LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – At least one current and two former Louisville Metro Police officers are under federal investigation for alleged abuse of overtime funds, according to police records and sources with knowledge of the probe.
The three officers were featured in a WDRB News investigation last November that described how several officers worked up to 21-hour days, every day for weeks or months, including weekends, and racked up enormous amounts of overtime hours.
Louisville Metro Police Chief Steve Conrad has said that there were “some abuses” by officers of $1.2 million in overtime funds the city gave police in December 2016 to boost patrols in high-crime areas.
Former Sgt. Brian Stanfield, former Det. Todd Roadhouse and current narcotics detective Mark Final have all been under federal investigation for several months.
Conrad said he learned of the alleged abuse from the WDRB story and in August acknowledged there was an ongoing criminal investigation into officers “that were accused of obtaining overtime they didn’t actually work.”
Stanfield retired in January while he was under internal investigation for violating department policy by getting paid as a police officer while also working off-duty at UPS. But the case was closed "by exception" on Feb. 5 because of his retirement, according to a letter from Conrad.
“However, had he not retired, the investigation would have been ‘sustained’ and some type of disciplinary action would have been taken,” Conrad wrote.
A recent request for that internal investigation was denied by LMPD, because, “after further consultation with the U.S. Attorney’s office,” the records could be used “in a prospective law enforcement action.”
Attorneys for Stanfield, Final and Roadhouse all declined to comment. The officers are represented by attorneys Steve Schroering, Scott C. Cox and Brian Butler respectively.
Final is on regular duty, according to LMPD.
In September, Louisville Metro Council passed a resolution requesting an internal audit of LMPD overtime spending from December 2016 to August 2018.
“It’s the issue of accountability; it's the issue of who is going to hold the police department accountable and who is going to hold the chief accountable in particular,” said David James, president of the Metro Council.
Several police officers racked up enormous amounts of overtime hours in the weeks after the city gave police $1.2 million in December 2016 to boost patrols in an effort to reduce violent crime.
A WDRB News investigation found officers worked weeks or months without taking a day off -- including weekends -- logging what experts say would be either suspicious or dangerously long hours. Yet the department has no internal policies meant to force officers to rest or avoid marathon shifts.
Roadhouse, for example, worked more than 200 hours during the first two weeks of January 2017, including back-to-back 17-hour days. He followed that with a 21-hour day, according to his time slips. In all, his workload during that time yielded about 120 hours of overtime.
Roadhouse’s time slips, obtained under the Kentucky Open Records Act, show he worked 84 consecutive days from January 1 to March 25, logging, on average, about 12 hours a day.
Final worked every day in February 2017, including weekends, averaging about 12 hours a day, for the police department while also working a secondary job providing security at Male High School, according to records.
Through October of last year, Final earned more than $45,000 in overtime pay. So far this year he has about $18,000.
Stanfield jumped from $20,000 in overtime in 2014 to more than $48,000 in 2017
All three officers also worked secondary jobs.
In response to a series of emailed questions, LMPD spokesperson Jessie Halladay said "we cannot comment on any specifics or details of that investigation."
Roadhouse retired earlier this year. On Feb. 21, 2018 a supervisor wrote in an email “He turned everything in today and will not be back.”
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