WSVN — There is one less police officer in South Florida tonight. She has resigned in disgrace after being caught stealing gas. Investigative reporter Carmel Cafiero is On the Case.
Rose Stabio: “Just stop!”
Rose Stabio didn’t think she should be on camera after a court appearance.
Carmel Cafiero: “Don’t you have any comment about disgracing your badge?”
She even demanded her attorney do something about it, so he walked in front of our camera.
Lawyer: “Excuse me, excuse me.”
It was another camera, this one hidden, that brought Stabio and her boyfriend Giomar Picon to court. You can see Stabio pumping gas into her police car. He, meanwhile, is seen filling up her Lexus. Authorities say they used her Miami-Dade Police issued gas card to fuel up her private vehicles more than a dozen times.
On another occasion, Stabio was alone when she put gas into her car. Picon was also caught on camera alone getting gas for the white Lexus. The pair was charged with pumping as little as $18 and as much as $50 at a time.
The total: $338.30 before they were busted. Not a lot of money, but enough to cost Stabio her career.
Clerk: Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?”
Rose Stabio: “Uh-huh.”
Judge: “What is your name?”
Rose Stabio: “Rose Marie Stabio.”
Stabio had been a Miami-Dade officer for seven years. She resigned the day before court. Prosecutors say Picon is a former Sweetwater officer. Both cut a deal giving up their police certifications.
Miesha Darrough, Assistant State Attorney: “In exchange for them giving up, basically, the right to be a police officer in the state of Florida, the state is allowing them to enter into the PTI program.”
The Pre-Trial Intervention Program will allow the pair to avoid criminal records.
Carmel Cafiero: “This is not the first time Officer Stabio’s credibility has been called into question. Earlier, a 7News investigation revealed former neighbors complained she abused her position as a police officer to file false complaints against them.”
In 2012, Josue and Holli Abreu told us they believed Stabio kept calling police with bogus complaints about them. The Abreus say one night, she even called her department claiming Josue was on his balcony with a gun.
Rose Stabio: “He’s on the balcony. He has a weapon in his hand.”
Dispatch: “QSL, advising there’s a male on the balcony with a weapon in his hand.”
Ten units responded and found … nothing.
Responding Officer: “There’s no weapons. There’s no threats. No nothing. Just clear.”
Stabio was cleared by the police department after she said it was her boyfriend who had seen Josue with the gun. The Abreu family moved away from Stabio after that incident. And now, as you might expect, Josue is not surprised at the officer’s current disgrace.
Josue Abreu: “I felt karma came and bite her. Her true colors came out. That’s how I feel. And I’m glad that South Florida is able to see what she really is.”
Meanwhile, Stabio has agreed to pay the county back for the cost of the gas, and the investigation.
Carmel Cafiero, 7News.
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