Three LMPD Officers Charged In Overtime Case Sentenced

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Three Louisville Metropolitan Police Department (LMPD) officers charged with wire fraud for their part in a scheme to defraud the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the federal government, and their own department have been sentenced today, announced United States Attorney Russell Coleman.

All three were sentenced to 3 years’ probation with 8 months on curfew, required to pay the costs associated with that location monitoring curfew, ordered to pay restitution in their individual amounts, and ordered to pay a Special Assessment of $100.

“Louisville is well-served by the men and women of LMPD, whose culture is one of self-sacrifice, heroism, and deep conviction in regularly risking comfort and personal safety to protect our city,” stated U.S. Attorney Russell Coleman. “The theft by these three defendants was not borderline conduct, not merely knocking off early on a Friday afternoon; instead, falsification of arrest citations, lying, and failing to report for duty, once even documented sleeping on a couch instead of at work protecting our families. The United States Attorney’s Office and our partners the Jefferson Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office will give no quarter to those who tarnish the badge worn so honorable by so many within LMPD.”

“Those police officers who have abused the public trust for personal gain must answer to consequences just like the suspects they arrest,” stated Commonwealth’s Attorney Tom Wine. “Every day, our police do tireless, thankless work for their community. And trust between the public and those officers is absolutely vital. While this case is now resolved, our community should rest assured that the office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney and the office of the U.S. Attorney will always strive to protect that trust by enforcing the law--regardless of who has violated it.”

Defendants Brian Stanfield, Todd Roadhouse, and Mark Final took part in a scheme that ran from at least 2014 to in or about August 2017 to defraud LMPD, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and the federal government for monetary gains by submitting overtime requests for time they did not actually work on behalf of LMPD and failing to work during their assigned shifts. The three also submitted overtime requests claiming to have worked hours for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) on Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) matters. All three defendants waived Indictment by the grand jury and pleaded guilty to a felony Information before the Court in October 2019.

According to Sentencing Memoranda before the Court, to bolster and support their fraud, the defendants falsified numerous documents including overtime reports, payroll submissions, and uniform citation arrest reports of defendants charged within LMPD’s Script Unit where all three defendants worked during the relevant time. The defendants further coordinated with one another to ensure that the time that each submitted for overtime payments did not conflict with specific times that one or more of them was also purporting to work secondary employment and to ensure their overtime requests were submitted in the LMPD payroll system in such ways as to not raise concerns.

The defendants went even further to provide documentary support for hours of overtime they did not actually work by creating false entries in the uniform citation arrest reports they issued. Specifically, the defendants would falsely report the time of the citation arrest and/or deceptively add one or more of the other defendants’ names on the officer’s signature line of the citation to make it appear that the additional defendant was present and involved in the citation arrest, when, in fact, this was not true. As an example, if a citation arrest actually occurred at 6 pm, the defendant writing the report would falsify the time on the uniform citation arrest report to state that the arrest had occurred at a later time, perhaps 9 pm, in order to make it appear that he worked later into the evening than he actually had and to justify the submission of overtime hours not worked.  The defendant drafting the citation report would also add a co-defendant’s name to the report on the officer’s signature line even though the defendant whose name was added was not present for the arrest nor involved in the investigation in order to allow the co-defendant to claim overtime pay for a shift covering the falsified time on the report despite his not actually working during that shift.

It was further part of the scheme that the defendants submitted overtime requests claiming to have worked hours for the DEA and the ATF on OCDETF matters when they, in fact, did not work those hours.  Stanfield submitted falsified overtime hours to both DEA and ATF, while Roadhouse and Final falsified hours to claim time worked and paid out of ATF OCDETF funds.  Ultimately, the defendants were paid through LMPD for these claimed, but not worked, hours, and the DEA and the ATF reimbursed LMPD pursuant to their respective OCDETF Agreements.

The defendants engaged in this fraud and misrepresentation in order to steal funds from the Louisville Metro Police Department and the federal government by way of an inflated paycheck as well as to increase their salary over time in order to inflate the benefits they would receive from the Kentucky Retirement Systems upon retirement.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Stephanie Zimdahl and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Kaleb Noblett of the Jefferson County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office and was investigated by the Kentucky Public Corruption Civil Rights Task Force which consists of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), LMPD, the Kentucky Office of the Attorney General, and the Kentucky State Police.

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