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PODCAST

56: A Pinellas County Sheriff"s Office Podcast

Pinellas County Sheriff"s Office

Welcome to 56: A Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office Podcast. Three curious and well-informed civilians – Ricky, Laura, and Ashley – will find the most interesting people and fascinating stories from all around the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office and bring you stories you’ll never forget.Located in vibrant Pinellas County on the west coast of Florida, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office is the 15th largest sheriff’s office in the U.S. With close to one million residents, Pinellas is the most densely

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All Episodes

97:45

#27 "Stem to Stern" - Fleet Manager Michael Vecchione

56: A Pinellas County Sheriff"s Office Podcast ·

2025/11/04

Deputies can’t walk to calls – gone are the days of the beat cop on foot patrol – so the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office depends on Michael Vecchione, manager of the Fleet Services Division. His career took him from BMWs to firetrucks to PCSO’s Tahoes, armored vehicles, the command bus, and more. On this episode of 56, find out how you take a basic Tahoe and upfit it to a state-of-the-art police vehicle with lights, sirens, a push bar, and an interior that’s somewhere between an office and an

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122:32

#26 "Textbooks Aren't Scratch And Sniff" - Forensic...

56: A Pinellas County Sheriff"s Office Podcast ·

2025/09/16

Some forensic scientists train for years in the classroom, only to discover on their first real crime scene that they don’t have the stomach for the job. Not so for Forensic Science Supervisor Lisa Murphy. When she pulled up to her first dead body – a shotgun suicide – and said, “Wow, there’s a piece of skull!” she realized this was the perfect job for her. Since then she’s worked some of the grisliest crime scenes, labored for hours in houses full of decomp and no air conditioning, and never thrown

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103:42

#25 "Don't Pigeonhole Me" - Sheriff Bob Gualtieri

56: A Pinellas County Sheriff"s Office Podcast ·

2025/08/19

In this episode, we bring back one of our favorite guests – and we’re not just saying that because he’s our boss. On his last visit you got to learn the history and career path that made Sheriff Bob Gualtieri the sheriff he is today. Now we talk more about some of the issues that are near and dear to the hearts of Pinellas County residents, and issues that have far-reaching implications across our country. When Sheriff Gualtieri sees a problem, he fixes it. That’s why we have innovative, first of

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127:55

#24 "Crack Is Not Water Soluble" - Lieutenant Matt...

56: A Pinellas County Sheriff"s Office Podcast ·

2025/07/02

For a guy who became a cop because of Super Troopers, Lieutenant Matt Thornton is doing pretty well in law enforcement. He started his career in the jail, where he was known as the “Inmate Whisperer” for his ability to calm inmates with psychological issues. When he went to Patrol, he realized that deputies are first and foremost members of the community, and that it’s hard for people to yell at you if you’re talking to them nicely. But don’t let that genial demeanor fool you – he’s worked in

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89:14

#23 "She Just Needed A Cookie" - Deputy Syeeta...

56: A Pinellas County Sheriff"s Office Podcast ·

2025/05/20

Deputy Syeeta Robinson-DeBerg is the kind of person who will ride a bike down stairs without worrying about how she’s going to stop at the bottom. If it’s a new challenge, she wants to try it – and do better than anyone else. Syeeta says she’s always liked kids and drugs – not in a creepy way – and so a career in law enforcement was perfect for her, helping kids and getting drugs off the streets. Sure, as a rookie she couldn’t always tell when someone was dead, but now she has her finger on the

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96:08

#22 "Snooki" - Corporal Justin Fineberg

56: A Pinellas County Sheriff"s Office Podcast ·

2025/03/25

Snooki, Tigger… Corporal Justin Fineberg is a man of many names but a singular purpose: to get the bad guys so victims can sleep peacefully at night. His hometown of Boston almost got to keep him, but when color-blindness disqualified him up there, he succumbed to the lure of our snow-free winters and joined PCSO. Now he’s a member of the K-9 unit and along with his dog Beau (“because he’s handsome like his daddy”) he’s apprehending some of the worst offenders in the county. He’s also one of the

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119:12

#21 - "Shoe-Leather Policing" - Chief Deputy David...

56: A Pinellas County Sheriff"s Office Podcast ·

2025/02/11

Talk about rising through the ranks! Chief Deputy David Danzig is the number-two man at PCSO, second only to Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, and has done just about everything at the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO). Coming from a law enforcement family, he knew he wanted to be a cop practically since he was a baby. In fact, his reward for potty training was a ride in cruiser running lights and sirens. From his first arrest (charge: Cat Running at Large) to his first week as the new chief, he’s never

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124:21

#20 "Nips & Bubblers" - Detective Jason Plumb

56: A Pinellas County Sheriff"s Office Podcast ·

2025/01/10

In this episode we talk with Detective Jason Plumb, who has spent a lifetime saving lives, first as a paramedic, then as an officer in the insanely busy Rochester, New Hampshire PD. A chance meeting with some PCSO deputies made him think the grass might be greener down here. It certainly was – and not just because it wasn’t covered in snow half the year. He liked it so much he even brought five of his friends down from his former agency. How’s that for recruiting? Since joining us, he’s had his

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117:55

#19 "The World's Most Uninteresting Man" - Deputy...

56: A Pinellas County Sheriff"s Office Podcast ·

2024/09/10

In this episode we talked with “the world's most uninteresting man,” Deputy Chuck Skipper with the Crime Prevention and Community Awareness Unit. If you’ve seen some of our creative safety videos, Chuck’s face is a familiar one and you know he’s anything but uninteresting. He has a passion for crime prevention and will do almost anything on camera for the sake of good messaging, but there’s so much more to Chuck than that. He shares his humble beginnings in the wings of the Marion County Jail where

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89:59

#18 "X3 the Channel" - April Bonnemann

56: A Pinellas County Sheriff"s Office Podcast ·

2024/08/07

In this episode we talk with Assistant Communications Center Shift Supervisor April Bonnemann, whose world moves at a mile a minute as she gives deputies the crucial information that keeps them safe in their dangerous job. She might not be on-scene, but she still gets all the stories, from the man who caught an alligator in the bedroom with his wife, to the hopeful Romeo who stole a semi-truck to pick his lady friend up when she was released from the jail. Just how do you stop a fleeing car hauler

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113:02

#17 "The Closer" - Sergeant Jake Viano

56: A Pinellas County Sheriff"s Office Podcast ·

2024/07/10

In this episode we talk with Sergeant Jake Viano, who was raised in Long Beach during the height of gang violence and grew up to become the hero who saved Corporal Matt Aitken’s life when he was ambushed and shot during a K-9 track. As if that isn’t enough, he had a professional baseball career in between. Hear about the life-and-death fashion choices a kid has to make when navigating between the Crips and the Bloods, and how to play baseball when the opposing team calls in gang members to threaten

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122:26

#16 "It's Okay to be Broken" - Corporal Matt Aitken

56: A Pinellas County Sheriff"s Office Podcast ·

2024/06/21

You don’t have to do much to become one of the best-known people at the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office – just get shot three times (once in the neck), and fight through surgery, physical therapy, fears of painkiller addiction, and the monsters in your own mind to emerge stronger than ever as a powerful example of how to not only survive but thrive through adversity. Corporal Matt Aitken is best known for that harrowing incident of March 12, 2023, when a routine track turned deadly and he was saved

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106:25

#15 "Do No Harm... Do Know Harm" - Tactical Paramedic...

56: A Pinellas County Sheriff"s Office Podcast ·

2024/05/14

In this episode we talk with Tactical Paramedic Supervisor Joey Greco, who carries guns AND tourniquets. If he ever has to shoot you, he’ll probably be able to save your life afterward. Joey is one of the TacMeds who train with SWAT and accompany them on callouts, positioned in the hot zone. Although he’s not on the entry team, he’s trained to respond under fire if one of the SWAT operators is harmed. Joey began his lifesaving career as an Explorer with Clearwater FD, where at age 16 he responded to

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110:53

#14 "Is the Chicken Armed?" - Deputy Jana Demperio

56: A Pinellas County Sheriff"s Office Podcast ·

2024/04/16

Jana Demperio could have been a professional stand-up comic, but instead she’s a deputy currently working the desk at our North District Station. She’s done Patrol, Street Crimes, Community Policing, and was a School Resource Officer, but thinks that working the desk is at least as challenging as any of those. The public thinks she can fix any problem, has a skewed perception about what constitutes a crime, and is perfectly willing to yell in her ear about it all. But Jana won Deputy of the Year for

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115:28

#13 "Vigorous Talking" - Lieutenant Dave Stang

56: A Pinellas County Sheriff"s Office Podcast ·

2024/03/05

In this episode we talk with Lieutenant Dave Stang, a man so powerful he can lose eight pints of blood – the amount in an average human – and still be standing, a veritable Paul Bunyan who was running a chainsaw in the timber business at age 11, and was hired as a firefighter before he even finished high school. As a young man he never thought about going into law enforcement, but his superhero origin story is full of foreshadowing: as a teen he saved students and teachers from bullies, and even

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97:57

#12 "Buried Bodies, Scattered Skeletons" - Dr....

56: A Pinellas County Sheriff"s Office Podcast ·

2024/02/07

In this episode we talk with PCSO’s answer to Bones – only better because she’s real! Dr. Meredith Tise is not only a forensic anthropologist, she’s also our Forensic Quality Assurance Coordinator, making sure that our Forensics Division is held to the highest standards. She started in a morgue as a teenager, and her work has taken her from the border to body farms as she perfected her knowledge early in her career. She was involved in the excavation at the Dozier School for Boys, uncovering the

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84:31

#11 "Beacon of Joy" - Sergeant Jimmy Fortner

56: A Pinellas County Sheriff"s Office Podcast ·

2024/01/09

In this episode we talk with possibly the happiest man in the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office: Sergeant Jimmy Fortner. He began his career in a super max prison where stabbings, overdoses, hangings, and attacks on guards were commonplace. Now he works at the Pinellas County Jail, which despite the best resources and training can still be fraught with danger. Jimmy is an imposing six-foot-six and 360 pounds but he says he’s never won a fight… even against a Little Person in the Mexican Mafia. Jimmy

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96:10

#10 "Certainly Tenacious" - Sheriff Bob Gualtieri

56: A Pinellas County Sheriff"s Office Podcast ·

2023/12/01

In this episode we talk with the man himself, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri. It’s hard to believe he was once an innocent young rookie taking calls for noise complaints and trespass warnings, but those who have heard him call out, “Car 1, 10-50,” on his way home know he hasn’t forgotten his roots. Sheriff Gualtieri started out at the Pinellas County Jail and was an officer in Dunedin before joining the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office as a deputy. Hear stories from his long stint in Narcotics, Find out why

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104:19

#9 "Tactical Genius" - Sergeant Brian Diebold

56: A Pinellas County Sheriff"s Office Podcast ·

2023/11/03

In this episode we talk with SWAT Supervisor, Sergeant Brian Diebold, a man described by many as a tactical genius. A man who isn’t afraid of anything… except joining us on the podcast. Tune in to find out what he reveals about his long and varied career – and then tell us what he’s leaving out! After years of kicking in doors and catching murderers, Brian is now the guy who has to stay back by the Command Bus while his SWAT studs make entry. That’s hard for a man who has made more door entries than

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128:02

#8 "Pound for Pound" - Lieutenant Freddie Hayes

56: A Pinellas County Sheriff"s Office Podcast ·

2023/10/03

In this episode we talk with Lieutenant Freddie Hayes who according to a reliable source is, pound for pound, the best at just about everything. Of course Freddie himself is the reliable source, but we haven’t found any evidence to contradict him yet. Whether it’s being locked in a pod alone with 80 inmates or wrangling a poop-covered intake, Freddie can do it all. He leads the Corrections Response Team (CRT) which handles the most dangerous situations in the jail. He also oversees the Honor Guard

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