New findings show $10K worth of expenditures were incorrectly processed by former Berea Chief of Police

Sep. 23—Sierra Marling

A FOIA request by The Richmond Register showed discrepancies in spending of $10,000 by former Berea Police Chief Walter "Eric" Scott during his tenure that ended with his resignation in 2022.

The records show the chief spent money on the city credit card for purchases that were generally not allowed, including pool equipment, virtual reality gaming equipment, and luggage.

It shows when the city tried to collect the items purchased, the chief could not find some of them.

But city officials and the chief say the purchases were accidental and made by mistake when a city credit card was used on a personal Amazon account.

The city says all the discrepancies from city policy, including purchases not allowed by city policy, have been rectified and the city has been "made whole" but could not confirm the check written by the chief covered all items.

Background

At a Feb. 2023 meeting, Berea Mayor Bruce Fraley spoke of the "discrepancies" in the final 10 minutes of the recorded meeting by former Berea Police Chief Scott, who resigned his position on Nov. 14, 2022.

"When an employee leaves city employment, we make sure that all city property is accounted for. After the resignation of our former police chief, Eric Scott, we followed our exit protocol, and some city property needed to be returned, and some credit card purchases needed to be reviewed," the mayor explained during the Berea City Council meeting.

The mayor went on to add that he and the city attorney had met with Scott on two occasions in January, reporting to the public that, "all city property has been accounted for, and the city was reimbursed for credit card purchases unrelated to city business."

What the mayor did not mention to the public is that the city of Berea's protocols regarding the voluntary and involuntary termination of employment says that "the employee must return all property of the city ... prior to the last day of their employment."

"The bottom line is that any purchase, whether it's made by me, or whether it's by a department head, or by Robin [Adams], or Rose [Beverly], or whoever — those are subject for review at any time," Fraley explained in the public meeting.

It has been seven months since Mayor Fraley asserted that the matter of the financial transactions and missing property had been resolved. The mayor declared at that Feb. 2023 city council meeting and in subsequent interviews that "the city [had] been made whole."

The Register published an article at the time; however, the official documentation regarding these transactions had not yet been shared.

FOIA request

The Register began its investigation into the issue following the fulfillment of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, analyzing the data and conducting follow-up interviews with relevant parties.

The purchase history obtained by The Register confirms over 100 purchases, including the purchase of pool equipment and a battery pack for an Oculus Quest 2.

The most expensive purchase was an iPad, bought for $749.99, which was noted to be returned to the city. The total sum of the purchases tracked by the Register was approximately $10,056.

While tracking down the missing items, which policy dictated should have been returned prior to the exit of the employee, city officials acting as impromptu exit auditors made notes in the margins about the items.

There were a variety of items incorrectly bought with a city debit card, including a Dell Latitude E-port Replicator that cost $69.99, even though city officials confirmed in paperwork tracking the missing items that "no one at PD [police department] was issued a Dell laptop."

One official wrote about a $192.14 purchase for luggage on Aug. 23, 2021, "...stated this was done on [the] wrong account. However, it was done on a city card. Not his personal card on the wrong Amazon account."

Another purchase for a $549.99 ATV trailer included a typed note that said, "...Notes say he stated it was for the range to carry stuff around. The range does not have this trailer. They have a trailer that predates Eric [Scott]." In a written note next to it, it replies, "Still looking" then, "Will pay for it — must have been stolen."

In the notes for both of those items, there is a reference to a prior meeting on Aug. 30 of an unspecified year.

Again, in another written note for a $244 Brother printer, an official confirms, "This was covered during 8-30 meeting with Eric by the City."

The purchases range in date from May 7, 2020 — one month after his performance review — to Nov. 2022, as he departed his position with the police department.

City policy

In the city of Berea's accounting policy and procedures manual — which was adopted in 2020 — it stated that charges "are the responsibility of the cardholder." Additionally, only city-related charges are allowed.

"No personal charges are allowed," the policy says. "Any inadvertent, unauthorized expenses on the debit card are to be reimbursed by the cardholder immediately." A listed consequence of "frequent" missing or lost receipts is the loss of credit card privileges.

According to policies adopted by the city of Berea, "All monthly credit card statements shall be reviewed by the person named on the card and their immediate supervisor, both of whom shall sign each page of the statement as evidence that they accept the identified expenses as legitimate business expenses. In addition, the statements shall be reviewed by the finance director, or their designee to determine compliance with city policies."

No such documentation was forwarded to The Register in response to a FOIA request.

Per the mayor, it is the city administrator's job to supervise city employees, so no traceable due diligence was performed during either Gregory's or Shawn Sandlin's tenures as city administrator.

According to Fraley, there was no suspicion from city officials of inappropriate purchases or wrongdoing prior to Scott's departure process. Often, he would cite Scott as providing "exemplary" service to the city.

Evidence obtained by the Register shows that city officials were aware of the financial discrepancies that Scott was making for months prior to when it was revealed to the public in Feb. 2023.

Fraley explained at the February City Council meeting that the routine review conducted after Scott's resignation required further investigation. City Administrator Beverly brought the discrepancies to the mayor's attention, and the mayor then informed the city's attorney.

At no point did the city of Berea bring disciplinary action against Scott, with the focus instead turned toward ensuring that the purchased equipment was returned and payments were made to cover the sum of those purchases.

The latest

In the Sept. 7 interview, the mayor could not confirm that the check that Scott provided to the city covered the amount missing due to the various reasons listed in the city's tracking document, such as "personal," "thrown away," and "lost."

In prior interviews, both Fraley and Scott asserted that the discrepancies found in Scott's exit review were accidental.

Scott said he knew he had items at his home that needed to be returned, but was remodeling his basement at the time, which made it difficult to locate the missing items.

"Prior to leaving (Berea), I was aware I had some items to locate: a broken laptop, a phone, some uniforms/equipment, etc. When I returned from Christmas break, I learned there were more items I needed to return beyond what I thought I had in my possession. So, they were aware of some items, but then came to me about others," Scott said.

He asserted that the items were all related to various duties associated with police work.

"The items were all related to the vast way in which we policed our community. We did everything in-house. From producing videos, taking kids fishing, dressing up like Santa, doing threat assessments for individuals/businesses, an array of items were needed to facilitate our community first mission. The missing items were electronics, police equipment, etc. All accounted for and returned," Scott said.

In an interview, Fraley confirmed that media production was not part of Scott's job description. He also verbally confirmed all the missing items were returned to the city.

Also in the Feb. 2023 meeting, Mayor Fraley indicated that the city of Berea now runs all transactions through the city administrator. At the time, he also commented that he hoped to implement an inventory control system in the future.

In her council comments at that same Berea City Council Meeting, Council Member Teresa Scenters also said she believed the situation to be "an isolated incident that has been resolved by the city."

Scenters added she independently examined the city's financials after an executive session at a prior City Council meeting, which proves that every member of the Berea City Council present in the executive session on Jan. 3, 2023, also knew about the financial discrepancies prior to the meeting.

According to the meeting minutes posted to the city's website, the only executive sessions in the months leading up to the Feb. 7 meeting had occurred on Nov. 15, 2022 "to discuss the potential appointment of an employee" and on Jan. 3, 2023 "to discuss pending litigation."

"After our closed session, I took a deep dive into the financials, and (Berea Financial Officer) Susan (Meeks) was very helpful, updating me on those. I think that we're okay, that this was a one-time issue, and I'm glad it was resolved," Scenters said.

According to Fraley, he and the city attorney consider the matter settled.

"My goal is to protect the taxpayer assets and make sure that the city's made whole, and I'm 100% comfortable that that has happened. We've been made whole," the mayor.

In a follow-up interview conducted on Sept. 7, The Register confirmed that the city administrator still monitors every purchase made on city credit cards and that there is still no inventory control system in place.