Former Michigan State Police Sergeant Accused Of Embezzlement

[John Doe Jr]

A former state police sergeant is now charged with embezzling money from the Cadillac post, accused of stealing nearly $10,000 from the evidence room.

The Grand Traverse County prosecutor says the money was stolen in March of 2014.

Monday, former sergeant Malcolm Irwin was charged with the crime.

In January of 2015, the Grand Traverse County prosecuting attorney was appointed special prosecutor on this case.

It was originally submitted to the Wexford County prosecuting attorney, but he felt he had a conflict of interest

$9,600 was reported missing from the Michigan State Police in March of 2014.

Sergeant Malcolm Irwin was the sergeant in charge of the evidence room at the Cadillac post at the time the money went missing.

The Grand Traverse County prosecuting office says they requested an additional audit of the Cadillac Michigan State Police Post.

This happened alongside an audit done by MSP.

They wanted to make sure all information was available to move further with the case.

 “When I received the complaint there were a lot of details that I felt we needed to investigate further,” says Grand Traverse County Prosecutor Bob Cooney. “We had a punch list of items that we wanted to see investigated before making a decision in the case.”

Irwin was charged with embezzling by a public officer and embezzlement by a trustee.

http://www.9and10news.com/story/33650255/former-michigan-state-poli...

[XLFD]

The irony here is that the $9600 was likely stolen from some citizen in the first place, as there is little oversight on property forfeiture in Michigan, and usually very little oversight of the Michigan State Police.  You have to steal their money to get on their bad side, apparently, if you're a trooper.

A little more from Mlive on this story follows:

Police learned that the money was missing when a detective, Greg Hubers, showed up at the Cadillac post to obtain evidence – the $9,600 – for one of his cases.

Hubers said the sergeant acted suspiciously from the start.

He said that Irwin took an inordinate amount of time to meet him at the property room. When he finally showed up, Irwin said he forgot access information for the computer, court records showed.

Irwin obtained that information in another area of the post. He then opened the wrong drawer of the cabinet containing the money.

The detective noted Irwin's "exaggerated physical response when he 'noticed' that no money was present in the cash drawer."

The former sergeant offered no possible explanations but twice asked the detective to keep quiet for the time being, a felony complaint said.

The detective immediately told a lieutenant.

After the money was reported missing, a state police sergeant recalled that Irwin had hidden keys to the cash drawer in the evidence room when Irwin went on vacation in January 2014.

Irwin did not tell anyone where he hid the keys before he left on vacation, Sgt. Scott Bates is expected to testify.

Lt. Rob Davis determined that Irwin had a serious gambling problem, the complaint said.
"As Lt. Davis began looking into the people who held keys to this room, he will state that his investigation pointed towards (Irwin)," the complaint said.

"This focus was due to, in addition to the behavior described above and other factors: Defendant being the primary person responsible for funds being held in the property room, serious financial difficulties Defendant was experiencing around the time of the theft, and a documented issue that Defendant had with gambling."

[Willy]

If this is all the evidence they have regarding the guilt of the sergeant then, unless he confesses or cops a plea, I doubt he will be convicted of theft. Acting suspiciously is not a crime and unless the police have photographs, videos or witnesses that can link him to the theft I'm afraid this will be a waste of time.

[wildfire]

of course willy you know how them cops all stick together and it will be a waste f time he will get a few days off with or w/o pay and back to work. Unless he quits.

[stump]

[stump]

I'll try this again, The article says "former sergeant", so was he discharged? Transfered or promoted? Wouldn't put it passed the police to promote him because he was doing such a good job watching the evidence room.

[John Doe Jr]

Deplorable

[XLFD]

John, I deleted your thread on the TCPD officer suspended for flying a confederate flag on Veteran's Day, since I covered that topic earlier in Monkeys and Municipal Mindreaders.  Please feel free to comment on that topic there.