Four Overland Park police officers who have been on leave since May 2022 after facing accusations of misusing police charity funds have all resigned.
The city of Overland Park announced the officers’ resignations Friday just before 5 p.m. Their departure from the Overland Park Police Department is immediate, the city says.
The four officers were previously board members overseeing the now-suspended Overland Park Police Officers Foundation, the charitable giving arm of the Overland Park Fraternal Order of Police. Neither organization is affiliated with the city of Overland Park.
Sgt. Brandon Faber, Officer Brad Heater, Sgt. Rachel Scattergood and Sgt. Tim Tinnin are all listed as officers for the foundation on tax forms filed between 2016 and 2020. Employee records obtained by the Post indicate all four were placed on leave in May 2022.
As the board members overseeing the foundation, the officers were accused of misappropriating charity funds while leading the foundation.
The charity was meant to help families of fallen officers as well as to support “charitable outreach to the community” and “educational opportunities,” according to tax documents.
Instead, a recently released audit suggests the board members violated the bylaws of the charity and disbursed thousands of dollars to themselves over the years, including paying for a gift card to a resort and a $1,000 veterinary bill.
The audit also said the officers failed to keep good records for the charity.
Johnson County DA declined to charge the officers
The audit summary says that there is evidence that the four officers committed criminal theft because “the prior board members acted without authorization in making payments from Foundation funds to themselves.”
Officer Mike Mosher, an Overland Park police officer who was killed in the line of duty in May 2020, was also a founding board member of the charity and listed as the founding director and president.
Earlier this year, Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe’s office declined to charge the four officers, but he did say the Kansas Attorney General was investigating under the Kansas Charitable Organizations and Solicitations Act.
The current leadership of the Overland Park FOP has publicly voiced dissatisfaction with Howe’s decision not to charge the officers.
The group’s leaders have also alluded to their dissatisfaction with the length of time the DA’s investigation took.
The city was also investigating the four officers, and they remained on paid leave up until they resigned Friday.
Meg Ralph, Overland Park’s communications manager, said in an emailed statement that the city was still investigating the officers for possible violations of city policies when they submitted their resignations.
“The volume of documentation under review was substantial and the City had not yet finished its investigation into whether the officers had violated policy,” the city statement says. “Their resignations were not accepted in lieu of termination but were submitted while the officers were under investigation.”
Ralph also said “there is no settlement or resignation agreement associated with any of these resignations.”
This story was originally published by the Shawnee Mission Post.
