'Nobody saw this coming'
unbelievable
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
DECATUR - The pressures of gambling debts, domestic problems and family health problems contributed to Decatur police Sgt. Faron White's decision to steal money confiscated from drug cases and fake his abduction Friday night to head to Las Vegas, where he would to try to win back the stolen money.
Today White, a 22-year department veteran, sits in a Las Vegas jail cell charged with theft, after his female accomplice - with whom he had a romantic relationship - told police late Monday night where he was. White could face more charges when he is returned to Decatur.
Decatur Police Chief Ken Collier at a Tuesday afternoon news conference at Decatur City Hall laid out what led authorities to arrest White in the lobby of a Las Vegas Hampton Inn late Monday night.
"Nobody saw this coming," Collier said.
White, who supervised the department's Organized Crime Unit, was last seen Friday night in his office in the department's Training Center in the former Flint City Elementary School.
Police found signs of a struggle in the office that led them to think that White could be in danger. But there were other signs that the scene may have been staged to create the appearance of a struggle, Collier said.
He said the investigation ran on two tracks - that White could be in danger and that it was staged - until U.S. Marshals "laid eyes" on White in the hotel lobby.
Collier said that police now think that White and Sarah Richardson turned over furniture and knocked items off White's desk to create the appearance of a struggle.
White and Richardson drove to Nashville, where White took an airplane to Las Vegas, Collier said. Richardson planned to meet White in Las Vegas later, he said.
Richardson had been a volunteer with the Police Department for several years. She had worked the past several months in White's office doing clerical work and helping build a database of suspected methamphetamine dealers, Collier said.
Richardson told detectives of the plan when they questioned her late Monday night, Collier said.
"It moved pretty fast after that interview," he said.
Police obtained an arrest warrant for White and issued a national bulletin for him, Collier said.
The U.S. Marshal's Service Fugitive Investigative Strike Team (FIST) spotted White in the lobby of the Hampton Inn, where he was registered under an alias, and took him into custody without incident about two hours later at about 1:15 a.m. CST.
White, 48, is charged with first-degree theft. He is expected to be in court in Las Vegas Thursday and waive extradition to Alabama, Collier said.
Collier and Morgan County District Attorney Bob Burrell said White's bond would be set at $20,000 when he is returned, but Burrell will ask that the bond be increased because White is a known flight risk.
Richardson, 29, was charged with first-degree hindering prosecution or apprehension and is in the Morgan County Jail, Collier said.
Collier said White may have stolen several more thousand dollars from the unit's safe over a period before taking $2,500 Friday night. Officials will review the rules and regulations about the management of seized drug money, he said.
White knew that the money would have to be replaced or he would go to jail, Collier said. White was due to submit a year-end report that Collier said could have revealed the missing money, he said.
"Sooner or later the hammer was going to fall, and he couldn't get out of the box," Collier said.
Collier said he couldn't "go inside" White's mind to explain White's actions other than it was the stress White faced personally and professionally.
"It caused him to make some bad decisions," Collier said.
He said he didn't know why White went to Las Vegas, other than to try to turn the $2,500 into enough winnings to cover the money he had stolen.
Police learned during the investigation that White's gambling trips to Tunica, Miss., had become more frequent.
"We know he lost some money in Tunica in the past few months," Collier said.
Mayor Don Stanford and Collier both said they hope the case doesn't damage the Police Department's credibility, and they encouraged members of the department and the Organized Crime Unit to "keep their heads up" and continue doing the fine work that they do.
"This is a sad day for our department," Stanford said. "I know it's a disappointment for the people in our department."
Becky McNutt, who runs Billy's Mini-Market on Sixth Avenue, called the case "a sad situation all the way around."
"His family's put in the middle of it. The department's put in the middle of it," she said. "There's going to be a lot of gossip and talk."
Jeff Sharp, a bartender at The Brick Deli located downtown, said he overheard several customers talking about the outcome of the case Tuesday.
"I couldn't believe it," he said. "Everybody thought this guy was dead. The entire kitchen was talking about it. What we were talking about was the low amount of money" that White is accused of stealing and taking to Las Vegas.
Mike Worley, a police procedure consultant and retired police chief, said White's actions are no different from any employee who steals from an employer.
"It's similar to when you have a bookkeeper who has access to money and chooses to dishonor the trust put to them and take from the company," said Worley, who has followed national news coverage of White's arrest.
Worley said it's not common but not unheard of for officers to steal from their departments. He investigated the case of a officer stealing money from a department's evidence room.
"He took quite a bit of money. He had bills and other debts - the same classic reasons people give for stealing or embezzling money," he said.
But for this amount of $2,500, Worley said, "it is very strange."
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