Overland Park officer who resigned over spending scandal investigation got new job nearby
A sergeant who resigned from the Overland Park Police Department amid allegations that he and three others had misused funds is working for another Kansas agency.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office hired Deputy Tim Tinnin on Jan. 8, according to records from the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Trainings, or CPOST, which certifies officers in the state.
Prior to that, Tinnin had been with the Overland Park Police Department since January 2011.
In May 2022, he and three other officers were placed on paid administrative leave during an investigation about questionable monetary benefits they received while board members of the Overland Park Police Officers Foundation.
The allegations came to light when new foundation leaders ordered an audit, which found unauthorized payments to Tinnin, Sgt. Brandon Faber, Officer Brad Heater and Sgt. Rachel Scattergood.
The audit found the board members had benefited from educational scholarships in violation of the organization’s bylaws. Money went directly into two of the members’ pockets instead of the academic institutions, a move auditors found suspicious.
Board members received other payments, earmarked for assisting families in financial distress following “catastrophic injury or death,” and used them for dental and veterinarian bills, the audit found.
The officers received $27,000 for their own benefit, according to the audit.
Findings were submitted to the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office in spring 2022.
Despite clear evidence the officers violated organizational bylaws concerning “self-dealing and self-enrichment,” Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe said in October 2023 that his office could not prove the officers knowingly collected money for unauthorized expenses or misused funds on purpose.
He largely attributed that conclusion to a lack of record-keeping by the foundation’s leadership and its vague governing document. The officers also wiped their electronic devices clean of any data, the DA’s office said. While charges weren’t filed, Howe added, “We didn’t say there wasn’t shadowy behavior, because there was.”
The four officers resigned in December while the city was investigating them for potential policy violations.
When an officer leaves a department, paperwork is submitted to the state. Employers select whether the officer voluntarily resigned, resigned under questionable circumstances or was involuntarily terminated. Meg Ralph, a spokeswoman for the City of Overland Park, said they marked that the four officers resigned under questionable circumstances.
George Diepenbrock, a spokesman for the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, said deputies go through a background investigation before receiving an offer. The office examined the foundation funds case, including interviewing “individuals with intimate knowledge of the details of the investigation,” Diepenbrock said.
“Their overwhelming belief was that Deputy Tinnin specifically had done nothing wrong and faced no criminal charges because of it,” he said.
“Based on the outcome of the external information we obtained, Tinnin was hired as a DGSO patrol deputy in January, and since employment he has been an exemplary employee.”
Scattergood was hired by the Gladstone Police Department in February, but was no longer employed there by the end of the month.
Faber and Heater are not working in law enforcement in Kansas, according to CPOST records.
This story was originally published May 30, 2024 at 6:00 AM.
