Tampa police detective insured his boat after it sank, Pasco deputies say

A Tampa police detective was arrested Thursday on allegations that he fraudulently insured his boat — after it sank.

Sgt. Shane Gadoury, a 15-year veteran of the Tampa Police Department, faces a charge of filing a false and fraudulent insurance claim. He has been placed on administrative duty.

“I’m disappointed Shane has placed himself in this position,” said Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan in a statement issued Thursday. He also faces an internal investigation by the police department.

The incident took place in November, according to a Pasco County Sheriff’s Office arrest report. Gadoury lives in Wesley Chapel but kept his boat docked at friend’s place in Hernando County. The friend called Gadoury on Nov. 18 and told him that the boat was “sitting low in the water.”

The next day, Nov. 19, the friend told Gadoury that the boat capsized.

Gadoury called the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office at about 6:12 p.m. and asked the agency to send a deputy to check on his boat, saying on a recorded like that “there’s something wrong with it ... and it may have capsized.” Then at 6:19 p.m., the report said, Gadoury called a recorded Progressive phone line and had the insurance policy reinstated.

He insured it “while knowingly and intentionally providing false statements regarding the boat’s condition,” the arrest report said, and after a Hernando deputy confirmed it sank.

Then on Nov. 20, Gadoury called Progressive Insurance and filed a claim for the loss of his boat. In a phone interview recorded Nov. 25, he told the insurance company that the boat was “completely fine” and wasn’t damaged when he obtained the policy.

In January, the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office contacted Progressive about the fraudulent claim.

A Facebook post from the department’s website spotlighted Gadoury as officer of the month in February 2019.

The post said he moved into an investigative role in 2018 and was recognized for making a significant number of arrests in capital sexual battery cases involving children under the age of 12.

“He utilizes prior cases as evidence, writing search warrants to obtain video evidence and utilizing good investigative measures to develop supporting evidence,” the post said, highlighting his skill in obtaining confessions from suspects who had committed sex acts with young children.

Gadoury, 45, was booked into the Hillsborough County jail on Thursday and released on his own recognizance.