Anna Farnell to issue a search warrant contained three
"misrepresentations" and five "material omissions," Farnell wrote in
a July 26 order suppressing evidence against two men charged with
felony marijuana trafficking.

Had the warrant been truthful, Farnell said, she would not have
issued the search warrant for a house at 310 St. Petersburg Drive E.
in Oldsmar.

Among other things, detectives David Antolini and Cynthia Bowman
misled Farnell about whether another deputy could smell marijuana
growing inside the house; identified suspect Steven Byle as being at
the house when all they saw was his truck; and made it sound as if
they did four hours of thermal imaging to detect heat from grow
lights emanating from the home when in fact it was for seven minutes,
the judge said.

Also, they failed to mention that Drew Princiotto, the informant who
told them Byle and Robert Stuller were growing marijuana in the home,
might have wanted revenge, because Stuller was having an affair with
Princiotto's wife. They also did not mention that Princiotto's
information was secondhand, Farnell ruled.

The judge found it "especially troublesome" that Antolini and Bowman
told her Byle has been charged with growing marijuana in Hillsborough
County in 1994, but failed to mention the evidence was supressed.

Byle filed an internal affairs complaint against the detectives
Friday, but sheriff's spokeswoman Marianne Pasha said it was too soon
to tell if it would prompt a full investigation or some lesser action
by the detectives' superiors.

Sheriffs officials will review the matter with prosecutors, Pasha said.

"We just got this this afternoon and we need time to take an in-depth
look at it and discuss the situation," she said.

State Attorney Bernie McCabe was not available for comment about
whether the detectives might face criminal investigation or whether
the charges against Byle and Stuller will be dropped.

The charges of trafficking in more than 25 pounds of marijuana,
manufacturing marijuana and possession of paraphernalia were based on
the Dec.11 search, Farnell's ruling states. The search found about
100 plants growing in the home, but that evidence cannot be used, the
judge said. Defense attorney Johnnie Trevena said his client, Byle,
will complain to federal authorities if McCabe does not prosecute the
detectives.

"It was 'framing the guilty' in their minds, but nevertheless this
was a frame," he said.