TAMPA, Fla. – The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) has arrested 40-year-old Deni Antonic of New Port Richey on charges of false impersonation and uttering a forged instrument, both felonies. Antonic, a former Tampa Police Department (TPD) officer, resigned from the department before completing his probationary period.
The case began after Tampa Police notified FDLE of an internal incident involving one of their employees, a latent print analyst, who was arrested for forging official law enforcement credentials for her husband, Antonic. According to investigators, Antonic used the forged credentials in an attempt to apply for an Armed Security Officer license through the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS).
An FDACS employee reviewing Antonic’s application recognized that the credentials appeared fraudulent and immediately alerted TPD. That discovery triggered a joint investigation between Tampa Police and FDLE, ultimately leading to Antonic’s arrest…