for BigTrial.net
Those private 24/7 security details for top city officials and their significant others may be over, but questions remain about how the city handled at least $240,000 in expenses for those details.
Was it simply a double-standard for the folks at the top of the City Hall pay scale at the expense of the rest of us, or was it fraud?
"At the very least it's inappropriate because they [the VIPs] were treated differently than the people they represent," said one seasoned former prosecutor who preferred anonymity.
"And at most, they've committed a fraud because those funds were there to deal with issues caused by the protests, such as rioting, and looting," the seasoned former prosecutor said. Those funds were not intended to provide private police protection for top city officials "at the expense of the rest of the citizens whose lives and property were in danger."
A former federal prosecutor who also sought anonymity went a step further, saying it was doubtful that there was "a shred of evidence to support such protection." He wondered if all the officials who benefited from those 24/7 security details outside their homes had "received credible threats" to their safety.
"Secondly, disguising the payments is classic evidence of fraudulent conduct," the former federal prosecutor said. "Clearly a wrongful expenditure of public funds."
On Tuesday at 6 p.m., the city abruptly suspended the round-the-clock security details that they'd been providing VIPs for the previous 11 days. Those details involved the deployment of plainclothes detectives in unmarked cars working 8-hour shifts around the clock.
The honchos the cops were protecting included Deputy Mayor Rich Lazer, Deputy Mayor James Engler, Managing Director Brian Abernathy, Health Commissioner Thomas Farley, and Streets Commissioner Carlton Williams.
Other beneficiaries of the private security details included 16 of 17 City Council members, and Letitia Santarelli, who is Mayor Kenney's fiancee.
The estimated cost of the private security details: at least $240,000 in salaries, not counting overtime.
The bill for the private security was being listed as part of the police response to the protests and rioting so it would be paid for by the feds. The expenses for the details were listed by city officials in the Daily Attendance Records System under the guise of "Justice4Floyd," the code for police response to the protests.
But since the money wasn't being spent on police response to the riots, but rather on private security details, the city had a choice to make.
It could have taken the money for the private security details out of its own emergency funds. But trying to charge those expenses off to the feds as part of the official police response to the protests, rioting and looting may not be viewed favorably by the federal government.
Especially with Jim "Sanctuary City" Kenney as our mayor, who never misses an opportunity to trash President Trump, or thumb his nose at the feds. Could that posture come back to haunt our Progressive mayor?
Officials at several government agencies contacted by Big Trial were officially mum on the subject of whether the city's budget games were kosher.
Meanwhile, several paid mouthpieces at City Hall were either trying to distance themselves from the issue, or dodging questions that they didn't want to answer.
The fun started with a spokesperson for City Councilman Kenyatta Johnson, the leader of a majority of City Council members who's been outspoken about reforming the Police Department, as well as trimming its budget by $14 million.
Vince Thompson, Councilman Johnson's spokesperson, referred comment to Joe Grace, the spokesperson for City Council President Darrell Clarke. While police sources had said that the private security details had been requested by City Council members, Grace said that "City Council played no role on the security issue nor requested it."
He referred comment to Deana Gamble, a spokesperson for the mayor's press office,
"We can confirm that some city officials received additional personal protection," Gamble wrote in an email. "This was done out of an abundance of caution. Because this is a security matter, we are unable at this time to provide more specifics. We can say however that City Council did not proactively request this additional protection."
Well, at least they're all sticking to the same script.
Gamble also stated that the city's "Emergency Operations Center was deactivated on Tuesday at 6 p.m. because "it was no longer deemed necessary for the demonstration response. As a result, the additional personal protection was also no longer deemed necessary."
Cops, however, said the Big Trial story that outed the private security details resulted in "panicked" calls from supervisors canceling the details. But Gamble called the timing of the cancellation of the security details just "a coincidence." She also declined to comment on how much the details had cost, or discuss how many other officials may have benefitted from them.
Gamble also did not respond to questions about the mayor's fiancee, and why she has been the subject of security details, apparently for months, sources said. As part of that detail, the cops have been driving Santarelli back and forth to New Jersey, but Gamble did not respond to a request for comment on that situation as well.