Anti Federalist
09-24-2010, 04:53 PM
Man arrested after lawmen mistake heart medicine for cocaine
September 20, 2010 10:04 PM
Tom McLaughlin
Daily News
http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/hands-33080-state-controlled.html
George Funti spent three days in jail for possession of a controlled substance he never possessed.
The arrest came more than a month after a state lab report clearing him of any wrongdoing had made its way back into the hands of the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.
Funti said he felt like an animal as he was handcuffed and shackled and shuttled through first the Walton and then the Okaloosa County jails, and now he’s contemplating legal action.
“This was not a mistake, this was neglect,” he said. “Somebody just didn’t care to follow through with the paperwork to keep a man out of jail.”
Okaloosa County Sheriff Ed Spooner is working to get to the bottom of what happened. A couple of weeks ago he ordered an internal investigation into the matter.
Monday, Spooner looked over what Investigator Ron Gay had compiled thus far in the case.
“Based on what has been presented to me, we’re going to continue this investigation,” Spooner said Monday afternoon.
Funti’s brush with the law began Feb. 12 at the Bluewater Fitness and Wellness Center.
He was working out, the 65-year-old heart patient said, when a bottle of nitroglycerin he carries with him at all times fell out of his clothes.
A wellness center employee found the bottle sometime after Funti had left for his home in Freeport, and an Okaloosa County deputy who came in for a workout decided to field test the pills, which had dissolved into powder.
Deputy Stephen Reynolds wrote in his report that the bottle dropped by Funti appeared to be one that had “once contained nitroglycerin tablets and on this date contained a white powder substance.”
The white powder did test positive for cocaine.
Also working against Funti was the wellness center video camera, which Reynolds said in his report showed Funti kicking the bottle with the “white powder substance” away from him.
Funti said he’s nearsighted and doesn’t wear his glasses when he works out. He never saw the bottle after he dropped it, he said.
Unbeknownst to Funti, his nitroglycerin bottle was sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement lab for analysis and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Apparently, the FDLE was able to make a quick turnaround on the evidence sent in by the Sheriff’s Office and by March 9 had completed an analysis and determined that what Funti had in his pocket during his February workout had not been cocaine.
Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Michele Nicholson confirmed Monday that the FDLE report clearing Funti had arrived in Shalimar by March 24.
Funti said his son’s family was in town for its annual visit on April 22 when a couple of Walton County deputies showed up. He was cutting his grass, wearing shorts and flip flops, he said.
He said the cops told him a warrant had been issued for him for possession of illegal substances, and he showed them a whole basket of medicines he keeps.
The Walton deputies lighted up, Funti said, when they again found a nitroglycerin bottle in his pocket.
“They put handcuffs on me and took me in,” he said.
Funti said his medicine was taken from him at the Walton County Jail.
He said he lost 13 pounds because the food was so bad and he couldn’t sleep.
“It was hell — the noise, the screaming, the cussing,” he said.
Two days after he arrived in Walton County, Funti said he was shackled and sent to Okaloosa County.
“I still didn’t have no medication and I still didn’t know what they were charging me with,” he said.
Funti said he was finally made aware that he was being charged with possession of cocaine.
“I said, ‘Cocaine? You’ve got to be kidding me,’ ” he said.
Funti was finally released from custody and the charges against him dismissed. But, he said, the stigma remains.
“Two little girls from down the street came and told me their mother won’t let them speak to me anymore,” he said. “All of my neighbors are looking at me like I’m a criminal.”
Funti’s attorney, David Swanick of Powell and Swanick in Niceville, said Monday he has filed notice with the Sheriff’s Office of his client’s intention to file a claim.
Funti said he’s looking for reimbursement of his bond and the attorney’s fees he’s incurred, but also some reimbursement for the pain he’s suffered.
“I still dream at night about the experience,” he said. “I don’t want anybody else to go through that again.”
Spooner said the continuing internal investigation into the Funti case will seek further review of what took place and look for who, if anyone, was responsible for what took place.
“We’re looking at what could have been done to have a different outcome,” he said. “Were practices, rules and policies followed? And, if not, let’s pinpoint the issues and decide what to do to appropriately address the issues.”
Spooner said his initial review allowed him to “see issues that need looking at,” but he declined to say what those issues were.
He said no disciplinary action has been taken at this time. He was not able to provide a time frame for when the newest phase of the Funti investigation would be complete.
September 20, 2010 10:04 PM
Tom McLaughlin
Daily News
http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/hands-33080-state-controlled.html
George Funti spent three days in jail for possession of a controlled substance he never possessed.
The arrest came more than a month after a state lab report clearing him of any wrongdoing had made its way back into the hands of the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.
Funti said he felt like an animal as he was handcuffed and shackled and shuttled through first the Walton and then the Okaloosa County jails, and now he’s contemplating legal action.
“This was not a mistake, this was neglect,” he said. “Somebody just didn’t care to follow through with the paperwork to keep a man out of jail.”
Okaloosa County Sheriff Ed Spooner is working to get to the bottom of what happened. A couple of weeks ago he ordered an internal investigation into the matter.
Monday, Spooner looked over what Investigator Ron Gay had compiled thus far in the case.
“Based on what has been presented to me, we’re going to continue this investigation,” Spooner said Monday afternoon.
Funti’s brush with the law began Feb. 12 at the Bluewater Fitness and Wellness Center.
He was working out, the 65-year-old heart patient said, when a bottle of nitroglycerin he carries with him at all times fell out of his clothes.
A wellness center employee found the bottle sometime after Funti had left for his home in Freeport, and an Okaloosa County deputy who came in for a workout decided to field test the pills, which had dissolved into powder.
Deputy Stephen Reynolds wrote in his report that the bottle dropped by Funti appeared to be one that had “once contained nitroglycerin tablets and on this date contained a white powder substance.”
The white powder did test positive for cocaine.
Also working against Funti was the wellness center video camera, which Reynolds said in his report showed Funti kicking the bottle with the “white powder substance” away from him.
Funti said he’s nearsighted and doesn’t wear his glasses when he works out. He never saw the bottle after he dropped it, he said.
Unbeknownst to Funti, his nitroglycerin bottle was sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement lab for analysis and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Apparently, the FDLE was able to make a quick turnaround on the evidence sent in by the Sheriff’s Office and by March 9 had completed an analysis and determined that what Funti had in his pocket during his February workout had not been cocaine.
Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Michele Nicholson confirmed Monday that the FDLE report clearing Funti had arrived in Shalimar by March 24.
Funti said his son’s family was in town for its annual visit on April 22 when a couple of Walton County deputies showed up. He was cutting his grass, wearing shorts and flip flops, he said.
He said the cops told him a warrant had been issued for him for possession of illegal substances, and he showed them a whole basket of medicines he keeps.
The Walton deputies lighted up, Funti said, when they again found a nitroglycerin bottle in his pocket.
“They put handcuffs on me and took me in,” he said.
Funti said his medicine was taken from him at the Walton County Jail.
He said he lost 13 pounds because the food was so bad and he couldn’t sleep.
“It was hell — the noise, the screaming, the cussing,” he said.
Two days after he arrived in Walton County, Funti said he was shackled and sent to Okaloosa County.
“I still didn’t have no medication and I still didn’t know what they were charging me with,” he said.
Funti said he was finally made aware that he was being charged with possession of cocaine.
“I said, ‘Cocaine? You’ve got to be kidding me,’ ” he said.
Funti was finally released from custody and the charges against him dismissed. But, he said, the stigma remains.
“Two little girls from down the street came and told me their mother won’t let them speak to me anymore,” he said. “All of my neighbors are looking at me like I’m a criminal.”
Funti’s attorney, David Swanick of Powell and Swanick in Niceville, said Monday he has filed notice with the Sheriff’s Office of his client’s intention to file a claim.
Funti said he’s looking for reimbursement of his bond and the attorney’s fees he’s incurred, but also some reimbursement for the pain he’s suffered.
“I still dream at night about the experience,” he said. “I don’t want anybody else to go through that again.”
Spooner said the continuing internal investigation into the Funti case will seek further review of what took place and look for who, if anyone, was responsible for what took place.
“We’re looking at what could have been done to have a different outcome,” he said. “Were practices, rules and policies followed? And, if not, let’s pinpoint the issues and decide what to do to appropriately address the issues.”
Spooner said his initial review allowed him to “see issues that need looking at,” but he declined to say what those issues were.
He said no disciplinary action has been taken at this time. He was not able to provide a time frame for when the newest phase of the Funti investigation would be complete.