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.