Two D.C. police detectives have been pulled from the streets pending an investigation into overtime fraud allegations levied by the department’s chief liaison to the courts, The Examiner has learned.
Detectives Brett Smith and Elbert Griffin were placed on non-contact status in the last two weeks, meaning their police powers were suspended. Assistant Police Chief Peter Newsham, head of investigative services, confirmed Thursday that the allegations of misconduct against Smith and Griffin justified their placement on administrative duty, and, he said, they may soon be joined by others.
The two detectives are accused by Inspector Hilton Burton, director of the Metropolitan Police Department’s court liaison division, of defrauding the overtime system by checking into court multiple times for a trial that was not on the docket.
The move to suspend the detectives’ police powers comes more than two months after Burton first brought the matter to the attention of the MPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau, and one month after he laid out his allegations in a whistleblower letter to the D.C. inspector general. The Examiner detailed that report in a May 11 article.
In the letter, Burton accused 17 members of the department of overtime fraud. Twelve were tied to the complex, ongoing prosecution of a violent D.C. street gang. And five, including Smith and Griffin, were linked to the high-profile murder and robbery trial of Ronald Cheadle, which ended March 31 with multiple guilty verdicts.
The department, Burton told the inspector general, refused to investigate. Newsham said that was “inaccurate”; the case against Smith, Griffin and others was never closed.
A court monitor working in the liaison’s office randomly chose to track Griffin’s Feb. 27 appearance in the Cheadle trial, according to Burton’s letter, but the monitor discovered the case was not on the court calendar that day.
Further research revealed that both Griffin and Smith had checked into court Feb. 6, 13 and 20 — all days when the trial was not on the docket. Griffin earns $69.69 and Smith earns $57 for every overtime hour worked. On each of those days, an assistant U.S. attorney signed off on the overtime.
Three additional detectives were also found to have received questionable overtime related to the Cheadle trial, Burton said. They remain on duty, though the investigation continues.
Channing Phillips, spokesman for the U.S. attorney for D.C., said in an e-mail that the matter “has been referred for further investigation and therefore it would be inappropriate for us to comment at this time.” Phillips also said there have been no “suggestions” of court overtime-related impropriety against anyone in the office.
