February 8, 2013
On Friday, February 8, 2013 the Fort Myers Police Department honored several employees at a monthly award ceremony. FMPD strives every day to not only protect and serve the residents of the City of Fort Myers, but to make it a better place to live. “It is our policy to recognize employees of exemplary performance of their duties” said Chief Baker. “We appreciate their heroics and the hard work that these men and women put in each day.”
Officers Kelsey Evenson, Nicholas Toma, Giordani Almonte, Yanny Morales, Jimmy Hernandez and Detective John Price were honored for their efforts to remove a burglary suspect from City streets. Recently a neighborhood was hit with vehicle burglaries that happened to unlocked vehicles. While patrolling the area Officers Kelsey Evenson and Nicholas Toma arrested a suspect for loitering and prowling. The officers forwarded the suspect information to Community Policing Officer Yanny Morales. During his follow up investigation, Officer Morales positively identified the loitering and prowling suspect to be the burglary suspect featured on surveillance video from one of the crimes. Officer Morales and Officer Almonte then located the suspect out on bond and transported him to the police department to be interviewed by Detective John Price. The suspect confessed to Detective Price. In the end, the suspect was arrested for nine counts of burglary, six counts of grand theft and two counts of trespassing. The officers were commended for their communication skills and teamwork.
Detectives Mali Langton, Audenia Thomas, and Matthew Sellers will be honored as the East Fort Myers Rotary Award recipients for their outstanding performance while investigating a homicide. On January 30, 2013 Detectives Langton, Thomas, and Sellers were called to investigate the death of a two year old toddler. The detectives worked diligently as a team to ensure that every aspect of the investigation was properly covered. Each detective had a defined role in the investigative process, which resulted in quick and pertinent information sharing among the three. Over a 36 hour time period the detectives gathered evidence and witness testimony that resulted in an arrest for aggravated manslaughter and aggravated child abuse.
An undercover detective was honored for a narcotics investigation that resulted in a “roundup” of 22 drug dealers. The detective was the case detective for all 22 investigations over a three month period. This is a tremendous undertaking for one detective; nevertheless, he was also productive in initiating other investigations while also supporting the special investigations unit with whatever was needed. Out of the 22 investigations, many had multiple charges and the majority of the sales occurred near schools, daycares, and churches. The detective conducted interviews with each person arrested. Many times he was contacted during his off hours, but he still responded to work to complete the cases. The detective had confessions from 16 suspects. Confessions are crucial to each investigation and assists with a successful prosecution. The detective was commended for his personal commitment to his profession and the City of Fort Myers.
Shelly Flynn Public Information Officer