LMPD detective indicted for perjury, accused of giving false testimony about McDonald's employee charged with theft

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Louisville Metro Police detective has been indicted on perjury charges by a Jefferson County grand jury for knowingly giving false testimony after arresting a woman he believed stole from the McDonald's where she was employed.

The grand jury charged Detective John David Green with two counts of perjury in the first degree Thursday, according to a news release from Jefferson Commonwealth's Attorney Tom Wine. Prosecutors allege Green charged Shayla Simpson for theft in 2018 and then falsely testified there was surveillance video showing she stole from her employer — even though the evidence clearly showed she didn't.

"Once the case had been indicted and the surveillance video reviewed by the defense, it was obvious that a different employee had committed the theft," Wine said in the news release. "While Green believed he had charged the correct person, it is alleged that Green charged the employee without actually having watched the store surveillance video as he had testified and had he actually watched the video he would have known that he had charged the wrong person."

Prosecutors said Green gave false testimony during an October 2018 probable cause hearing in Jefferson District Court and during a November 2018 presentation to a Jefferson County grand jury, according to Wine's office. The detective "stated that he had watched hours of store surveillance video which showed that the person charged was responsible for the theft," the news release says.

Green faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and will be arraigned at 8:30 a.m. Monday, Jan. 25.

Simpson was initially charged in a criminal case in Jefferson Circuit Court, but the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office requested it be dismissed. Simpson's attorney, Bethanni Forbush-Moss, filed a motion telling Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Brian Edwards that Simpson was wrongfully accused and that surveillance video of the theft "clearly" showed another employee stole the money.

Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Jeff Cooke said a woman named Karen Hart, who was identified from store surveillance video, has been indicted in the case.

Attorneys for Simpson in 2019 filed a federal lawsuit naming Green, the city, former LMPD Chief Steve Conrad, former Metro Corrections Director Mark Bolton and LMPD Officer Payvand Rakhshan as defendants. In addition to wrongful arrest and incarceration, the lawsuit claims Green forged documents and told Simpson he would drop the case if she paid him $2,000, an offer she refused.

Simpson's lawsuit also claims Green told her employer — a McDonald's in the 2900 block of Breckenridge Lane — to fire her.

The lawsuit, which is pending, is seeking monetary damages and a jury trial, according to online court records.

LMPD has not yet released a statement regarding the charges against Green or the detective's employment status.

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