Four former Overland Park Police officers accused of misusing charity funds have been ordered to pay monetary damages and civil penalties.
The civil court orders — filed between Feb. 6 and April 18 by three separate Johnson County District Court judges — stem from legal action initiated by the Kansas Attorney General’s Office against Brandon Faber, Bradley Heater, Rachel Scattergood and Tim Tinnin.
All four were once officers of the Overland Park Police Officers Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the Overland Park Fraternal Order of Police.
The former cops still formally deny the accusations against them and have not admitted guilt, but they have now agreed to pay back foundation funds they’re accused of misusing for personal benefit as well as cover investigative costs incurred by Attorney General Kris Kobach’s office and additional civil penalties.
Together the ex-officers have been ordered to pay a combined $27,540.81, according to court records.
Under the terms of the judgments, Faber, Heater, Scattergood and Tinnin are also all barred from serving on or with any other charitable organization in the state of Kansas.
They could face further civil penalties if they are found to be in violation of the terms of the judgements.
They are all expected to pay back the funds they are accused of misusing as monetary damages to the foundation (or another charity at the discretion of the attorney general’s office), as well as civil penalties and pay back investigative costs.
Here’s the breakdown:
- Heater, as of Feb. 6, owes $6,500; $4,000 of that is owed to the foundation, $2,000 is to be paid to the attorney general for investigative fees and $500 is to be paid in civil penalties. Heater will pay that in monthly installments of $180 for the next three years.
- Faber, as of March 4, owes $9,000; $4,000 of that is owed to the foundation, $2,000 is to be paid to the attorney general for investigative fees and $3,000 is to be paid in civil penalties. Faber will pay that in monthly installments of $250 for the next three years.
- Scattergood, as of March 7, owes $10,040.81; $6,540.81 of that is owed to the foundation, $2,000 is to be paid to the attorney general for investigative fees and $1,500 is to be paid in civil penalties.
- Tinnin, as of April 18, owes $2,000; $1,000 of that is owed to the foundation, $500 is to be paid to the attorney general for investigative fees and $500 is to be paid in civil penalties.
Four officers put on leave in 2022
In May 2022, the four police officers were put on paid administrative leave amid investigations into alleged criminal activity regarding misappropriation of funds from the Overland Park Police Officers Foundation, which all four had served as officers of between 2016 and 2021.
Before going on leave, Faber, Tinnin and Scattergood had achieved the rank of sergeant, while Heater was a patrol officer.
Officer Mike Mosher, who was killed in the line of duty in 2020, was also a founding board member of the charity and was listed as the director and president in 2016.
According to federal tax documents — known as 990 forms — filed on behalf of the 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.”
The investigation was launched after new leadership at the foundation and the FOP began asking questions about the charity’s finances. A subsequent audit turned up irregularities, and the findings were eventually turned over to the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office. The FOP eventually suspended the foundation’s operations.
District Attorney declined to charge the officers
More than a year after the investigation and audit, the FOP publicly started putting pressure on District Attorney Steve Howe to make a charging decision in the case.
In October 2023, Howe announced that he would not charge the officers and said he had turned the case over to the state attorney general’s office to continue a civil investigation under the Kansas Charitable Organizations and Solicitations Act.
The Overland Park FOP decried the DA’s choice not to charge the four officers. Subsequently, the organization released a partially redacted audit of the foundation for the years it was active and an audit summary completed by a forensic accounting firm.
The audit summary said that there was evidence that the four officers had committed criminal theft and claimed the foundation had submitted inaccurate tax documents to the IRS on multiple occasions.
The audit found that the four officers had reportedly used charity funds to pay for personal expenses, including Heater receiving a $500 gift card to Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City, Kansas, and Scattergood using $1,000 for a veterinary bill. Read more about the audit’s findings here.
Officers all resigned in 2023
The four officers remained on paid administrative leave as the city continued its internal investigation until they all resigned in December 2023.
Last year, the Gladstone, Missouri, Police Department announced that it had hired Scattergood, but a few days later, she was no longer employed by the department.
Tinnin was later hired to be a deputy at the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. The office defended the decision to hire him, claiming that Tinnin had accidentally violated the charity’s bylaws by having funds distributed to him on one occasion while he was a foundation officer.
Keep reading: 4 Overland Park police officers accused of misusing charity funds resign
