No end in sight as people march on Town Hall

"It's the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there will be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result."

~Gandhi

On Monday, about 50 concerned citizens marched on Mooresville’s town hall in a unified expression of frustration over the town’s handling of suspended police chief John Crone and his Cops for Kids program.

Crone was suspended with pay pending the results of various investigations – the completion of which, a month after being launched, is nowhere in sight.

In a statement to the press on July 8, Mayor Bill Thunberg said that “the town board … is adamant that … this matter (be) resolved in a timely fashion to preserve the public trust.”

But it appears that “timely fashion” is relative.

In his statement, released four weeks ago today, Thunberg said that Interim Town Manager Erskine Smith “is ordering an external audit be conducted of the Cops for Kids program.”

But as of late last week, Town Finance Director Maia Setzer said that the town’s first financial investigation, or audit, “is being conducted by Carolina Financial Investigations” but that the second auditing company “has not yet been contracted as I have been out of the office this week.”

Thunberg also stated in his July 8 statement: “The interim town manager is ordering an inventory of the police evidence room to be conducted to ensure that its integrity is uncompromised.”

That inventory – headed up by the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) and town staffers – commenced this past weekend … one full month after Thunberg said it was being ordered and a month after Crone was placed on paid leave.

Thunberg’s statement also said that Smith “is initiating a complete internal investigation conducted by an independent outside party.”

Last week, Town Attorney Steve Gambill said that the town’s investigation, being conducted by former FBI agent Ken Andrews, is ongoing.

Separately, Iredell County District Attorney Garry Frank has requested an outside investigation by the SBI. Gambill said late last week that he does not know “the schedule of the SBI’s investigation.”

The N.C. Secretary of State’s investigation into Cops for Kids’ charitable solicitation license is also ongoing. The office sent a letter to Crone on July 8, which stated: “At the present time, this office can only inform the public of the unlicensed status of your organization.”

It goes on to state: “If you feel your organization qualifies for one (or more) of the listed exemptions (to the licensing requirements), please submit a specific exemption request containing documentation to support the exemption.”

Crone responded in writing on July 17. He said: “I … applied for a non-profit corporation status and a tax-exempt status through Ben Thomas, a local attorney who had agreed to do this for free. I don’t remember why we never attained either of these steps and neither did anyone else. I continued to collect the money from the annual golf tournaments and wrote checks to benefit the purpose of Cops for Kids.”

Crone told the Secretary of State’s Office that he “was not aware of the need to attain a Charitable Solicitation License in addition to trying to attain the status of being nonprofit and/or tax exempt.”

He stated that he didn’t know until July 3 of this year – the day before the Cops for Kids story broke in the Mooresville Tribune and the Report – “that we had actually attained the non-profit organization status.”

“At this time,” Crone said, “I have no idea whether we operated as part of the Town government, as an individual discretionary fund or as a non-profit corporation unbeknown to us.”

Crone goes on, however, to state that he believes the Cops for Kids program would qualify for up to two exemptions to the license requirements.

The first exemption he believes the program would meet is “Solicitation of charitable contributions by the federal, state or local government or any of their agencies.” Crone said: “We believed we operated as part of the police department of the Town of Mooresville."

Crone said if that particular exemption doesn’t apply, then he believes this one would: “Any person who receives less than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) in contributions in any calendar year and does not provide compensation to any officer, trustee, organizer, incorporator, fundraiser, or solicitor.” Said Crone: “No one in our organization is compensated and we don’t receive more that (sic) $25,000 a year in contributions.

“If we are mistaken,” Crone concluded, “please let me know and we will do what we need to do to correct this.”

What the Secretary of State’s investigation will determine – and when it will conclude its probe – is anyone’s guess. But it appears that Cops for Kids wouldn’t qualify for exemption under either of the provisions that Crone offered.

“Any person who receives less than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) in contributions in any calendar year and does not provide compensation to any officer, trustee, organizer, incorporator, fundraiser, or solicitor.”

Cops for Kids raised $24,920 during its 2007 golf tournament alone. That figure does not include any other contributions made to the organization in that year. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to determine how many other contributions were made to Cops for Kids in 2007 due to shoddy record keeping.

Though Crone stated that “no one in our organization is compensated,” that’s not entirely accurate. The Town of Mooresville compensated police officers, through salaries, who participated in fundraising efforts for Cops for Kids on town time.

That leads us to the next possible exemption, which states that organizations that operate as part of the government could be exempt from the licensing requirements.

“Solicitation of charitable contributions by the federal, state or local government or any of their agencies.”

Did Cops for Kids operate as part of the Town of Mooresville government? Solicitors were paid police officers. Additionally, Cops for Kids has made many “reimbursements” to the Town of Mooresville, indicating that tax dollars were somehow transferred to Cops for Kids over the years. For example, according to Crone’s balance sheet, Cops for Kids reimbursed the Town of Mooresville:

• $2,302.08 in August 2005. The only detail offered: “reimburse Atlanta trip.”
• $8,860.04 in June 2006 for an unspecified reason. Just one month before, Cops for Kids had reimbursed the town $3,305 in golf tournament fees for the organization’s annual fundraiser.
• $1,406.89 in July 2007 for “Lodging in D.C.”

But at the same time, non-profit corporations such as Cops for Kids cannot be a part of the government. So if Cops for Kids was operated in some way by the Town of Mooresville, it appears the Secretary of State’s investigation has opened yet another can of worms in this story, leaving us once again with far more questions than answers.