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Man Gets 40 Years In St. Pete Police Shooting

By Katy Henning / News Channel 8

Justin Navarro faces a judge at his sentencing Wednesday.

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 19, 2007

Updated: 09/19/2007 05:41 pm

Audio: Undercover Police Tape (edited by TBO; some graphic content)

CLEARWATER - The undercover vice and narcotics detective went into the duplex alone, thinking he was about to buy $1,200 worth of drugs from a suspect inside.

In a matter of seconds, two armed, masked men burst in, claiming they were the St. Petersburg police – one of them had emblazoned across his chest in Velcro the word "police," prosecutors say.

"Get on the ground," the undercover detective was told, according to a copy of the audio wire he wore during the sting. "Put your hands behind your back."

"I'll give you my money, don't shoot me," the detective pleaded, according to the tape.

"St. Pete police department," one of the suspects said. "You don't look like the f----- police, man,'' the undercover officer said, feigning the accent of a ne'er-do-well.

Because he was wired, the undercover detective's colleagues heard what was happening and rushed to his aid, kicking in the door. One of the armed suspects, Justin Navarro, shot at them, forcing them to retreat, and at another detective outside through a window. That allowed the undercover detective to pull a hidden weapon and wound the other armed suspect, Joshua Giannico.

Navarro whipped around and shot at the undercover detective, retreating to a bathroom as he fired two rounds, said Assistant State Attorney Lydia Wardell, one of the prosecutors in the case.

The undercover detective can be heard screaming on the tape for backup as he holds a wounded Giannico around the neck, with a knee on another suspect, Keith Lahey, Wardell said. Meanwhile the detective is keeping his gun trained on a fourth suspect who's prone on the floor.

"Look, I'm a cop," he yells to the suspect in the bathroom.

As described in court today by the undercover detectives, the Dec. 15 shoot-out at 2877 17th Ave. N. was one of the most harrowing two minutes in recent memory at the St. Petersburg Police Department.

But rather than seek vengeance, the seasoned investigators agreed to a plea in which Justin Navarro, 23, the suspect with the word "police" on his chest, was sentenced to 40 years in prison, with 20 of them mandatory. Navarro could have received a life sentence.

"I think we were all forgiving," one of the undercover detectives told Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Richard A. Luce before Luce handed down the sentence. At Luce's request, The Tampa Tribune is not printing any of the detectives' names because of the nature of their work.

"It's a long time, a long time in prison," the undercover detective inside the house told the judge. "I think at his age, when he gets out, he won't be wanting to do something like this again."

One reason for the detectives' mercy: Navarro's father, John Navarro, is a retired Tampa Police Department officer. The former officer looked on sullenly at today's proceedings and refused to answer questions afterward.

Justin Navarro faced nine counts – four of them attempted murder charges stemming from firing on the three detectives outside and the one inside. He also faced a fifth attempted murder charge because his accomplice was wounded during the commission of a crime.

He apologized to the undercover detectives with tears in his eyes.

"I'd like to say sorry to you gentleman for all the pain I've caused you," Navarro said. He also apologized to his father, who forgave him in court.

Luce chided him after his apology, noting Navarro's pretending to be a police officer was a major aggravating factor in the case.

"You were not there to protect and defend and to serve," Luce said. "You were there to do everything to tarnish that concept of a policeman."

Then Luce said: "You have got one whale of a deal."

Today, Navarro's alleged accomplice, Joshua Giannico, 18, also was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

The undercover detectives noted that, unlike Navarro, Giannico showed little remorse, bragging about his stand-off with police in letters intercepted by authorities and in telephone conversations at the Pinellas County Jail. He likened himself to an animal in jail who, when he was released, "would be bigger, badder and meaner,'' in the words of the undercover detective who was inside the house.

He also referred to himself as "Little Josh a k a Three Shot," after the number of times the undercover detective inside the house wounded him, the detectives said.

Lahey has yet to be sentenced. The other man inside, identified as Dante Acquarolo, testified against the others and was not charged.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com.

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