Bradenton

BRADENTON – Master Patrol Officer Anthony Cerniglia has been selected to receive the Bradenton Police Department’s Officer of the Month award for July 2010.
 
He was nominated by Lt. William Fowler, Lt. Keith Davis, Sgt. James Racky and Sgt. Dennis Stahley for his role in obtaining three arrest warrants on a burglary suspect, making a physical arrest on another burglary suspect and obtaining a felony arrest warrant on a suspect who was seen engaging in a lewd act at a movie theater where children’s shows had been playing.
 
”Officer Cerniglia went above and beyond the standard patrol officer responsibilities while he was investigating (the Lewd and Lascivious) case,“ Sgt. Stahley wrote in his recommendation of Officer Cerniglia for Officer of the Month. ”Officer Cerniglia continues to complete his investigations thoroughly and does not just write an incident report and forward it to the detective division for further review.“
 
Around 12:30 a.m. May 24, Officer Cerniglia responded to a burglary call in the 800 block of 11th Avenue West. Through interviews, he determined an ex-employee had recently began coming around for no apparent reason. Officer Cerniglia ran the name through pawn shop records and learned that the subject had just pawned the stolen items, and this information enabled him to obtain a warrant for the subject’s arrest.
 
In another case, Officer Cerniglia responded to a movie theater June 1, in response to a subject engaging in a lewd activity. During the course of the investigation Officer Cerniglia learned the subject, at that point still unidentified, had been seen engaged in similar acts on several occasions by customers.
 
The suspect returned to the theater on June 7 and was recognized by the manager, who called police. Officer Cerniglia responded and tracked down the suspect, who denied any wrongdoing. But this allowed Officer Cerniglia to prepare a photo lineup for witnesses, and based on sworn written statements and positive identification provided by the theater manager and an employee, Officer Cerniglia obtained an arrest warrant and later arrested the suspect at his place of employment.
 
Police credit Officer Cerniglia for stopping a potential sexual predator by staying in contact with theater management in an effort to identify the suspect.
 
In another case, police responded to an armed burglary on June 12 in the 2400 block of 16th Avenue West. When the suspect’s whereabouts were learned, Officer Cerniglia met with him two days later, and he consented to a search. Officer Cerniglia located marijuana on the subject and took him into custody. During questioning, the suspect admitted to the burglary and police were able to recover most of the stolen property.