PANAMA CITY — A Panama City man’s alleged caper conspiracy was foiled Tuesday when he was arrested because one of the men he enlisted to help rob his employer was a cop.
Daniel Norona, 24, approached an off-duty Panama City police officer earlier this week and offered him $10,000 to help him steal gold and cash from the pawn shop where he worked.
Police took Norona to the Bay County Jail on suspicion of conspiracy to commit burglary and bribery of a law enforcement officer. A judge ordered him to pretrial release Wednesday during his first court appearance.
Police began investigating Norona earlier this week after he allegedly approached an off-duty officer whom he knew personally and offered $10,000 from the proceeds of the crime for police intelligence that would make it more difficult for detectives to solve the crime.
The officer was not in uniform or on duty at the time, but “[Norona] most definitely knew he was a cop,” said Sgt. Mike Brewer.
Brewer declined to identify the officer Norona is accused of attempting to bribe. However, court paperwork prohibits Norona from having any contact with Matt Cole, who is a PCPD officer.
“Our general orders tell us if we are approached … to commit a criminal act to take it straight to the chief,” Brewer said. “So the officer did what he was supposed to do.”
A complaint against Norona indicates he planned to rely on a co-worker to disable the alarms and cameras at Dan’s Pawn Shop on Beck Avenue. Brewer said the investigation is ongoing and he declined to say whether any other employees might’ve been involved in the alleged scheme.
Avery Adcock, who owns Dan Pawn Shop locations in Panama City and Springfield, said he didn’t know the details of Norona’s plan, but he pointed out that a crime in a pawn shop could’ve been a very dangerous undertaking. He praised the police for preventing the crime before it occurred.
“I’m very glad the police department was able to catch him before he went through with it and prevented him from robbing us, and I want to thank them.” Adcock said. “Because of them and the extraordinary work of their investigative team, we were able to prevent any loss of property or injury. Nobody got hurt.
“At no point was any of our customers’ pawned merchandise at risk. We have strong, multi-layered security and good loss prevention procedures.”
Adcock said Norona, who has no significant criminal history in Bay County, had worked at Dan’s Pawn Shop for about eight months, but he had been terminated.
“Both stores are open for business as usual — minus one employee,” he said.