Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Judge denies bond for retired deputy charged with murder
SunSentinel.com/Rocky.
A retired Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputy will remain in jail while he’s prosecuted on a first-degree murder charge, a judge ruled Thursday.
Carlton Nebergall Jr., 61, had asked to be released to house arrest with a GPS ankle monitor until his case is resolved.
But Circuit Judge Glenn Kelley refused to set any conditions for Nebergall’s release from Palm Beach County Jail.
Nebergall, who retired in 2012 after 27 years as a road patrol deputy, is accused in the Feb. 19 shooting death of his son-in-law, outside Nebergall’s home in The Acreage.
Defense attorney Michael Salnick said the fatal shooting of Jacob Lodge, 36, was an act of self-defense and that Lodge was under a court order to stay away from Nebergall and his residence.
Salnick showed Kelley various letters of support from some of his client’s friends and relatives, citing Nebergall’s exemplary law enforcement career.
Retired Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Garten, who worked with Nebergall at the sheriff’s office, wrote that Nebergall “is not a threat to anyone.”
“Carl will stand trial and let the facts speak for him,” Garten noted.
Detectives say Lodge arrived at the home as planned to meet his estranged wife Katrina Nebergall to exchange clothing for their two young children. She was staying with the kids at her father’s home.
Witnesses say they saw Nebergall clutching a gun and walking toward Lodge’s car, and then firing at the man. Deputies found Lodge bleeding from a shot to his forehead.
“There was no indication that the victim had a weapon or was threatening Carlton before the shooting,” a detective wrote in an arrest report.
Last year, Lodge pleaded guilty to two counts of pawning Nebergall’s rings and tools as his own. He was serving a two-year probation sentence when he died.
Nebergall “had a reasonable belief and fear that Mr. Lodge was capable of hurting him or worse,” Salnick wrote in a motion seeking Nebergall’s release.
Nebergall’s son, Jason Nebergall, 39, also has been in Palm Beach County Jail since he was convicted July 13 of attempted sexual battery while in possession of a weapon. Nebergall was a road patrol deputy until his arrest in late 2016 and charged with attacking a 26-year-old woman while in uniform outside her home near Greenacres.
The younger Nebergall is scheduled to be sentenced by a different judge Wednesday on the felony charge, and a misdemeanor battery count. Then, Salnick will ask for him to be released to house arrest pending an appeal.