Records: Marco police officers separated after rumor-spreading incident about anti-gay sentiments

An internal memo and text messages show two Marco Island police officers had to be separated in April out of fear of further altercations after the spread of anti-gay rumors led to a confrontation with a third officer.

The memo outlines that officer Juan Monsalve contacted Sgt. Kyle Kreis after he received text messages from then-Sgt. Brian Granneman confronting him about alleged anti-gay sentiments.

Monsalve denied expressing the sentiments and blamed the incident on officer Allan Reyes, who had previously accused him of rumor spreading. Kreis' memo also documented that Reyes and Monsalve expressed dislike for one another and would not assist one another unless an officer safety issue was at hand.

"It is my recommendation that Officer Reyes and Officer Monsalve be separated from each other to prevent any further incidents which could result in more verbal altercations between both parties, physical altercations between both parties and/or an officer safety issue due to their relationship with each other," Kreis wrote.

The Naples Daily News requested the documents and text messages after the incident was vaguely mentioned in Granneman's most recent performance evaluation and a memo outlining why his probation was being extended days after the incident occurred. 

Read:Marco police officer was demoted from leadership position days before resigning

Granneman's career with the Police Department ended abruptly four weeks ago, days after he was demoted from the rank of sergeant.

It capped a tumultuous week.

Days earlier, a woman involved in the Police Department's sex-on-duty scandal named him as a prospective defendant in a lawsuit she has threatened to file against the city for physical, mental and sexual abuse and violations of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

Granneman was accused of facilitating one of the woman's sexual relationships with officers on duty. Before he was promoted to sergeant, he had been previously reprimanded for not reporting another sex-on-duty encounter to a supervisor.

Read:Investigation finds two former Marco Island cops separately engaged in sex while on duty

No official information came to the forefront as to why he quit other than it occurred after an Oct. 2 meeting with Police Chief Tracy Frazzano and Lt. Clayton Smith. 

What is known is that police administration demoted Granneman for not passing his probation in his role as sergeant, citing examples of questionable leadership skills in the performance evaluation completed by Smith.

The evaluation itself does not mention why Granneman confronted Monsalve but is critical of how he handled the matter.

"I spoke with Sergeant Granneman and advised him that personnel issues would be handled at work and not through text messages," Smith wrote.

Granneman texted Monsalve on April 8 that if he had a problem with gay people, he was "behind the 8 ball."

"I'm just telling you, if that's an issue for you, you need to resolve it," Granneman wrote. "Because gay, Black, Latino, Asian, midget, I don't care what. In 2019, you better be on board with everything. Or this job isn't for you."

After receiving more texts, Monsalve wrote multiple times he was lost or didn't understand why Granneman was telling him it. He then shifted the blame to Reyes for spreading rumors.

"I was telling Eddy that a 42-year-old man who could not deal with his problems is now trying to get me into this drama," Monsalve wrote.

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After the text exchange ended, Monsalve requested to meet with Kreis over what had transpired.

"The issues stem from Ofc. Reyes being talked to by Sgt. (Zach) Kirsch and Lt. Smith in reference to the perception he is giving off while conducting foot patrols at the local bars and a certain waitress," Kreis wrote. "Ofc. Monsalve advised Ofc. Reyes has confronted him about spreading rumors about him to the administration which are false. Ofc. Monsalve expressed to me that he believes Ofc. Reyes is guilty of something and trying to push the attention onto him."

Other than the criticism levied at Granneman for how he handled the situation, there were no other disciplinary or counseling documents issued to Reyes or Monsalve for the incident.

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