This is a developing story. The Post will update it as more information becomes available.
The Overland Park Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 21 is “disappointed” the four officers accused of misusing police charity funds won’t face criminal charges, according to a news release sent Tuesday.
The police organization, which is not formally affiliated with the Overland Park Police Department, called Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe’s conclusions “incorrect,” saying his findings in this investigation “should cause concern for all Johnson County charitable organizations and businesses.”
In the news release, the FOP also alluded to dissatisfaction with the length of time the investigation into the former leadership of the Overland Park Police Officers Foundation took. The FOP turned over an audit of the charity’s finances from Financial Forensics, Inc. to Howe’s office in mid-2022.
The Overland Park FOP said they believe the audit showed evidence of “former board members’ willful and repeated use of Foundation funds for their own personal use and self-interest.”
On Tuesday, the organization also released the 82-page audit as well as a summary of the forensic accountant’s summary.
JoCo DA didn’t charge the foundation’s former directors
- Last week, Howe announced that he would not charge the four Overland Park police officers who previously led the police charity. They are Sgt. Brandon Faber, Officer Brad Heater, Sgt. Rachel Scattergood and Sgt. Tim Tinnin.
- Howe did, however, detail how “from Day 1” the former leadership of the foundation disregarded the foundation’s original intent.
- He also said that the foundation’s leadership awarded themselves $15,500 during their tenure.
- “We’re not saying that the foundation board acted appropriately, but there’s a difference between acting appropriately and having criminal conduct,” Howe said last Tuesday.
- Before the announcement last week, the FOP publicly pressed the DA to make a decision.
Overland Park FOP says charity leaders violated public trust
The police officers charity was meant “to assist law enforcement officers and their families in financial distress following catastrophic injury or death,” according to federal tax documents filed in 2016. It could also support “charitable outreach to the community” and “educational opportunities.”
“These officers had a duty to the public, who donated to the Foundation, as well as to the officers these donations were intended to help during crisis,” the FOP’s statement says.
Tinnin, Faber, Heater and Scattergood are all listed as officers of the foundation on tax forms filed between 2016 and 2020. Officer Mike Mosher, who was killed in the line of duty in 2020, was also a founding board member of the charity and listed as the director and president in 2016.
The FOP alleges that the former board members’ lack of meeting records as well as the destruction of digital documents are evidence of “a clear intent to coverup any wrongdoing.”
“As police officers, the current Foundation Board believes officers need to be held to a higher standard to ensure the public’s trust, especially in the current climate between police and the public they serve,” the FOP’s statement says.
What happens now?
- Howe said last week he believes the four officers did violate the Kansas Charitable Organizations and Solicitations Act.
- He said there were some “pretty obvious violations of that act.”
- The Kansas Attorney General’s office is investigating the officers’ “civil liability” under that law, Howe said.
- As of last Tuesday, the four officers were still on paid leave from the Overland Park Police Department, pending a city investigation into possible violations of city policies, Overland Park’s Communications Manager Meg Ralph said in an emailed statement.
- The foundation is also still suspended, the Overland Park FOP said, as it “works to guarantee the proper internal controls are in place.”
Keep reading: DA will not charge 4 Overland Park police officers for allegedly misusing charity funds
