Suspended deputy didn’t ask man accused of killing his wife about his guns

When a Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy knocked on Nathan Gingles’ door to serve him with a restraining order, he didn’t ask Nathan whether he had guns on him, despite a judge ordering Nathan to surrender his weapons, body camera footage obtained by the Miami Herald shows.

On Jan. 6, Civil Division Deputy Joseph Sasso served Nathan with the restraining order at his apartment, just over five minutes away from his estranged wife Mary Gingles’ home. The weapons remained in Nathan’s possession. Sasso is suspended as the Broward Sheriff’s Office investigates at least seven other deputies for their handling of the case.

Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony slammed deputies for not collecting Nathan’s weapons and not seeking a judge’s order to temporarily seize the weapons. BSO could have done so under Florida’s red flag law, enacted after the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High mass shooting in Broward.

“When we rectify this situation I’m going to send the fear of God amongst this entire agency,” Tony said last week.

Weeks after the interaction, on Feb. 16, a Sig Sauer P320 semiautomatic handgun equipped with a silencer belonging to Nathan was used to kill Mary, her father David Ponzer and neighbor Andrew Ferrin, deputies say. Nathan, accused of the triple murder, has pleaded not guilty and is facing the death penalty.

During their three minute interaction, Nathan was friendly with Sasso and even fist-bumped the deputy. However, Nathan’s tone shifted — and he appeared bitter and infuriated — as he spoke about the domestic violence petition filed by Mary. 

READ MORE: Terrorized by her husband, she warned police he would kill her. They failed to stop him

In several court documents, Mary detailed how she feared that her husband was plotting to kill her. She told police about Nathan’s increasingly unhinged behavior, including putting a tracker on her car, breaking into her home wearing gloves, disabling the home’s security cameras and leaving behind a backpack containing suspected murder supplies.

‘...Here we are again’

When Nathan opened the door, Sasso remarked that Nathan was “ready to go,” according to the footage. Nathan was holding a pen and quickly handed over his driver’s license.

“You’ve done this before,” Sasso said.

“Once. It was enough,” Nathan responded. “But here we are again.”

Sasso then told Nathan about an upcoming Zoom hearing and urged him to attend. Nathan said he was familiar with Zoom hearings because he and Mary had been going through a divorce for a year.

“Again, with the restraining order, same as the last restraining order,” Sasso said before being interrupted by Nathan.

“No guns, no contacts, 500 feet or some s--- like that,” Nathan said, shaking his head.

“So you already know how it’s going to go,” Sasso replied. “You hit the nail on the head.” 

At this point of their interaction, Sasso repeats the conditions of the restraining order, the video shows. But Sasso didn’t ask Nathan whether or not he had weapons at his apartment. 

In the video, Nathan accused Mary of kidnapping Seraphine. He rolled his eyes and smirked as he eluded to how Mary had filed for a previous domestic violence restraining order. A judge granted that restraining order on Feb. 9, 2024, and Nathan’s weapons were seized that day by BSO.

“I didn’t do s--- to her,” Nathan said, laughing. He also accused Mary of having mental health and substance abuse issues:

“And I’m the one they f--- with.”

This story was originally published April 17, 2025 at 2:03 PM.

Grethel Aguila

Miami Herald

Grethel covers courts and the criminal justice system for the Miami Herald. She graduated from the University of Florida (Go Gators!), speaks Spanish and Arabic and loves animals, traveling, basketball and good storytelling. Grethel also attends law school part time.