Sarasota police officer resigns after charge he stalked fellow officer

SARASOTA -- A Sarasota police officer was charged with stalking another officer after he texted and called her numerous times about her being with other men after she ended a relationship with him, according to the Sarasota Police Department.

Gregory Tancibok, 34, has resigned from the Sarasota Police Department effective April 25.

Tancibok dated the victim between July or August and November 2015. The female officer told her supervisors that she broke up with Tancibok because the relationship was "toxic" and he was "extremely jealous of any other males that she spoke to," according to the arrest report.

She said Tancibok was not willing to end the relationship but by the end of December said he wanted to start the new year off fresh and try to be friends. However, after three weeks he started sending her routine text messages accusing her of seeing other men while they were together.

At first the woman said she told Tancibok repeatedly that it wasn't true, but eventually stopped and ignored him hoping he would leave her alone.

When she went on two dates with different men, Tancibok sent her "harassing" text messages saying he knew about the dates and who they were with. The woman said she was "extremely concerned" by this, because she didn't know how he would have that knowledge.

The woman turned off her social media accounts so Tancibok couldn't use them for information and became increasingly concerned that he was conducting surveillance on her home, according to the report. She texted Tancibok on Jan. 26, specifically calling his behavior "harassment and verbal abuse" and telling him to leave her alone. Tancibok continued to message her.

On March 8, the woman arrived home with her boyfriend at 12:30 a.m. She subsequently received calls from Tancibok that she ignored, but voicemails he left again accused her of cheating on him and said, "I'm sure that you're in bed with somebody right now." The female officer again worried that he knew her boyfriend was in her home because he was watching her residence.

Investigators interviewed Tancibok on March 11 and he admitted to sending the text messages and calls that the woman had described, according to the report. He said he believed the woman was purposely trying to make him jealous by telling coworkers about her new boyfriends.

Tancibok was charged with stalking, which is a first-degree misdemeanor.

Genevieve Judge, spokeswoman for the Sarasota Police Department, said they would not provide an internal affairs report or comment on the case because it is an open investigation.

This story was originally published April 18, 2016 at 11:21 PM with the headline "Sarasota police officer resigns after charge he stalked fellow officer ."