Trial Ordered For Former Philly Cop, Son-in-Law of Gov. Corbett
By Tony Hanson
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A fired Philadelphia police officer has been ordered to stand trial on charges he stole money from a car during a sting.
An FBI agent has testified that former officer Gerald Gibson, the son-in-law of Pennsylvania governor Tom Corbett, took $140 in marked money from the bait car but didn't turned it over until confronted later by the FBI agent and Philadelphia police investigators (see related story).
Defense attorney A. Charles Peruto Jr. concedes that Gibson, who was sent out on another assignment before he was questioned about the money, violated policy by not turning in the money in right away, but says his client is innocent of any serious crime.
"No intent to steal," says Peruto. "There was absolutely no intention here. There's been no evidence that he intended to leave his shift that day without doing this paperwork. And you heard the testimony of the sergeant: many officers do their paperwork on all their jobs at the end of the day."
When Gibson was arrested and subsequently fired earlier this year, police said he had been targeted for the sting because of suspicions that he was taking money and other items from crime scenes.
