Brandon Klaiber<\/a>, 41, was charged in April last year with two felony counts of offenses against intellectual property for allegedly providing Robert Eckley with tag vehicle numbers and driver\u2019s license information on certain individuals at Eckley\u2019s request. It\u2019s unclear whether this had any connection to Eckley\u2019s alleged attempt to bomb the Hard Rock.<\/p>\nEckley placed two homemade devices in a restroom at the Hard Rock on Sept. 29 and 30, 2024, according to prosecutors. He was facing charges of making, possessing, placing, or discharging a destructive device with intent to cause harm, but has since died in circumstances his lawyer described as unclear.<\/p>\n
Slap on the Wrist?<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, The Times has discovered that Klaiber has been entered into Florida\u2019s Pretrial Intervention (PTI) program, a prosecutor-run diversion scheme for nonviolent, first-time, or low-level offenders.<\/p>\n
Instead of going to trial, the defendant agrees to supervision and conditions. If they complete the program successfully, the charges are dropped. Conditions typically include a period of supervision, during which any violation, including a new arrest, can lead to the case being reinstated for prosecution.<\/p>\n
Risk to Public<\/p>\n
It remains unclear what motivated Eckley to plant the explosives, which police described as \u201ccrude concealed device[s] with firework components\u201d that were radio-controlled.<\/p>\n
An arrest warrant said one of the devices was placed near a gas line and that both were positioned in a way that, had they detonated, would have posed a risk of serious bodily injury to anyone nearby.<\/p>\n
Police later identified Eckley through surveillance footage and arrested him in late October. A search of his home turned up firearms, a stun gun, chemical grenades, and flashbang devices, investigators said.<\/p>\n
An examination of Eckley\u2019s phone revealed text message exchanges with Klaiber in which the officer provided the sensitive information.<\/p>\n
Old Friends<\/p>\n
St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway said last year that it was unclear whether Klaiber was aware of Eckley\u2019s alleged plans at the Hard Rock.<\/p>\n
Investigators said Klaiber first shared information with Eckley in June 2024, about three months before the incidents at the casino.<\/p>\n
Klaiber and Eckley were friends for more than 15 years, and sharing the information was \u201can ongoing thing,\u201d Holloway said.<\/p>\n
Klaiber has been on unpaid administrative leave since Dec. 3, 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Posted on: January 16, 2026, 10:47h.\u00a0 Last updated on: January 16, 2026, 11:14h. St. Petersburg officer entered diversion…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120781,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[60026,60523,60524,60525,60526,202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-120780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-brandon-klaiber","tag-casino-bomb-case","tag-hard-rock-casino-tampa","tag-police-database-misuse","tag-pretrial-intervention-florida","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Avatar](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/cropped-5-1-50x50.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Hard](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/cop-430x279.jpg\")
St Petersburg police officer Brandon Klaiber, left, is alleged to have shared restricted information with the late Bryan Eckley, right, who is accused of planting homemade explosive devices at the Hard Rock Tampa in September 2024. (Image: SPPD)<\/p>\n