TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Suit Accusing Pasco Sheriff Of False Arrest Now In Federal Court

ADVERTISEMENT

By RAY REYES | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 23, 2008

TAMPA - It all started with a lost wallet.

By the end of his ordeal, Taillie Lee Gainer III, a 30-year-old youth leadership coach from Tampa, had been arrested on forgery charges and lost his mortgage broker and insurance agent licenses.

Today, Gainer sued in federal court accusing the the Pasco County Sheriff's Office of a series of mistakes Gainer says led to his false arrest. Pasco Sheriff Bob White and Detective Rodger
Turnbow are named in the complaint. Gainer is suing for damages of more than $15,000 and seeks a jury trial.

Gainer's attorney, John Trevena, originally filed the complaint in Pasco County Circuit Court on Sept. 16.

According to a sworn statement Gainer gave the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, Gainer left his wallet at the front counter of a Denny's restaurant on Aug. 1, 2006, after he paid the bill for dinner.

Nine days later, an unidentified man cashed two fraudulent checks worth more than $2,000 at Capital City Bank in Port Richey using Gainer's driver's license, the complaint states. The man wore dark glasses and an oversized hat.

During the sheriff's office's investigation, the teller identified Gainer as the man who cashed the bogus checks after Turnbow presented her with a photo lineup that included Gainer's driver's license photo.

According to the complaint, Turnbow did not interview Gainer or review the report Gainer filed with the Hillsborough sheriff's office about the stolen wallet.

Pasco sheriff's spokesman Doug Tobin declined to comment Thursday.

The state attorney's office filed formal felony charges against Gainer and he was arrested on Nov. 21, 2006, on warrants of uttering a forged instrument. Gainer was arrested "in the presence of family, friends neighbors and youth group members," the complaint states.

Gainer was fingerprinted after he was arrested and again on March 12, 2007, the complaint states. The Pasco sheriff's office lost the fingerprints taken on March 12, but examiners used the rolls after Gainer's arrest to determine that his prints did not match those on the checks, the complaint states.

On April 25, 2007, the state attorney's office dropped its prosecution of Gainer. The arrest and the forgery charge remained on Gainer's criminal record until it was sealed in December 2007.

Reporter Ray Reyes can be reached at rreyes@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7920.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT