News

By Tim O’Meilia

Former South Palm Beach Mayor Martin Millar filed a complaint last month with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, claiming that South Palm Beach Police Chief Roger Crane threatened him in the Plaza del Mar parking lot.
    A Sheriff’s Office detective has interviewed Millar, Crane and Manalapan Police Chief Carmen Mattox, who witnessed the July 11 incident. A Sheriff’s Office spokesman confirmed that an investigation is ongoing but would not comment further.
    Millar said he was leaving a jewelry store in the shopping center when he saw Crane and Mattox. He said he asked Crane for the return of property his ex-wife left at the South Palm Beach Police Department. He said that police previously had refused to return his property, which he said included a registered handgun, when he went to the police station.
    “He called me a punk. He came towards me. I had to retreat,” the former mayor said. Millar said Crane should be arrested for assault.
    Crane said he told Millar that he was unaware of Millar’s attempt to retrieve his property until after the incident. He said Millar harangued him over the property and also complained about his photograph being removed from an array of former mayors in the Town Hall. “I might have taken a step toward him but there was no threat,” Crane said. He admitted he called Millar a punk.
    Crane said Millar needed the receipt his ex-wife was given when she left the property at the police station to retrieve the gun and other property.
Receipt in hand, Millar picked up his goods several days later, Crane said.
    Millar later tried to file a complaint with Manalapan police, since the incident occurred at the shopping center in Manalapan. Mattox said that because he was a witness, he advised Millar to file his complaint with the Sheriff’s Office. Mattox would not comment further on the incident.
    Millar was a councilman for four years and mayor for almost two. He resigned in December 2010 after the state ethics commission fined him $3,000 for trying to to influence West Palm Beach officers after he was tossed out of a strip club.