Audio: KCPD union leader allegedly threatened tow company owner in phone call
Jackson County prosecutors on Tuesday released an audio recording that allegedly captures the president of the Kansas City police union threatening the owner of a tow company if he did not release a car belonging to the union official’s relatives.
The release of the audio came as prosecutors dropped 31 forgery charges against the owner, Allen T. Bloodworth. The charges had come after an investigation launched in February 2017 into suspicious towing practices connected to his company, Private Party Impound.
On Tuesday, prosecutors said they received a partial recording of a phone call between Bloodworth and Sgt. Brad Lemon, president of of the Kansas City Fraternal Order of Police. During the conversation, Lemon allegedly threatened Bloodworth with police action if he did not release a car for one of Lemon’s family members.
“Mr. Lemon’s words, invoked in the name of KCPD and the Fraternal Order of Police, combined with his documented receipt of information regarding Defendant, undermines the integrity of the investigation, exposes all officers in this case to accusations of substantial partiality, and negatively impacts the credibility of the State’s evidence and the testimony of its primary witness,” the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office said in its court filing.
According to prosecutors, Bloodworth had apparently towed the relative’s car and told Lemon that the car could only be released to the registered owner or someone designated by the owner.
Lemon’s family member was not the registered owner and provided no proof of the required designation. Lemon wanted the car released anyway.
Bloodworth refused.
Lemon, who identified himself as a member of the Kansas City Police Department and police union president, mentioned Bloodworth’s past criminal investigation and said, “it’s game on... we’ll start the same routine with you then,” according to prosecutors.
“The clear implication was that, if the Defendant refused to give Mr. Lemon the car, Mr. Lemon would use his influence in the police department and union to bring law enforcement action against the Defendant,” prosecutors said in their court filing.
Prosecutors said they had also learned from a June 15, 2019 email that it appeared Lemon had spoken to at least one other police officer about Bloodworth.
In the recording, Lemon is heard telling Bloodworth that he received a phone call from his niece saying the family car had been towed from Two Light apartments on Grand Boulevard.
According to a transcript of the conversation included in the court filing, Lemon and Bloodworth had the following exchange:
Lemon: “Hey this is Brad Lemon out of Kansas City Police Department. I’m president of the police union. I got a phone call from my niece that says you guys towed our family’s car from Two Light and now you’re requiring us to go get a…
Bloodworth: “We’re requiring you to comply with the law to get the car back, correct. The owner of the vehicle is someone’s grandmother or something?”
Lemon: “Yeah she’s two hundred miles away.”
Bloodworth: “Ok. The Kansas City Missouri Tow Lot wouldn’t release him the car the way the circumstances are now, so I don’t know why we would. You have to be the registered owner of the car.”
Lemon: “She’s 91, dude. There’s no way we can do that.”
Bloodworth: “Ok. I sent whoever called earlier a notarized power of attorney that will allow them to have her sign and notarize it, and then a third party can pick up the car.”
In another part of the phone call, the dialogue between Lemon and Bloodworth continued:
Lemon: “So, didn’t we investigate you at property crimes a couple years ago for felonies for doing stuff like this?”
Bloodworth: “You mean I was exonerated because you guys have a rogue cop that likes to jack with people, and OCC..”
Lemon: “It’s game on.”
Bloodworth: “OCC or whatever, what do you mean it’s game on?”
Lemon: “We’ll start the same routine with you then.”
Bloodworth: “What do you mean you’ll start the same routine with me?”
Lemon: “I guarantee I’m going to talk to (unintelligible), this is going to be the last you tow them.”
Bloodworth: “What’s your name?”
Lemon: “Brad Lemon, I’m the president of the police union. You can file whatever you want to file.”
Dan Ross, a defense attorney who represented Bloodworth, said the prosecutor’s office acted appropriately in dropping the charges.
“My office provided information to the Jackson County prosecutor’s office showing that the KCPD investigation of my client was based upon improper personal motivations of a highly placed Kansas City police department official,” Ross said.
“With that information the prosecutor’s office did the right thing in this incidence.”
A spokeswoman for the police union could not immediately be reached for comment.
Capt. David Jackson, a Kansas City police spokesman, said the department was made aware Tuesday that the charges against Bloodworth would be dropped.
“This has been attributed in part to an interaction with one of our employees,” Jackson said. “This matter will be investigated in compliance with our current policies and procedures.”
Other charges filed against Bloodworth that were not investigated by Kansas City police remain, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors had charged Bloodworth in September 2019 with forgery for illegally towing vehicles between April 7 and Nov. 17, 2017.
In a news release announcing the criminal charges Peters said Bloodworth had allegedly engaged in a widespread scheme where vehicles were towed from parking lots. Bloodworth had first forged the names of apartment or property managers on the forms required by the Missouri Department of Revenue to authorize removing the vehicles.
“Area residents of East Zone neighborhoods were frequent victims of the deceptive business practices,” Baker said in the 2019 news release. “Though all individuals deserve protection from these deceptive practices, many of Bloodworth’s victims already face great financial hardship, exacerbating their injury.”
In recent months, the police union has clashed with Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker. Lemon has criticized Baker for seeking criminal charges against police officers accused in the fatal shootings of civilians and excessive force cases.
In June, prosecutors obtained a grand jury indictment against Kansas City police detective Eric DeValkenaere, charging him with involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the 2019 shooting death of Cameron Lamb.
In social media postings, Lemon has attacked Baker, calling her “another self-centered politician.”
In 2017, Lemon was the subject of an internal affairs investigation initiated by then-police chief Darryl Forté, who is now the Jackson County sheriff, on allegations that Lemon falsified police reports when he arrested Thomas Simmons in a burglary case.
Forté said police reports from the case were improperly signed and self-approved by Lemon.
Lemon claimed that he had permission to self-sign police reports under the authority of a memorandum written by the police chief in 2009, Jim Corwin. Asked about the reports this year, Jackson, the police spokesman, said there was no policy prohibiting supervisors from signing their own reports.
Internal affairs documents showed Forté concluded Lemon had violated policy, purposely misled investigators and made statements inconsistent with the sworn testimony used to prosecute Simmons.
Lemon denied any wrongdoing and said allegations against him had been coordinated by Forté and Simmons, who was convicted in the burglary case but said he was innocent.
The Lemon investigation remained with internal affairs when Forté left the department in May 2017. Police officials have since declined to comment on the investigation.
This story was originally published December 22, 2020 at 2:24 PM.
