Correction: An earlier version of this story referred to the Overland Park FOP incorrectly as a police union. Though some FOPs function as unions, Overland Park’s does not.
Where exactly the criminal investigation into alleged mishandling and misappropriation of Overland Park Police Officers Foundation money stands remains largely unknown.
But now the leadership of the Overland Park police organization, which alerted local prosecutors to possible improprieties in the first place, wants a resolution.
Nearly a year and a half after the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office started looking into the matter, four Overland Park Police Department members who formerly led the nonprofit remain on paid leave.
The investigation started after the Overland Park Fraternal Order of Police flagged concerns about the foundation’s former leadership’s disbursement of funds.
When new leadership took over the foundation, they ordered an audit. The new directors decided to turn over the audit to District Attorney Steve Howe’s office to investigate further.
Where do things stand?
As of this week, Howe’s office hasn’t filed any charges in connection to the investigation, nor has he announced a decision not to charge.
Melody Webb, a spokesperson for the District Attorney’s office, declined to comment on the investigation but did confirm in an email to the Post that the “investigation is ongoing.”
The nonprofit foundation, which served at one point as the “charitable arm” of the Overland Park Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 21, was suspended last year.
Overland Park FOP wants a decision
In a news release sent out last week, the Overland Park Fraternal Order of Police called on the DA to make a decision about whether to file charges.
“We are anxious for a charging decision to be made so the Foundation can resume operations and begin to rebuild public trust in our Foundation,” Overland Park FOP president Dianna Johnson said in the statement, noting the mission of the foundation. “It’s imperative we are operational again soon.”
Johnson declined to comment further, directing the Post to Vanessa Riebli, an attorney with Leawood-based law firm Bath & Edmonds. Riebli also declined to comment.
The charity was supposed to support families of officers killed, injured
According to federal tax documents — known as 990 forms — filed on behalf of the Overland Park Police Officers Foundation in 2016, the nonprofit was formed “to assist law enforcement officers and their families in financial distress following catastrophic injury or death.”
That document also says the organization will pursue “charitable outreach to the community” and “educational opportunities.”
Tim Tinnin, Brandon Faber, Bradley Heater and Rachel Scattergood are all listed as officers for the foundation on tax forms filed between 2016 and 2020.
Faber, Tinnin and Scattergood are ranked as sergeants in the Overland Park Police Department. Heater is a patrol officer.
Employee records obtained by the Post indicate all four remain on leave, effective May 6, 2022.
Charity Navigator, a website that rates nonprofits to help donors decide where to put their money, gave the foundation a score of 14% and a zero-star rating for IRS filing year 2016. It advised potential donors to “proceed with caution” when giving to the Overland Park Police Officers Foundation.
Telemarketer kept much of the money raised for foundation
For multiple years, the Overland Park Police Officers Foundation also worked with an out-of-state telemarketing firm called Outreach Marketing to collect funds.
That organization, based in Arizona, raised more than $1.2 million for the foundation between 2017 and 2020, according to publicly available 990 tax forms.
Those same forms report that Outreach Marketing kept roughly 74% of the money raised on behalf of the foundation, turning over a collective $331,000 for all four years.
The news release from the Overland Park FOP lodge says that the DA’s investigation is “separate from the issues raised regarding Outreach Marketing.”
Looking back: 4 Overland Park officers on leave amid investigation into spending at police charity
