BY DAVID OVALLE
A Miami-Dade police officer and her boyfriend were arrested
Tuesday afternoon after investigators say they filled their personal cars with
gas from a county fueling facility.
Rose Stabio, 41, a Kendall district patrol officer, was
charged with organized scheme to defraud and third-degree grand theft. Husband
Giomar Picon, 31, a security guard and former Sweetwater police officer, was
also charged.
Authorities say Stabio and Picon used a county gas card
meant to fill up her police patrol car at a South Miami-Dade county fuel
facility. The theft, prosecutors say, took place over several months, amounted
to hundreds of dollars and was captured on hidden surveillance video.
The investigation was done by Miami-Dade’s Professional
Compliance Bureau.
The couple had been fueling up their personal cars at the
county fuel facility at Thompson Memorial Park, 12451 SW 184th St., according
to prosecutors.
According to an arrest warrant, the pair was caught when a
former neighbor, a county parks supervisor, ran into Stabio and Picon fueling
their personal cars on separate occasions.
Investigators learned that in early December, Stabio’s 2002
police patrol car was taken to a county mechanic shop for repairs. She was
given a newer, temporary police car that did not require a fuel card at the
pumping station because it was equipped with a special electronic sensor that
tracked the gas put into the vehicle.
But nevertheless, Stabio and her boyfriend – who is not a
county employee – were captured on hidden video contuning to use the fuel card,
but to fill their personal cars. In all, police said, the pair stole at $338.30
from the county.