Former Pinellas Park officer accused of failing to turn over evidence

PINELLAS PARK — A five-year veteran of the Pinellas Park Police Department has been arrested and charged with failing to turn in evidence, including a gun and drugs.

Bradley J. Serata, 29, of Seminole turned himself in to the Pinellas County Jail on Jan. 25 after being charged with official misconduct, a felony. He was released on his own recognizance.

Serata worked for the Pinellas Park police from February 2006 until Oct. 14, when he resigned while under investigation. He was earning about $43,042 a year.

Pinellas Park police Capt. Sandy Forseth said the investigation began in early October when the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office began preparing a shoplifting/drug possession case for trial.

Forseth described the situation this way:

Serata had arrested the suspect and listed several items of evidence in his April 20 report that included a witness statement, a DVD surveillance video, a green pill believed to be Vicodin and a metal pill bottle. The state attorney needed to test the pill to make sure it was Vicodin. He asked the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, which contracts with Pinellas Park to store evidence, for the pill and other materials. The Sheriff's Office said it did not have any evidence connected with the case.

The state attorney contacted Serata and, several days later, the Pinellas Park police. Officers questioned Serata about the missing evidence. Serata told a supervisor that he did not remember the shoplifting incident from April, but would attempt to locate the evidence.

By Oct. 14, supervisors had checked several other of Serata's cases and found problems with evidence not being submitted. Serata unexpectedly resigned that day.

Police supervisors have since audited police investigations assigned to Serata going back to July 2009, Forseth said. They found that, in many of those cases, evidence collected by Serata and listed in the police report were not submitted to the sheriff for storage as required. Most of the evidence were DVDs from store surveillance cameras of theft-related crimes. Several cases involved narcotics including marijuana, crack and prescription pills.

Also missing was a .357 revolver Serata seized during a traffic stop in December 2009. The driver was charged with carrying a concealed firearm.

Pinellas Park police contacted Serata last November about the gun. Serata said he still had the gun and turned it over to the police.

Reach Anne Lindberg at alindberg@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8450.