They had their say ... now we have ours: "Citizens for Ethical Treatment of Others"

If a “politically connected” person commits a wrongdoing, is that person any less guilty than any other person who commits a wrongdoing?

To a group of citizens who describe themselves as having “various connections to (suspended Police Chief John) Crone via Rotary, church, Chamber, etc.” – and who signed a letter of support for Crone – the answer to that question is apparently “yes.” The letter, dated July 12 – only four days after Crone was suspended – was written to members of Mooresville’s town board by a group that coins itself “Citizens for Ethical Treatment of Others.” The group claims to “share Crone’s passion for Mooresville and express it via civic involvement and many by investing in the establishment of local businesses.” To view the letter, click on the documents below:






Ironically, the letter acknowledges Crone’s “lack of attention to recordkeeping,” calling it “unfortunate.” However, Crone’s friends apparently do not view the police chief’s “lack of attention to recordkeeping” as sufficient grounds for discipline or dismissal. Instead, they blame the Town of Mooresville, saying that since the town board never oversaw Cops for Kids, “by default” that made the fund “a discretionary account." And they have unilaterally decided to give Crone “enormous latitude in the use of all funds.”

Not only did the group attempt to deflect blame on the Town of Mooresville, however. It also went on to blame the media for exposing the facts surrounding Crone’s mishandling of the Cops for Kids funds. In fact, the “Citizens for Ethical Treatment of Others” characterized the media coverage as a “personal attack on (Crone’s) character.” The group also deflected blame on the Gatton Report and its readers, calling them “anonymous bloggers too cowardice to relinquish their names.”

But the group didn’t stop there. Clearly without reviewing a single financial record for Cops for Kids, the “Citizens for the Ethical Treatment of Others” still felt comfortable stating: “We’re confident Crone will be absolved of all allegations of impropriety” and that “many will owe him a sincere heartfelt apology.”

Several questions come to mind:

• What exactly leads the “Citizens for Ethical Treatment of Others” to believe that just because the town gave Crone minimal guidance, Crone could do whatever he wanted with the Cops for Kids money?


• In regard to the “Citizens for Ethical Treatment of Others” calling this blog and its readers “cowardice”: What is more cowardly – exposing a police chief for misappropriation of funds ... or signing a letter of support for him?


• And exactly what do the “Citizens for Ethical Treatment of Others” propose we will owe Crone an apology for? For exposing his poor record keeping? For showing how he withdrew thousands of dollars in cash out of his “charity fund” but provided little or no documentation for how it was spent? For alerting him that his own website stated that Cops for Kids is a charity for needy children and families when in fact it was being used as his personal “discretionary account”? For showing how the chief law enforcement officer of our town deposited cash from the police department’s evidence room into his “discretionary account”?

Perhaps most striking is the letter’s categorical declaration that “Nothing short of personal use of Cops for Kids proceeds will warrant reprimand or dismissal of Chief Crone.” Is it not “personal use” when Crone takes himself, his wife, and his daughter on expensive trips, including transportation, hotels, meals, and sightseeing fees?

The writer of the letter, and those who signed it, set a very low threshold for dismissal; yet even by their own standards, they should agree that Crone is already guilty. Why? Because of cash withdrawals. Either Crone produces proof that none of that cash was used for his “personal use,” or it must be presumed that it was. Why? Because he is the one who withdrew the cash. And to this date, we have yet to see exactly how Crone spent the thousands and thousands of dollars in cash that he withdrew from a charity fund.

Would the businessmen who signed this letter tolerate such behavior from an employee? Would Crone, a chief of police, buy his own explanations if he were interrogating a potential charity scam artist? Perhaps what this letter reveals is that maybe he would … if the suspect went to his church, or attended his Rotary Club, or was a member of the Chamber of Commerce.

But obviously, to these particular 21 people, there’s no interest in, or room for, the evidence. Since they are businessmen and members of various civic organizations, they seem to believe that their opinion is somehow more worthy of the town’s attention than that of “regular” citizens … that somehow their opinion “trumps,” or is superior to, any of the evidence. They also seem to suggest that because they know Crone – because he attends their Rotary meetings and their church – that somehow he is less likely to be guilty.

That is the kind of “good ol’ boy” network that will no longer be tolerated here. Highly qualified and top-notch town employees have been fired for much less. But apparently those employees weren’t in Rotary or didn’t go to the “right” churches and therefore weren’t deserving of “ethical treatment.”

Perhaps the “Citizens for Ethical Treatment of Others” should consider changing its name to “Citizens for Preferential Treatment of Some.”

(While I welcome and encourage open dialogue about the issues brought to light in this letter, I urge anyone who plans to post a comment to be civil and not make unsubstantiated allegations against the people who signed the letter of support for Crone or against those who are able to civilly criticize the letter and its endorsers. If any unsubstantiated allegations are made, I will promptly remove them.)

The Report Spanks Frank Rader, At-Large Commissioner

Commissioner Frank Rader claims he’s the “numbers man.”

Wonder what he’d say the odds are that an elected official could effectively undermine the acting chief of police, interfere with an ongoing criminal investigation and violate the town charter and state law … all at the same time?

Perhaps Commissioner Rader can help us with this equation:

The Town of Mooresville has placed its police chief, John Crone, on paid suspension, pending the results of a criminal investigation by the State Bureau of Investigation into Crone’s handling of his Cops for Kids organization. The town has also launched an internal personnel investigation of Crone as well as external audits of the Cops for Kids fund. Separately, the N.C. Secretary of State is investigating Cops for Kids’ charitable solicitation license, and the jury’s still out on whether the Internal Revenue Service will be looking into why Crone apparently never paid taxes on Cops for Kids income.

Yet beginning the middle of last week, Rader took it upon himself – apparently without the knowledge or consent of fellow commissioners – to make presentations to police officers during staff meetings at the police department.

Despite the fact that the investigations – presumably aimed at explaining irregularities in Crone’s Cops for Kids records and determining whether any criminal activity has occurred – are ongoing, Rader told police personnel that he is inclined to believe Crone’s version of the story (which, as evidenced by Crone’s own interviews with television news stations, has changed as quickly as the wind). Rader also alluded to the officers that they could write letters of support for Crone, as long as the letters are written on personal time, using personal resources. (See “Free Speech or Speech Under Duress?”) He also read excerpts from an anonymous letter that was sent to Crone before the Cops for Kids story broke. Rader also saw fit to distribute a scanned copy of that anonymous letter to members of the media last week. He calls it outrageous. Here it is:


But while Rader felt compelled to distribute the “outrageous” letter to officers and the media, he apparently did not feel compelled to circulate this:


This is a deposit slip showing a $361 deposit made two months ago from the police department evidence room into Crone’s Cops for Kids bank account – a violation of state law and police procedures.

Nor did Rader circulate this:



The first document is Crone’s personal accounting of Cops for Kids finances. It shows that at the end of May, Crone had recorded a balance of $2,830 in a single bank account. The second document is the May 2008 Cops for Kids bank statement. It shows that as of May 22, 2008, while Crone had recorded a balance of $2,830 in the Cops for Kids’ single account, the bank showed that the organization had $20,151 combined in two separate accounts.

Nor is Rader circulating this:


These invoices show that in 2006 and 2007, approximately $1,900 in Cops for Kids money was spent to pay for the police department’s employee Christmas banquet, which is beyond the scope of the narrow Cops for Kids mission that Crone and Erskine Smith are now saying governed the organization.

Is the anonymous letter that was sent to Crone angry? Yes. Does it accuse Crone of illegal and unethical behavior? Absolutely. But you decide which is more outrageous: The letter itself, or the fact that Rader is circulating it while ignoring the evidence that is the basis of the ongoing investigations into Crone and Cops for Kids.

Does the “numbers man” approve of financial records that show different balances? Does the “numbers man” approve of transferring money from the evidence room into a personal slush fund? Does the “numbers man” approve of using many hundreds of dollars earmarked for children to pay for the police department's holiday banquets? Does the “numbers man” approve of cash withdrawals for thousands and thousands of dollars for no documented reason, as regularly occurred from the Cops for Kids accounts? Does the “numbers man” approve of keeping hundreds of dollars in cash in a plastic baggie in a public folder, as was discovered while members of the public reviewed the Cops for Kids records?

Where was the “numbers man” – the commissioner who claims to go through the town budget with a "fine-tooth comb" – when Crone and Interim Town Manager Erskine Smith slipped in a $20,000 transfer of taxpayer dollars to Cops for Kids for the current fiscal year? Even after it was discovered that Cops for Kids was an incorporated entity, Rader continued to champion behind the scenes for the “absorption” of Cops for Kids into the town’s general fund. The problem with that: Incorporated entities cannot be “absorbed” by the government.

Commissioner Chris Carney, responding to Report questions on Monday, said while the investigation is ongoing, the police department “is a place where an elected official does not belong.”

“I would not be doing that,” Carney said, referring to Rader’s presentations to police officers. “That’s why we encouraged investigators to come in. We are not serving as jury in this process. We shouldn’t be even rendering an opinion. We should be encouraging the facts to come out and let them prove guilt or innocence. We should only be making sure our town manager is doing everything to protect the integrity of the process and the confidence of our citizens.”

Carney and Commissioner Miles Atkins agreed that Rader was not acting on behalf of the town board. Atkins said Rader’s presentations at the police department “is all news to me.”

Commissioners Thurman Houston, Mac Herring and Mitch Abraham did not respond.

Mayor Bill Thunberg also did not respond to Report questions. However, he said in a television news broadcast that aired on News 14 Carolina on July 8: “We’ll go where the facts take us.” On behalf of the town board, he said, “In the final analysis, it’s the town manager’s responsibility with regards to personnel and handling those personnel kinds of decisions. It’s our responsibility to be sure the public trust is maintained.”

Rader responded to the Report’s questions on Tuesday morning, stating in an e-mail: “Not available. Response will be delayed until July 28. Vacation. This is form reply. Due to service area send/receive uncertain.”

Town Attorney Steve Gambill said the town charter and state statutes “explain why the Town Board does not get involved with personnel decisions” other than those that affect the town attorney and town manager.

Gambill said Section 5.5 of the town charter and N.C. General Statute 160A-148 define the powers and duties of the town manager and state that the town manager is responsible for the administration of all the town’s affairs.

Rader’s presentations to police officers last week were inappropriate not only because he acted outside of the town charter and state statutes, but because his actions could lead directly to destabilizing the police department by outright undermining what the acting chief of police had specifically instructed his officers to do – and not to do – while the investigations into the suspended police chief are ongoing.

In an e-mail to town administration on July 11, Interim Police Chief Carl Robbins said he had instructed all police personnel “not to comment on Crone’s disciplinary status or the investigations.”

Robbins told the officers “it was their choice if they wanted to contact (Crone).”

During the weekend that followed Robbins’ e-mail to town administration, six officers, all under the same captain, and a civilian staff member wrote letters of support for Crone to the town board. The very day after Robbins acknowledged that the letters were written in violation of the town’s personnel policy since they were written while on duty and using town resources, a defiant Rader – in his “Rader-At-Large” e-mail – reproduced all the letters of support. Yet he failed to acknowledge that they violated policy and the direct orders of the acting police chief.

Robbins had told officers “not to speculate or engage in discussions with the public about the allegations since we need the facts” and added: “We need to give the investigators time to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation.”

Thorough and impartial? Rader didn’t get the memo.

One is left wondering whether Rader would have reproduced letters that are critical of Crone. One must wonder if he suggested to the officers during his “presentations” that they could also write letters in support of the investigations launched by the town that Rader ostensibly represents ... or if the officers would even feel comfortable writing such letters. One must also wonder whose interest Rader is trying to protect: the town’s or the suspended police chief’s?

Perhaps those officers who didn’t write letters in support of Crone or the investigations are the ones who follow the orders of their chief. Perhaps they’re the ones who believe in the integrity of an impartial investigation, untainted by town personnel and officials.

It appears that impartiality and the integrity of the investigations may not be interests shared by Rader, who’s already on the record, casting his lot with a suspended town employee who appears to be guilty of at least poor record-keeping, violating town financial policies, and misleading the public and, at worst, criminal behavior.

Rader calls himself the “numbers man,” but something isn’t adding up.

Cops for Kids: two organizations, two different messages

As we continue to scrutinize Mooresville’s Cops for Kids, we can better understand just how improperly our organization was run by Police Chief John Crone by looking at how a similar organization operates. The comparison speaks volumes.

To disadvantaged children living in and around California’s Lake Elsinore Valley, Santa Claus wears a badge and carries a gun.

About 1,000 children who may have otherwise woken up to no presents under a Christmas tree last year stormed the Diamond minor-league baseball stadium in Lake Elsinore, California, where “the entire third base concourse was full of toys,” said Jason Brown, a member of the Cops for Kids board of directors.

He said that each child was able to choose two new toys that were either donated or purchased from Cops for Kids funds, which are raised by annual fundraisers and contributions from corporate sponsors, businesses and individuals. Santa Claus visited the children at the Stadium, and a local photographer was on hand, snapping complimentary photos of nearly 300 families with the jolly old elf. The sheriff’s department Explorers volunteered at the event, which Brown said ran plentiful of Santa’s favorite snack: cookies.

California’s Cops for Kids Christmas event hasn’t always been held at the Diamond, Brown said. Instead, in past years, Santa’s “sleigh and reindeer” was a caravan of patrol cars from the Lake Elsinore Police Department and Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, delivering Christmas gifts to the area’s disadvantaged children and elderly shut-ins.

But last Christmas, when requests for assistance doubled that of previous years, Cops for Kids had to find a more efficient way to serve the children, Brown said. “It’s a great program we have here,” he added.

The Cops for Kids program in California was created in 1995 by two sheriff’s deputies “who saw a need to help children at Christmas time,” states the Cops for Kids, Inc. website. The officers, while on routine patrol during the holiday season, would hand out gifts to disadvantaged children. (It was this story from the California organization’s website that Mooresville’s Cops for Kids copied, almost verbatim, the alleged story of its founding.)

Thirteen years later, Cops for Kids has grown into a year-round program that assists children, families and senior citizens in need of emergency funding for transportation to school or work, temporary shelters, clothing, and education expenses.

Cops for Kids “works directly with the school districts” for referrals of children to the program, Brown said. The Cops for Kids website includes a referral form, and people “can come in anytime” to the police station to refer someone to the program or request assistance themselves, Brown said.

He said that Cops for Kids – which is a 501(c)(3) – reviews each and every referral, conducts interviews and checks income “to make sure it’s not a bogus request.” The program has one paid employee – its executive director. All other helpers, including the involved officers, volunteer their time.

In addition to helping out with emergency funding and spreading holiday cheer to area children in need, Cops for Kids hosts Bingo games with seniors and holds a Christmas luncheon with those who are living out their days in retirement communities.

This past Christmas, Cops for Kids volunteers, along with sheriff’s deputies, sheriff’s department Explorers and members of a nearby high school choir ,“visited many of the valley’s senior homes,” reads the Cops for Kids website. “We went inside each home, as many as 20 of us brought Christmas gifts and cheer and sang Christmas carols.

“Thanks to the choir members and their awesome teacher … we actually sounded pretty good,” the website quips. “Cops for Kids volunteers and Sheriff's deputies are not necessarily known for their singing voices!”

California’s Cops for Kids has a simple mission: “to ensure all children, regardless of circumstances, are provided the basic necessities that all children should enjoy” and “to provide senior citizen outreach and assistance based on the individual needs of life.” It is a mission the California organization lives up to.

Compare that to the Mooresville Police Department’s Cops for Kids mission. Until a few weeks ago, the overall mission of our Cops for Kids program – as presented on the police department’s website – was verbatim (minus one sentence) that of the California Cops for Kids program. (See http://thegattonreport.blogspot.com/2008/06/cops-for-kids-still-more-questions-than.html). Under the standard used by the California Cops for Kids, the Mooresville version of the organization did virtually nothing in furtherance of the mission that was publicly presented via the Internet as its mission.

When confronted about that, Chief Crone removed the Cops for Kids page from the website and stated that neither he nor his two majors “have knowledge of approving this web page.”

“We are not incorporated, nor have we ever been, nor have we advertised that we are a 501C(3) charity,” Crone stated. “The Mooresville Police did not start their Cops for Kids until 1997 and no one is paid a salary. At one time we looked into applying for a 501C3 designation but we changed our mind and just left it under the police department.”

But if Cops for Kids was never intended to be a charity, what exactly was it supposed to be? What was its mission?

Since 2001, Cops for Kids has spent a majority of its “outreach” funds – raised through individual and business contributions, as well as an annual golf tournament – not to benefit underprivileged children in Mooresville, but to send the Mayor’s Youth Council and the Police Explorers on all-expenses paid trips to New York City; Washington D.C.; Pennsylvania; Pigeon Forge, Tenn. and Atlanta.

Mooresville’s Cops for Kids was supposed to be treating the Police Explorers to a 9-day trip to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon this month, but according to Interim Police Chief Carl Robbins, that trip has been cancelled.

Crone has called the Cops for Kids trips “educational” and “learning experiences.”

Interim Town Manager Erskine Smith, answering questions on Crone’s behalf recently, said the purpose of Cops for Kids is not to assist underprivileged or disadvantaged children, as presented to the public on the police department’s website, but to “benefit the youth of the community and build relationships between the youth and police department.”

If that’s true, then the message that Cops for Kids is sending to the youth of our community is a troubling one at best: that to be worthy of building a relationship with our police – to be worthy of “benefiting” in our community – one must either be interested in politics (Mayor’s Youth Council) or in law enforcement (Police Explorers).

Such a message contradicts the original stated purpose of Cops for Kids and what our community has been led to believe the program stood for. Of a sampling of contributors contacted recently by the Report, most said that when they donated to this year’s Cops for Kids golf tournament, they thought their money would go to assist underprivileged children in the Mooresville community. And almost every contributor said they planned to write off their donation as a tax deduction because they thought Cops for Kids was a registered charity.

But they can’t write it off, and it isn’t a charity. Instead, Cops for Kids is a fund to send the Mayor’s Youth Council and Police Explorers on trips.

How are those children selected? “There is an application process handled through the high schools” for the Mayor’s Youth Council, said Mayor Bill Thunberg. When asked who makes the final decision of members, he said: “I think the council votes and elects officers too.”

Robbins said the Police Explorers program “is open to both males and females between the ages of 14 and 21” and uses an application process. “Their school work and any disciplinary issues are taken into consideration,” Robbins said, adding that the Explorers group “is limited to 25 active members.”

In California, the Explorers volunteer at Cops for Kids events. In Mooresville, the Explorers – along with the Mayor’s Youth Council – are the beneficiaries of Cops for Kids.

In California, needy children are given brighter Christmases. In Mooresville, politically connected children are given all-expenses-paid, out-of-state vacations with their friends.

In California, police officers volunteer their time to help with Cops for Kids … driving their patrol cars around the community one evening out of the year, for instance, to take gifts to disadvantaged children. In Mooresville, officers and their wives “chaperone” the all-expenses-paid vacations for the Mayor’s Youth Council and the Police Explorers.

The trips aren’t cheap. Cops for Kids spent $3,250 just to charter a bus to take the two groups – consisting of 22 students, including the police chief’s daughter and the former mayor’s granddaughter, along with a whopping 14 chaperones (seven officers and their spouses, including Crone and his wife) – to Washington D.C. for two days last year.

It’s troubling to many people who donated to Cops for Kids that their contributions were used so carelessly. What’s heartbreaking is to consider the number of children in our community who could have and should have benefited from those dollars but weren’t able to because influential families wanted to go on vacation, eat at seafood buffets and attend music concerts, baseball games and amusement parks.

In California, a photographer provides cost-free pictures with Santa to disadvantaged children. In Mooresville, a digital camera captures a group of girls around the “Hershey’s chocolate” characters at the Hershey, PA amusement park.

In California, police officers intervene early with at-risk children who may eventually develop disdain for law enforcement. In Mooresville, our police chief and interim town manager send the message to our youth that the only children worth reaching out to are the very ones whose parents are already connected … the kids who aren’t likely to cause too much “trouble” … and even if they do, the cozy relationships created with the police chief may mean that their misdeeds will go “overlooked.”

That is the message we’re sending to the youth of our community. And as long as that’s the case, we’ll continue to get what we’re asking for.

Cary's town manager no longer a candidate in Mooresville

Click here for the Mooresville Tribune's updated story:

http://mooresvilletribune.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=MOT/MGArticle/MOT_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173355906416

Town Manager Search: Is Cary's town manager in? Was he ever?

The Mooresville Tribune says: http://mooresvilletribune.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=MOT/MGArticle/MOT_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173355906416

However, the Cary News says: http://www.carynews.com/front/story/9625.html

Hmmm.

Free Speech or Speech Under Duress?

Free speech is completely different than speech under duress.

Unfortunately, we’re left wondering which was exercised when six officers and one dispatcher wrote letters to elected officials on Saturday and Sunday in support of Chief John Crone, who is suspended with pay pending the results of investigations into the way he handled the police department’s Cops for Kids program.

Mooresville Police Capt. Frank Falzone, along with five of his squad members and one dispatcher on his same shift, wrote the letters to commissioners over the weekend. It appears the officers, on town time and using town resources, quite possibly wrote the letters at the suggestion of their immediate supervisor, Falzone.

“We are concerned that our lack of or inability to publicly voice our opinions, for fear that we may cause additional controversy and complicate your efforts, may be misconstrued as a lack of support for Chief Crone,” Falzone wrote in his e-mail on Saturday. “We have concluded that notifying you by email is the best alternative in accomplishing our goal, without further obscuring the issue at hand.”

Continued Falzone: “I would like to reaffirm and emphasize my support for Chief Crone, and unless proven otherwise, firmly believe in his leadership, skills, and abilities.”

Falzone’s letter was the first of seven – out of 59 total police personnel – to be sent to town commissioners. By the next evening, five of Falzone’s squad members and the dispatcher had also submitted letters to town board members.

“Chief Crone has tried to show his love of children by his work with the children/teenagers in the community,” said the dispatcher. “I feel that he is unfairly being accused of things that people do not have the whole picture or information about.”

The dispatcher is the only police department employee who mentioned the facts surrounding Crone’s suspension. “As for the money situation,” the dispatcher said, “I am sure that even if receipts are not located for each and every dime, that he spent the money for something to do with the children he was working with.”

A police officer who said he has worked with Crone since Crone was hired as chief in December 1998 urged commissioners to “support Chief Crone during these trying times for our department and our town.” He said that Crone “has always treated me with respect and dignity” and that “I have always tried to give him that same courtesy.”

Another officer who said he has worked with Crone for more than seven years told elected officials: “I’ve never known (Crone) to be dishonest about anything going on at the department. I’ve always been treated with fairness, respect and honesty … all traits he demands from his officers.

“In summary,” the e-mail read, “I support Chief Crone as he goes through this difficult time.”

Another officer stated that he was also writing to express support for Crone. “Unless shown otherwise,” he stated in his e-mail to commissioners, “I will continue to support Chief Crone during this difficult time, and only hope that this matter will be resolved as soon as possible.”

In a memo-style letter with the subject titled “Letter of Support,” one officer stated that “Chief Crone is an extraordinarily hard worker, a responsible person, and he is an asset to the Police Department, Community and the Town of Mooresville as well.”

The final officer to write commissioners on Sunday said that he has worked with Crone “for many years.”

“This e-mail is not to say that I think the Chief is perfect,” he stated, “but I can honestly say that I am a better officer because of the years I have worked under Chief Crone's command.”

“I hope that you haven't misunderstood the silence from officers to mean that we do not support the chief,” stated the officer. “The vast majority of officers do support him. The turn over rate of officers at the police department is more that just numbers and with each officer leaving, there is a reason.

“Again, I fully support the Chief and hope that this will soon be over and we can get Chief Crone back to work where he should be.”

He ended his letter by thanking the commissioners for their time and “for allowing me to work for the Town of Mooresville Police Department, which I thoroughly enjoy, and for your support for the police department.”

Since each of the officers – with the exception of the dispatcher – work under Falzone, it is impossible to know which ones voluntarily wrote letters in support of Crone and which ones did so because they felt their boss had suggested that they do it.

What is clear is that at least one member of that squad who was on duty this past weekend did not write a letter to commissioners – along with more than 50 other people employed by the police department.

Did Falzone order his squad members to write the letters in support of Crone? Did he suggest it? Did he consider, when making such a suggestion, that his squad members may take his suggestion to be, in fact, an order? Did he consider that some officers might not want to write such letters and by not participating could therefore eventually become targeted for ill treatment by other officers, higher ranking officials or Crone himself should he return? Did Falzone write his letter with intentions of swaying the opinions of elected officials, who must wait until the investigations’ results before casting judgment?

Unfortunately, we don’t have answers to those questions. Falzone couldn’t be reached for comment yesterday.

What we do know is that the officers violated town policy by writing the letters because they wrote them using town resources and while on duty. All the letters were sent from the employees’ town e-mail accounts. The police department’s personnel policy states that “members shall not engage in political activity on duty, or when acting in an official capacity, or when in uniform, except to vote.”

The policy also states: “Members shall not interfere with cases being handled by … other government agencies unless: A.) Ordered to intervene by a supervisor; or B.) The intervening member believes, beyond a reasonable doubt, that injustice would result from failure to take action; or C.) Such intervention is required as a result of supervisory or command responsibilities.”

Maj. Carl Robbins, who is serving as interim chief of police in Crone’s absence, said today that the police department’s personnel policy “does address these type activities. I will gather the facts and then handle it as a personnel matter,” he said.

But really, a violation of the personnel policy should be the least of our worries. I am a staunch supporter of every person’s right to free speech, and I am elated when I see people embrace and exercise that Constitutional right, even if I disagree with what they say. Am I disappointed that the police department employees violated the personnel policy? Absolutely. But there’s a mitigating factor here: Their boss introduced to them the idea of writing the letters. What effect did that have on the officers? How voluntary were the letters really? Was it proper for a commanding officer to put his subordinates in a position where they might have felt uncomfortable not participating?

The fundamental issue here lies within the question of whether those particular officers practiced free speech … or if their speech was less free than some officers hoped it would appear to be.

And how about the officers who couldn’t in clear conscience write a letter of support, whether they don’t support Crone or they simply didn’t want to violate the personnel policy? What will this mean for them? Will they be punished for not participating?

The mere presence of these questions is reason enough why no one in the police department should have suggested officers write letters in support of the suspended chief.

UPDATE: Cops for Kids investigations

The Town of Mooresville has asked Kenneth J. Andrews, a retired polygraph specialist with the FBI, to conduct the internal investigation into Police Chief John Crone’s handling of the police department’s Cops for Kids program.

Andrews, who over a 22-year career with the FBI worked in the bureau’s Minneapolis, Cleveland, and Charlotte field offices, has lived in Denver, N.C. since 2002.

For background information on Ken Andrews, click here: http://marketcenter.findlaw.com/scripts/display_profile.pl?id=117465

Meanwhile, 22nd Prosecutorial District Attorney Garry Frank was expected to contact the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) last Wednesday to launch the external investigation into Cops for Kids, and the SBI has apparently since been in contact with Maj. Carl Robbins, who is serving as interim police chief while Crone is suspended with pay pending the investigations’ results.

At the same time, the town’s finance department, as of Friday, is looking for two different forensic accounting specialists to conduct the audit of Cops for Kids. The town as of Friday was still awaiting information from Cops for Kids’ bank accounts to submit to those accounting firms once they’ve been selected.

It is unclear when any of the investigations will officially begin, but the town maintains they should begin soon.

The town is also expected to delay an evidence-room inventory until after the SBI has been in contact about “proper procedure.”

At the Police Department, Robbins told town staffers in an e-mail on Friday that he has personally spoken with every police department employee except those who were on vacation or in school. Everyone was told that Crone has been placed on paid administrative leave and that Robbins was appointed acting chief. “I told them I had no idea if or when (Crone) would be able to return,” Robbins wrote in the e-mail.

He said that he instructed all police personnel to direct any media questions to Town Attorney Steve Gambill and not to comment on Crone’s disciplinary status or the investigations.

Robbins briefly explained the scope of the dual investigations: “One will probe into the administrative side and will be conducted by an independent investigator and the other by the (SBI) into any possible criminal wrongdoing,” Robbins stated in the e-mail. “The Cops for Kids financial records and the evidence room are focal points of the investigation.”

He told police staff that “there is no firm timetable for either (investigation)” but that they should “be prepared for weeks or months.”

Robbins stated that “everyone should be cooperative, honest and open,” and he “reminded everyone to accommodate the investigators and staff from the Town to make their efforts as efficient as possible.

“I told everyone to stay focused on our mission because that is a constant during uncertain times,” Robbins continued in the e-mail. “Through it all, we must remember to provide a safe community for citizens and visitors alike.

“Each employee was reminded not to speculate or engage in discussions with the public about the allegations since we need the facts,” Robbins stated. “We also need to give the investigators time to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation.”

Robbins said that he also told the officers and civilian staff that “it was their choice if they wanted to contact the Chief. I also reminded them that the Chief had been responsible for many improvements in our Department including our building and we should keep him and his family in our thoughts and prayers no matter what one’s opinion may be.

“Since we are under increased scrutiny,” Robbins continued, “everyone was asked to go the extra mile in dealing with anyone they had contact with during their shifts (treat them like you want your mother treated under similar circumstances).

“In closing,” Robbins said, “I took time to tell them how proud I was of them and that I would be depending on them and I valued their opinions and input.”

Crone's Contradictions

Mooresville Police Chief John Crone has contradicted himself repeatedly to the media since landing in the spotlight over his control of the police department’s Cops for Kids organization.

On July 8, Crone told WCNC: “No money out of Cops for Kids was ever misspent, never paid to any employee, and it was never used for anything that wasn’t its intended purpose. I know I have records for every check written and every receipt I’ve ever received.”

According to WSOC on July 7: “Crone admits he hasn’t done a great job of record keeping but adamantly denies any wrongdoing.” The same news station reported on July 8 that, “Crone admitted he’s bad at record keeping.”

FOX Charlotte reported on July 8: “Chief John Crone says there isn’t a penny misspent, but he admits he might not have every record of where the money went.”

To a WBTV reporter on July 9, Crone said: “Maybe there are a couple things you know, a check or something that maybe we should have handled a different way, but it’s not anything where the money was stolen.”

Crone told a News 14 Carolina reporter on July 7: “I was never able to balance it because I’ve never had all the statements. So there are some things that don’t match, but until we get an audit done we can’t get those answers.”

So which is it? Is he a good record keeper or a bad record keeper? Are the records complete or not?

***

Responding to Tribune questions about whether Cops for Kids pays taxes – and, if so, why the tax documents were not included in the public records that the Tribune and Report reviewed on June 30 – Crone and Smith stated in a joint July 3 e-mail: “The organization has not paid taxes.”

But when asked by a WBTV reporter on July 9 if he had ever paid taxes, Crone responded: “I paid taxes myself on the interest on the checking account and savings account.”

So which is it? Has he paid taxes or not?

***

“The first notice I got of any of this was on an anonymous blog that’s on the Internet,” Crone told a WBTV reporter on July 9. “They were starting to play games and bash me.”

Interestingly, however, Crone told a WCNC reporter that same day: “There was an anonymous letter on my desk saying that I had used some of the ‘Cops for Kids’ money to buy playground equipment for my church.” Two days earlier, on July 7, WSOC reported: "Crone said he believes the writer of an anonymous letter to him is also fueling the fire among town leaders." The WSOC reporter said on July 8 that “anonymous sources have accused (Crone) of mishandling money for Cops for Kids and spending cash on things not consistent with the organization’s mission…”

WSOC reported on July 9 that Crone “believes a former disgruntled employee may be behind the accusations.”

So which is it? Who’s behind the Cops for Kids "accusations?" "Anonymous sources," "an anonymous letter, "an anonymous blog" or a "former disgruntled employee?"

***

Cops for Kids, according to Crone, was launched in 1997 and he “inherited it” after becoming chief of police in December 1998. At least two years ago, the Cops for Kids web page was launched on the Mooresville Police Department’s website; however, it was removed soon after the Report began questioning Crone about Cops for Kids.

The website stated: “Since 1995, Cops for Kids, Inc. has assisted children, seniors, and families that find themselves in unfortunate situations. Through generous donations from local business sponsors and individuals in our community, Cops for Kids has enabled children and seniors to enjoy some of the basic necessities that were not available to them through other agencies.

"Whether it be transportation costs to school or work, a temporary place to stay for an entire homeless family, youth activity funding, clothing, or some assistance for educational costs, Cops for Kids is ready to help.

"Cops for Kids was created to help children at Christmas time. Giving a few disadvantaged children Christmas presents while on routine neighborhood patrols during the holidays has grown into a local organization that now offers those in need a host of services during the holiday season and throughout the year.

"With low overhead and virtually no red tape, Cops for Kids can respond immediately to children, seniors, and families in need. We are often the local organization called to help because of our ability to quickly and respectfully assist others with emergency funding from utility payments to temporary housing."

When confronted by the Report about why the text on the Mooresville Cops for Kids site was almost verbatim that on the website of a Cops for Kids organization in California, Crone removed the web page from the Mooresville site and sent the Report the following statement:

“I don’t know how the web page for Cops 4 Kids Inc. got on our website. My guess is that someone within the Town Government (possibly even the police department) accidentally thought that our ‘Cops for Kids’ was part of the Cops 4 Kids Inc. The WEB page is being removed, and I apologize for the confusion.

“We are not incorporated, nor have we ever been, nor have we advertised that we are a 501C(3) charity.

“Neither I or either of my two majors have knowledge of approving this web page. There are many Cops 4 Kids organizations on the web, some are incorporated, and I guess someone with good intentions got them mixed up. The Mooresville Police did not start their Cops for Kids until 1997 and no one is paid a salary. At one time we looked into applying for a 501C3 designation but we changed our mind and just left it under the police department.”

On behalf of Cops for Kids in 2001, Crone completed an application and wrote a check to the U.S. Treasury to obtain tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(3). It wasn’t until last week that he said he learned that Cops for Kids’ legal counsel never mailed the check and application. So Crone must have believed until last week that Cops for Kids was a charity because, as far as he knew, the paperwork that he had filled out – and the check that he had written to the U.S. Treasury – had been sent and Cops for Kids’ charity status had been achieved.

But now, Crone is telling the media that the purpose of Cops for Kids was never to be a charity. Instead, he says that the program was, according to a WCNC reporter, “intended to foster relations between officers and kids through different activities,” and “part of the mission” of Cops for Kids is to provide “educational field trips and a Christmas party with Santa.”

A WSOC reporter stated that the Cops for Kids mission is “to educate young people and help bridge the gap between them and officers.”

News 14 Carolina calls Cops for Kids a “mentoring program” and pointed out on July 8 that Cops for Kids’ “travel trips usually consisted of the Law Enforcement Explorer post and the Mayor’s Youth Council.”

So which is it? Was Cops for Kids intended to help children, seniors and families in need, or was it intended to send the Mayor's Youth Council and Police Explorers on pricey jaunts around the country? Was Cops for Kids intended to be a charity, or was it never intended to be a charity? If it was never supposed to be a charity, why was Crone claiming last week that the charitable paperwork was supposed to have been sent in seven years ago?

***

As an aside -- but still on the subject of contradictions -- WSOC’s Ron Magnuson, reporting from the parking lot of the Mooresville Police Department on Tuesday, stated: “It’s almost fitting: It’s a gloomy day outside. Officers tell me it’s an equally gloomy day inside the Mooresville Police Department as officers are right now learning that their chief is suspended under investigation for possibly mishandling money …

“As you know,” Magnuson continued, “police are a very tight-knit family, so everybody is taking this very hard.”

Magnuson and I must be talking to different people. What I'm hearing is that morale is up and that Maj. Carl Robbins has facilitated a seamless transition this week.

SBI coming back to Mooresville, town investigation to begin soon

The State Bureau of Investigation is coming back to Mooresville.

22nd Prosecutorial District Attorney Garry Frank said Wednesday that he has been contacted by the Town of Mooresville and that he is “taking steps to initiate an investigation” into Police Chief John Crone’s Cops for Kids organization.

Town Attorney Steve Gambill said that Frank will contact the SBI. While Gambill said he “cannot speak to when an investigation by the SBI will begin or how long it will take,” the town’s internal investigation will begin “as soon as possible.”

Gambill said that Town Finance Director Maia Setzer is “working on the external audit regarding Cops for Kids.” He said he does not know if a firm has yet been retained.

This makes the second time in about three years that the SBI has been called to Mooresville. Town commissioners in May 2005 requested an SBI investigation after an independent audit of the golf course pro shop turned up nearly $9,300 in missing golf merchandise over an 8-month period during fiscal year 2005. During a follow-up inventory count, $4,545 worth of that merchandise was “discovered.” Though the DA’s office received the SBI results in September 2005, the findings have never been released to the public or town officials.

Then in March 2006, federal agents visited Mooresville Town Hall as part of an undisclosed FBI investigation connected to the town’s controversial 2004 hiring of engineering firm CH2M Hill for the town’s wastewater treatment plant expansion. The results of that investigation – if it has been completed – have also not been released.

N.C. Secretary of State investigating Cops for Kids' charitable solicitation license

The N.C. Secretary of State’s Office said today that it is investigating an inquiry into Cops for Kids’ “charitable solicitation license.”

George Jeter, director of communications with the Secretary of State, did not elaborate on details but said the investigation is what triggered the incorporated status of Cops for Kids – which was incorporated as a non-profit entity in 2001 – to be listed on the Secretary of State’s website for the first time ever last week.

According to the Secretary of State’s website, any corporation or entity that solicits charitable contributions must apply for and obtain a license every year. Some organizations are exempt from the license, but it is unclear if Cops for Kids meets the exemption requirements.

Cops for Kids, though it was incoporated in 2001, was not listed on the Secretary of State’s website until Thursday of last week. Before it was listed, Crone said that Cops for Kids was "not incorporated, nor have we ever been."

As it turns out, he was wrong.

Jeter said today that Cops for Kids has in fact been incorporated since 2001 but that it wasn’t listed on the Secretary of State’s website until last week because of a “clerical error.”

He said the investigation into Cops for Kids' charitable solicitation license is what triggered the information showing up on the webpage on Thursday. “On July 2, our CSL (charitable solicitations unit) got an inquiry about this group, and when that investigator accessed the database, she committed it to the website, which meant, bam! It was on the website, we believe, for the first time in seven years,” Jeter said.

“The paperwork was all done in 2001, and there was what appears to have been a clerical error that did not commit it to the website database,” he said, adding, however, that “all the legal paperwork has been here the whole time. We do not believe that it was ever on the website until this month.”

Citing a disclaimer on the Secretary of State’s webpage, Jeter said: “While the website tries to be up-to-date, it’s not the legal version of things."

The Cops for Kids paperwork to secure incorporated status, he said, "was here the whole time, and all the fees were paid.”

Other notes of interest:

• Maj. Carl Robbins has been appointed interim/acting police chief while John Crone is suspended with pay pending the results of investigations into Cops for Kids.
• The town board approved the additional $12.5 million to MI-Connection at yesterday's town board meeting, with Commissioners Miles Atkins and Chris Carney opposing.
  

Police Chief Suspended

The Report has just learned that Police Chief John Crone has been suspended. More details as they become available ...

Town launches investigation and audit of Cops for Kids

After a nearly five-hour long closed session, the Town of Mooresville called for internal and external investigations into its police department's Cops for Kids organization. Additionally, Police Chief John Crone has been removed from "any association" with the organization and is no longer supervising the police department's evidence room.

Mayor Bill Thunberg, reading from a prepared statement after closed session at Monday night's town board meeting, said that Interim Town Manager Erskine Smith has initiated certain steps, “including but not limited to” the following:

· Directed Crone to remove himself from association with Cops for Kids, including any financial transactions;
· Cops for Kids records will continue to be secured at Town Hall;
· The evidence room will be under the sole supervision of Maj. Carl Robbins;
· An external audit of Cops for Kids will be conducted;
· An inventory will be conducted of the police department evidence room “to ensure its integrity is uncompromised”;
· An external investigation by the District Attorney’s office will be requested; and
· The town will launch a “complete internal investigation by an independent, outside party."

Additionally, Thunberg stated, the process will be supervised by Town Finance Director Maia Setzer, and all future questions about the matter will be referred to Town Attorney Steve Gambill.

Crone was not at Monday night's meeting.

More tomorrow …

A Simple Question

In 2002, it was discovered that $4 was missing from the evidence room of the Mooresville Police Department. Almost immediately, the State Bureau of Investigation was called in to investigate, and the evidence custodian was suspended without pay pending the completion of the investigation.

Mooresville Police Chief John Crone was quoted in local newspapers, saying: “We just feel that it’s better to get the SBI in right away. We just want to make sure it’s done by the book.”

The Mooresville Tribune reported that Crone believed that “during the investigation, the employee needs to be suspended to prevent him from carrying out the duties of his position and possibly further breaching the public trust.” The Charlotte Observer reported that Crone believed “it is routine to ask another agency to investigate anytime a police employee is suspected of wrongdoing.”

There is now evidence that Crone improperly transferred $361 in “loose change” from the evidence room to the bank accounts of Cops for Kids, a fund over which he has exercised exclusive control and that has paid for expenditures personally benefiting him.

Just hours before tonight’s town board meeting, we have a simple question: If the absence of $4 from the evidence room justifies calling the SBI and suspending the suspect in the theft, why are the same steps not justified when there is evidence that $361 was wrongly removed from the evidence room?

Listen for an answer -- or non-answer -- to this question at tonight's town board meeting. It starts at 6 p.m. in Town Hall.

Chief spending holiday weekend at PD reviewing Cops for Kids records

One comment posted yesterday asked if Police Chief John Crone and Interim Town Manager Erskine Smith would continue to have access to their offices over the long holiday weekend.

I decided it was worth checking out.

I drove through the Mooresville Police Department parking lot at around 1 p.m. today, and Crone’s patrol car was in fact there.

When he was reached by phone in his office at 1:35 p.m. today and asked why he was in the police department over a holiday weekend, he stated that he was “trying to prepare a presentation for the town board on Cops for Kids.”

When asked if the Cops for Kids records are still at the police department, as opposed to the finance department where they were supposed to be moved after the Tribune and Report completed their review of them on Monday, Crone stated: “Are the Cops for Kids documents here with me? I have copies of most of the documents that you all looked through last week.”

He said that the original documents themselves, however, have been moved to the finance department.

What about the town's $20,000 to Cops for Kids?

What will come of Interim Town Manager Erskine Smith’s recommendation to give Cops for Kids $20,000 from the Town of Mooresville’s general fund in the 2008-09 fiscal year?

Smith recommended the $20,000 line-item expenditure, according to the approved 2008-09 budget. Town Finance Director Maia Setzer said this week that the $20,000 would only be distributed from funds deposited with the town from Cops for Kids.

But Smith told commissioners in an e-mail yesterday that his recommendation at Monday night’s town board meeting will be that the town “not appropriates [sic] any money to COPS for Kids proposed under the current budget,” after all.

Interestingly, Commissioner Miles Atkins three days earlier had said in an e-mail to Smith and fellow commissioners that he would be recommending that very action at the town board meeting: “We need to get to the bottom of this and make sure we get some answers and there is accountability,” Atkins said. “I will be recommending we pull the ($20,000) from the budget and not use taxpayer dollars for CFK (Cops for Kids).”

Smith responded to Atkins and the other commissioners about 10 minutes later. In his e-mail, he did not indicate that he planned to pursue such a recommendation. “You can certainly make that budget amendment as new business in the July agenda,” Smith stated in the e-mail. “Maia can prepare the budget amendment. The CFK revenues and expenditures were being handled by the Police Department. The recommendation this year from the Finance Department was to NOT have the Police manage this anymore. That is why there is a $20,000 revenue and a $20,000 expenditure line item.” But then Smith went on to say: “I’m not sure what the questions are, but having it under the Town’s finance department certainly provides better accountability.”

When asked by the Report to recall specifically when the finance department made the recommendation to "not have the police manage" the Cops for Kids fund any longer – and to produce any memo, e-mail or other supporting documentation that proves it – Smith responded by e-mail: “I’m not sure it was specifically stated by anyone in Finance but likely it was discussed during early Budget talks back in January or February. There is no memo or other written documentation…”

Cops’ charity: Questions, but few answers (Part 1 of 2)

As of May 22, the Mooresville Police Department’s “Cops for Kids” account had a balance of $2,830. Or, it had $20,151. It all depends on which set of records are being reviewed.

On May 13, 2008, there was $361 in cash deposited in the Cops for Kids account. The source: “Loose change from the evidence room.”

And in February 2006, someone who received a Cops for Kids check in the amount of $4,354 tried to cash that check. But it bounced because there was only $726 in the account, according to the Cops for Kids bank records.

Cops for Kids – an organization operated out of the office of Police Chief John Crone that has presented itself to the community as a charity that assists needy children, seniors and families – has functioned under the chief since 1998 without any oversight from the Town of Mooresville or independent financial controls.

Cops for Kids has taken in tens of thousands of dollars over the years from its annual golf tournament and contributions from individuals and area businesses.

But only a small fraction of Cops for Kids money is devoted to expenses seemingly consistent with the organization’s stated purpose, according to a review of the organization’s financial records by the Tribune and the Gatton Report, an independent blog that covers political issues in Mooresville and southern Iredell County.

Crone has been asked to appear before the town board on Monday to answer questions about Cops for Kids and its financial records which, as of this week, were being kept under lock and key in Crone’s office.

The review of Cops for Kids records found that, as of Thursday morning, the organization was never formally organized under state law or federal tax regulations. It also never underwent annual financial audits, never filed taxes, and was controlled exclusively by Crone without oversight by a board of directors or the town’s finance office.

The financial records raise a number of questions. Cops for Kids appears to be operating off of an often-conflicting set of two separate financial statements: One, the monthly statements from the credit union where the organization’s two accounts are held, and the other a balance sheet generated by Crone detailing expenditures and deposits.

The Tribune and the Gatton Report initiated their review of the organization after commissioners voted as part of the 2008-09 budget to absorb Cops for Kids into the town’s general fund. Consequently, as of July 1, the organization is subject to oversight and controls by the finance office.

No oversight or organization

An examination of Cops for Kids has to begin with a simple question: What is it?

That question has proven more difficult to answer than might be expected.

Until Monday, the organization’s Web page – a division of the Mooresville Police Department and the Town of Mooresville’s Web site – said that “with low overhead and virtually no red tape, Cops for Kids can respond immediately to children, seniors, and families in need.”

That Web page, however, was removed Monday afternoon after Crone was questioned about why the text on the site was a verbatim copy of the text on the site of a Lake Elsinore, Calif.-based organization also called Cops for Kids.

“I don’t know how the web page for Cops 4 Kids Inc. got on our website,” he said in an e-mail. “My guess is that someone within the Town Government (possibly even the police department) accidentally thought that our ‘Cops for Kids’ was part of the Cops 4 Kids Inc. The Web page is being removed, and I apologize for the confusion. Neither I or either of my two majors have knowledge of approving this web page.”

According to the North Carolina Secretary of State’s Web site as of Thursday morning, Crone has never incorporated Cops for Kids. Neither has he secured the organization tax exempt status as a 501(c)3, or charity, from the Internal Revenue Service, despite holding an annual fundraiser and regularly accepting thousands of dollars in charitable donations from individuals and businesses.

Crone said in the Monday e-mail that Cops for Kids has never purported to be a charity. “We are not incorporated, nor have we ever been, nor have we advertised that we are a 501C charity,” he said. “At one time we looked into applying for a 501C3 designation but we changed our mind and just left it under the police department.”

Despite appearing to spend at least a portion of its money on charitable causes, as of Thursday morning, Cops for Kids also apparently had no literature about its mission, purpose, successes, or its distribution of money to provide to potential donors or needy families. It also provides no forms that needy families can fill out to request assistance; no board of directors to consult regarding the expenditure of the organization’s acquired funds; and no oversight, save that of Crone, whose name is the only one to appear on the organization’s bank statements.

On Thursday afternoon, Interim Town Manager Erskine Smith and Crone visited the Tribune office and said they had just received Cops for Kids “corporate documents.”

According to Tom Kelley, a professor at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law who specializes in non-profit law, "All of this does seem peculiar. Sounds as if they’re not actually a charity."

In contrast, the California-based Cops for Kids includes a host of information and resources, among them: the names of its officers and board of directors; a list of corporate sponsors; annual events; information about how to refer someone in need to the organization; and an application for those who are themselves seeking assistance. It is also listed with the IRS as a charity, registered as a business entity with the state and has filed annual financial reports with the IRS.

Not only has Crone not registered Cops for Kids with the IRS, apparently he has also not filed or paid its taxes. There were no tax filings in the records provided by the chief this week.

Town Hall does not take responsibility for the apparent failure to file and pay taxes. Mooresville’s Director of Finance and Administration, Maia Setzer, said Wednesday that none of Cops for Kids’ expenditures, decisions, or actions have fallen under the town’s purview. Prior to this fiscal year, said Setzer, Cops for Kids was responsible for its own finances and for filing and paying its own taxes.

Spending – on what?

Despite the fact that Cops for Kids has never been formally organized as a charity, it has accepted charitable donations and spent tens of thousands of dollars in such contributions in recent years. Virtually none of the expenses have met the Cops for Kids stated purpose, as described on the Cops for Kids Web page, to assist “children, seniors and families that find themselves in unfortunate situations” and to enable “children and seniors to enjoy some of the basic necessities that were not available to them through other agencies.”

However, two days after the Cops for Kids page was removed from the police department’s Web site, Interim Town Manager Erskine Smith disavowed the organization’s stated purpose. Instead, he said, “Cops for Kids is a program … to benefit the youth of the community that officers are involved in for fundraising and community events.

“The purpose of the Cops for Kids,” Smith added, “was to benefit the youth of the community and build a relationship between the youth and the police department.”

Under that standard, some of the Cops for Kids expenditures over the last eight years seem appropriate. Others are questionable. And still others seem to fall well outside the scope of the broader mission statement.

Among the expenditures that appear to fall within Smith’s mission statement:

• Two receipts from Wal-Mart in December 2004, totaling $429, for Christmas gifts for children on an angel tree. Maj. Carl Robbins, in handwritten notes accompanying the receipts, provided detailed explanations for the purchases, including what was bought and the age of the child for whom the purchases were made.
• Cops for Kids sponsors area softball and baseball teams, provides $100 a year for the non-profit “Basic Fundamentals” basketball camp, and pays $120 a year to sponsor two trophies for the Mooresville High School Blue Devils Marching Band Classic.
• Cops for Kids sinks thousands into its annual golf tournament fundraiser, including paying for the use of the Mooresville Municipal golf course; trophies and prizes; promotional tees and balls; and hamburgers and hotdogs.

Other expenditures could fall within the scope of Smith’s revised mission statement, but there is insufficient documentation to verify that the expenditures were proper:

• $305.39 spent during two trips to Old Navy in December 2001. The receipts do not note whom the clothing purchases benefited.
• In 2002, Cops for Kids paid $213 for four magnetic signs described on an invoice as “Police w/ Race City Logo.”
• Several receipts that lack explanation of the purpose of the purchase, including one to Wal-Mart in December 2003 for $791 for video games and unidentifiable items for unspecified recipients; $200 for candy in October 2003, which was detailed in Crone’s balance sheet as “candy for trip;” and an $353 Wal-Mart receipt in December 2006.

Still others seem to fall well outside even Smith’s broad definition of the Cops for Kids mission. Among them:

• Cops for Kids paid for 70 members of the “Mooresville Youth Advisory” to bowl at George Pappas’ Victory Lanes in September of last year. The total cost: $840.
• A petty cash receipt in September 2001 totaling $179. The explanation: “Petty cash maintained by chief.” The next entry in Crone’s balance sheet is a Sept. 17 withdrawal of $560, with no explanation.
• In 2005, Cops for Kids paid the way for 32 youth – 16 members of the mayor’s youth council and 16 police explorers – and 7 police officers and their spouses to travel to Atlanta. The cost to tour the CNN studio: $288. Cost of lodging: $2,302. Cost to tour the “World of Coca-cola”: $232. A day at Six Flags over Georgia amusement park: $1,419. And the cost to watch the Atlanta Braves play a game of baseball: $1,525. Then in 2007, Cops for Kids took 22 students from the mayor’s youth council and the explorers to Washington, D.C. The chartered bus alone cost $3,150. And in 2008, a weekend-long trip with the mayor’s youth council to New York cost $1,841 for airfare. Lodging for the 16 attendees was $1,233.

A pattern of irregularities

A pattern of irregularities emerges from a review of the Cops for Kids financial records. Perhaps the most glaring is that Crone’s balance sheet indicates that Cops for Kids has only one account, while the bank statements show it has two.

A second irregularity is the frequency with which cash is withdrawn from the Cops for Kids accounts and the handling of that cash without controls in place to track its use.

Cash advances purportedly used on trips funded by Cops for Kids were made on several occasions. These included $3,000 in May 2002, $5,000 in May 2004, $3,000 in June 2005 and $3,000 as recently as April of this year.

Crone’s balance sheet also reflects that, on some occasions, a portion of the money that went unspent on the trips was apparently re-deposited into the account. Due to a lack of full documentation, the exact amount of each of those re-deposits is unclear.

Other substantial cash withdrawals have also been made on several occasions unrelated to Cops for Kids trips. For example, on May 11, 2006, a cash withdrawal of $5,000 was made. On May 17, 2006, a deposit in the amount of $6,983 was made. That deposit was virtually the same as the amount of money collected at the annual golf tournament - $6,960 - and given to Crone on May 17 to deposit, according to Crone’s balance sheet. The $5,000 withdrawn on May 11 therefore remained unaccounted for, as Crone’s balance sheet reflects no cash expenditures from the time of the May 11 withdrawal until the present.

The next deposit was not made until six weeks later when, on June 29, 2006, $2,977 was deposited. Even if this represented a portion of the $5,000 withdrawn in early May – which is impossible to determine from the records because there is no explanation of the June 29 deposit provided - $2,000 of the amount withdrawn on May 11 remains unaccounted for.

Additionally, while the $5,000 withdrawal is recorded in the bank statement, it is not recorded on Crone’s balance sheet.

Other examples of cash being used came later in 2006 and again in 2007. In December of each year, Cops for Kids paid for the Mooresville Police Department’s holiday banquet for department employees.

According to an invoice, in 2006, Cops for Kids paid $1,203 to Tasteful Impressions for a 75-person buffet. Payment was made by a check for $600, supplemented by $663 in cash. The $600 check is recorded in the bank statement for that month and in Crone’s balance sheet, but the $663 in cash is not recorded in Crone’s balance sheet. The cash payment is simply noted on the Tasteful Impressions invoice. There is no indication in any of the records as to where the cash came from.

A similar situation arose in 2007. Cops for Kids once again paid for the annual holiday banquet for the police department. Payment of $683 was made: $500 in a check and $225 in cash. The records don’t explain the discrepancy between the amount due and the amount paid. As in 2006, there is no indication in the records stating where the cash came from.

It appears to be normal operating procedure for Cops for Kids to keep cash on hand. In September 2001, a withdrawal of $179 was made for the purpose of “petty cash maintained by Chief,” according to Crone’s balance sheet. Just days later, a $560 withdrawal was made and recorded on Crone’s balance sheet, with no explanation of what that money was used for.

And, while the Tribune and the Gatton Report were reviewing Cops for Kids financial records at the police department Monday, a plastic baggie containing $492 in cash fell out of a folder marked “misc.” Included in the folder were handwritten notes, none of which explained the cash.

Crone was not on hand during the examination of the records and had said earlier that Smith had instructed him not to answer questions from the media.

There is also the deposit of the loose change from the evidence room. On May 13, 2008, a deposit slip indicates that $361 was deposited into a Cops for Kids account. Noted on the deposit slip was the phrase: “loose change from evidence room.” In the upper left-hand corner of the deposit slip was written the word “Chief.” Although this deposit appears in the bank statement, it does not appear in Crone’s balance sheet.

Another apparent irregularity is that Cops for Kids frequently operates with a negative bank balance, according to Crone’s balance sheet. The balance sheet indicates that from May 2005 to May 2006, Cops for Kids never operated in the black.

During that time, Cops for Kids attempted to pass a check in the amount of $4,354 for which there were insufficient funds. The balance in the Cops for Kids account when the check was presented for payment was $726, according to bank records. There is no indication in the records as to who received the check and why it was not presented again for payment.

Cops for Kids’ bank balance rose into the black for a brief period in May and June of 2006 before reentering negative territory in late June 2006, where it remained until May of 2007, according to Crone’s balance sheet.

Also according to Crone’s balance sheet, the account then briefly rose again into positive territory for the last two weeks of May 2007 before reentering negative territory in early June 2007, where it has remained, as of June 16, 2008.

However, the Cops for Kids bank statements often reflect balances different than those recorded by Crone. For example, he recorded a negative balance as of June 28, 2006 of $426. The bank statements reflect a total of $16,226 in its accounts.

Likewise, Crone recorded a negative balance of $2,711 on June 28, 2007, while the bank statements show a balance of $13,008.

And as of May 22, 2008, Crone had recorded a balance of $2,830 and the bank statements had a balance of $20,151.

What’s next?

Commissioner Mac Herring has asked Crone to appear at Monday night’s town board meeting to discuss Cops for Kids.

“I have no problem funding this effort if it indeed serves the needs of our town as an outreach of the police department; however, I am not sure of what this program is … after reading Chief Crone’s e-mail … where he apologized for the website misinformation,” Herring said in a Monday e-mail to fellow commissioners and town staff. “I had looked at the site some time in the past and assumed it ran pretty much as the charity I had imagined it was.”

Commissioner Chris Carney declined to comment this week but left a voicemail stating that he’s on vacation at the beach. Commissioner Thurman Houston could not be reached for comment.

Mayor Bill Thunberg has not publicly commented. Neither Smith nor Crone has responded to a series of questions seeking clarification on the Cops for Kids organization.

Commissioners Mitch Abraham and Frank Rader withheld judgment on Cops for Kids until they receive more information. “(I) will need to see and hear items before reacting in a rash manner!!” Abraham said in an email to the Tribune.

Added Rader in an e-mail on Tuesday to fellow board members and town administrators: “Please, can we get some facts before we write resolutions and motions?”

Rader was responding in part to an e-mail sent on Monday by Commissioner Miles Atkins to the town board and Interim Town Manager Erskine Smith, stating that he would be recommending that any town funds earmarked for Cops for Kids be removed from the budget.

Included in the 2008-09 fiscal year budget is a $20,000 line item expenditure for Cops for Kids. Town Finance Director Maia Setzer said this week that the $20,000 would only be distributed from funds deposited with the town from Cops for Kids.

Smith, in an e-mail to commissioners on Tuesday, stated that in prior years, “Cops for Kids was run by the police department. Revenues and expenditures were made solely by the Cops for Kids account held by the police chief.”

Atkins responded: “So in essence, Cops for Kids has been a personal slush fund for Chief Crone for all this time with virtually no oversight ... Am I missing something?”

(Be sure to read: Seven years later, Cops for Kids turns up as a registered corporation (Part 2 of 2) )

***

The Mooresville Tribune -- and specifically Reporter Megan Pillow -- helped tremendously with this article. She met me on Monday at the police department and has been pouring over the Cops for Kids financial information alongside me all week. The Tribune will have a copy of this article in today's (July 4) edition.***

Seven years later, Cops for Kids turns up as a registered corporation (Part 2 of 2)

Last week, the N.C. Secretary of State’s web site had no record that Cops for Kids was ever incorporated. As far as the Secretary of State was concerned, Cops for Kids did not exist.

But by Thursday afternoon, several days after questions began to arise about the charity operated by Mooresville Police Chief John Crone, the Secretary of State’s Web site was now reporting that Cops for Kids was incorporated as a non-profit entity in June 2001.

All business entities incorporated or otherwise formally organized under state law are registered with the Secretary of State. The secretary’s web page includes a means by which business entities registered in North Carolina can be searched. Documents available through the web site for each registered entity typically include organizations’ articles of incorporation and annual reports.

On June 27 , Cops for Kids was not among the business entities listed on the Secretary of State’s Web site. Crone himself said in an email to the Gatton Report on June 30 that Cops for Kids was not incorporated and had never secured tax-exempt status as a charity under federal tax regulations. “We are not incorporated, nor have we ever been, nor have we advertised that we are a 501C charity,” Crone wrote in the e-mail. Click on the document below to see a larger version of the scanned June 27 print-out of the search for Cops for Kids on the N.C. Secretary of State's site:

However, Interim Town Manager Erskine Smith alerted town commissioners in an e-mail on Thursday that a search of the N.C. Secretary of State’s web site revealed that Cops for Kids had, in fact, incorporated as a non-profit entity in June 2001. “We have found that the Mooresville Cops for Kids is a non-profit corporation under the State of North Carolina,” he wrote to the commissioners. “It was incorporated by the State on June 29, 2001.”

A review of the Secretary of State’s web site on Thursday afternoon by the Tribune and Gatton Report found an entry for Cops for Kids that is not present on the June 27 print-out of organizations registered with the Secretary of State beginning with the word “cops.” Nor was such an entry present on the secretary’s web site as recently as the early part of this week, as it should have been if the organization had been incorporated in 2001.

On Thursday, however, when a search of all registered entities with “cops” as the first word in their names was conducted, the five organizations present on the June 27 print-out were still present. But so was a sixth entry that was not present on the June 27 list: Cops for Kids, Inc.
The new version of the Secretary of State’s web site states that Cops for Kids incorporated in June 2001, with John Crone as the organization’s registered agent. Here's a scanned copy of the July 3 search results:



While the web site appears to represent that Cops for Kids was incorporated in 2001, the page, as of mid-afternoon on Thursday, did not include any scanned versions of the documents typically available through the secretary of state’s web site, such as the articles of incorporation or the annual corporate reports. The page where such documents would typically be located was simply blank. But, by approximately 3:15 p.m. Thursday, articles of incorporation were posted on the secretary’s web site.

Local attorney Ben S. Thomas is listed on the articles of incorporation as the incorporator of the organization. Thomas said that he was the incorporator of the organization and that he contacted the Secretary of State on Thursday after hearing discussion in the community about the status of Cops for Kids and finding the organization was not listed on the secretary’s web site. “This is the first time in 20 years that I’ve ever seen that,” he said.

Certified articles of incorporation, which are returned to organizations by the secretary of state after incorporation is formalized, were not present in the Cops for Kids files made publicly available this week.

Also, there is no entry in the Cops for Kids’ financial records indicating that the required $60 payment was made to the Secretary of State in 2001 to cover the cost of incorporation. The secretary of state will typically reject articles of incorporation submitted without payment.
Crone could not be reached to explain why, as recently as the early part of this week, there was no record of Cops for Kids on the Secretary of State’s web site, nor why he previously said the organization was not incorporated.

George Jeter, director of communications with the Secretary of State, told the Tribune and Report on Thursday afternoon that he can’t explain why Cops for Kids was not listed earlier this week on the secretary’s web site but showed up later in the week. “It was clearly incorporated in 2001. I had them scan and put in the articles of incorporation. There’s no reason it wouldn’t have been up, not unless there was a ghost in the computer,” Jeter said.

In addition to the status of Cops for Kids as a business entity under state law, town officials are also revising their previous statements about the organization’s tax-exempt status. In an e-mail to the Tribune on Thursday afternoon, Smith stated that Cops for Kids “has not paid any taxes. The Chief has never represented that the organization was a 501(c)3.”

But later in the day, Smith said it was always the intention of Cops for Kids to file for tax-exempt status and that an oversight was responsible for the failure to secure the status. “The counsel for the corporation did not file the required paperwork to the IRS for a tax exempt status. (Chief Crone had signed the application and attached a check payable to the U.S. Treasury for the application fee.)” Smith said in an email.

A copy of the documents was not available by Thursday afternoon.

A search performed Thursday of the Internal Revenue Service’s list of registered 501(c)(3) charities still did not identify Mooresville’s Cops for Kids as a tax-exempt organization.

Be sure to read Part 1 of 2 Cops’ charity: Questions, but few answers (Part 1 of 2)

Cops for Kids' full financial review posts tonight

Tonight around midnight, two articles are scheduled to post on the Report. They are the result of a week-long financial investigation into the Mooresville Police Department's Cops for Kids organization.

Since Monday, the Mooresville Tribune and the Gatton Report have been working collaboratively to compile the comprehensive report about the organization's finances ... and to cover new developments along the way.

To read the full two-part review, be sure to check the blog later tonight or in the morning, or pick up a copy of tomorrow's Mooresville Tribune.

Early review points to Cops for Kids problems

We’re still sorting through the hundreds of pages of records retrieved yesterday from the police department’s Cops for Kids files. The work to fully analyze the data has just begun. But this much already seems apparent:

There were no financial controls regulating Cops for Kids. There was no town oversight, and no one making sure money was deposited and spent as it was supposed to be. So the accuracy and thoroughness of the record keeping is questionable at best.

That said, it appears that very little money from Cops for Kids has been spent since at least 2001 on needy children, seniors or families, which is the stated purpose of the organization. There are a couple of receipts in an 8-year period from grocery and retail stores, but many of them lack documentation of who the purchases benefited. There are plenty of records of payments to hotels, but none of them are in Mooresville or anywhere in the Lake Norman area. There are no records of payments to power companies or landlords, as one might expect to find in the financial records of an organization that claims to offer emergency assistance to people who, as explained by the Cops for Kids website, are in need of “basic necessities” as a result of “unfortunate circumstances.” (By the way, as of Monday afternoon, the Cops for Kids page has been removed from the police department’s website.)

Among the many documents that the Report obtained from Police Chief John Crone yesterday, there were no guidelines or rules governing how needy individuals and families can apply for assistance, nor any criteria to determine who is eligible to receive such assistance. There were no applications that could be filled out to request such assistance, nor any completed applications seeking such assistance. There were no materials — pamphlets, flyers, brochures, letters — to help publicize the assistance Cops for Kids purports to offer.

Also not present in the Cops for Kids files were articles of incorporation, by-laws, lists of officers or directors, meeting minutes, annual budgets, annual tax filings, or annual audits — the sorts of documents one would expect to find in the files of a legitimate charity.

What the records do show is that thousands of dollars in Cops for Kids money has been spent every year since 2001 to send members of two groups of children called the "mayor’s youth council" and the police "explorers" -- along with police and public officials and their wives -- to places such as New York City; Washington D.C.; Gatlinburg, TN; Pennsylvania; Niagara Falls; and Atlanta. (As an aside, I'm not sure at this time of the criteria for inclusion in the mayor's youth council or the explorers program, but I can tell you that included in the youth council are several privileged children who incidentally have attended several trips funded by Cops for Kids.)

Does that mean that Cops for Kids has not benefited children and youth in the community? Not at all. In fact, every year, Cops for Kids holds a “Breakfast with Santa” event for area children and hands out t-shirts, donuts and milk. Cops for Kids has also contributed $500 a year to the Rotary S.T.A.R.S. program for at-risk children in the Mooresville Graded School District; it has sponsored area baseball and softball teams and has donated $100 a year in recent years to a non-profit basketball camp. Cops for Kids has contributed money to Mooresville High School’s band boosters, it has donated $50 to Lake Norman Christian Outreach, and it has helped sponsor a “block party” hosted by Broad Street United Methodist Church.

But for the thousands of dollars that the organization brings in every year – it collected $24,920 from the 2007 golf tournament alone, in addition to thousands of dollars in individual and business donations – very little is given to underprivileged or needy children in the community, and a whole lot is put back into the annual golf tournament and the annual mayor’s youth council/explorers’ trips.

Take the time period from July 1, 2006 to June 30,2007, for example. According to a police department list of expenditures and revenue, $125 was paid to Wal-Mart in July for what appears to be a needy child, and $352.90 was spent to purchase items for needy children on an angel tree at Christmastime in 2006. Also, Cops for Kids paid $500 to the Rotary S.T.A.R.S. for at-risk students, and it paid $133.44 to host Breakfast with Santa for area children.

Then, consider the $3,250 that Cops for Kids paid just to charter a bus to take the mayor’s youth council and explorers – consisting of 22 students, including Crone’s daughter and the former mayor’s granddaughter, and 14 chaperones (seven p0lice officers and their spouses, including Crone and his wife) – to Washington D.C. from June 1-3. Cops for Kids also paid for 17 hotel rooms – nine doubles and eight kings – for the weekend, in addition to meals, a Washington Nationals baseball game, and various “sightseeing” visits, some of which included ticket costs.

The Mooresville Police Department’s Cops for Kids program, on its website, represented itself as a charity and solicited thousands of dollars in funds as such. But as of yesterday, the Cops for Kids webpage – which detailed the program’s intent to help children, seniors and families in need – was removed from the police department’s website. Shortly thereafter, Crone e-mailed the following statement to the Report:

“I don’t know how the web page for Cops 4 Kids Inc. got on our website. My guess is that someone within the Town Government (possibly even the police department) accidentally thought that our ‘Cops for Kids’ was part of the Cops 4 Kids Inc. The WEB page is being removed, and I apologize for the confusion.

“We are not incorporated, nor have we ever been, nor have we advertised that we are a 501C charity.

“Neither I or either of my two majors have knowledge of approving this web page. There are many Cops 4 Kids organizations on the web, some are incorporated, and I guess someone with good intentions got them mixed up. The Mooresville Police did not start their Cops for Kids until 1997 and no one is paid a salary. At one time we looked into applying for a 501C3 designation but we changed our mind and just left it under the police department.”

But even if Crone – in his 10 years as police chief – was not familiar with the police department’s website, and even if it was the police department’s intention all along to use Cops for Kids money primarily for jaunts for themselves and privileged children, we’re still left with the question of proper accounting.

Many of the receipts included in the Cops for Kids files did not document what they were for or who the purchases benefited, which would seem to be a violation of town policy. Another interesting discovery while sorting through the Cops for Kids files at the police department yesterday: A plastic baggie with $492.37 in cash in a folder titled “miscellaneous.” Though handwritten notes were in the folder, there was no clear explanation for the cash, and Crone had no explanation because he told us in another context yesterday that he had been advised to refer all questions to Erskine Smith.

We asked an expert to ring in on Cops for Kids’ lack of organizational documents and records to see if the concerns we have about Cops for Kids are misplaced. According to Tom Kelley, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law who specializes in non-profit-law, "All of this does seem peculiar. Sounds as if they’re not actually a charity."

The answer to the peculiarity that Kelley detects is that Cops for Kids has never really operated as the charity it held itself out to be. The town administration, including Erskine Smith, takes the stance that the Cops for Kids fund has always been Crone’s own "personal spending account." In recommending that Cops for Kids receive $20,000 in public funds in the 2008-09 town budget, Smith, knowing that Cops for Kids was used as the chief’s “personal spending account,” recommended that our tax dollars be put into a fund that is not subject to any financial controls or oversight -- a fund from which money has been doled out over the years at the sole discretion of the police chief, with no one checking behind him to make sure the money was being properly spent.

There is much more work to be done, but this much already seems clear: Cops for Kids, for a number of years, was presented to the public as a charitable organization that helped children, seniors and families in need, but in fact, the money collected by Cops for Kids was not used, at least substantially, for that purpose.

Additionally, Cops for Kids was operated for years — a time during which it took in and spent tens of thousands of dollars — without the most basic financial controls or any independent oversight, thereby eliminating the accountability necessary to operate government for the benefit of the people and to ensure town employees do not use their public positions for private gain.

As we continue to sift through the records, we’ll keep you updated on what we do — and do not — find.