The former Killian police chief billed for overtime hours he did not work and took a town vehicle on a personal vacation — charging the town for the gas he used on the trip, an audit finds.
Dennis Hill may have violated the law when he allegedly misrepresented time sheets and used the town credit card for personal purchases, an investigative report released Monday by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor concludes.
The auditor examined the former police chief's conduct after Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard forwarded a complaint filed to his office in May and former town Mayor Craig McGehee wrote a memorandum to Hill outlining several violations of town policy, the audit said.
Hill was fired by the town's board of aldermen on June 13. He didn't respond to phone and text messages for comment Monday.
Livingston Parish District Attorney Scott Perrilloux said he plans to review the audit and consider it for criminal charges.Â
Mayor Peter Bock said in an interview that he agreed with the audit and is taking steps to increase oversight for the police department.
"Everybody always trusted the chief. That was the way it went, and it got us in trouble," he said. "Law enforcement should be held to a higher standard than even a regular citizen, and although these things look small from the overall viewpoint of how much money here, there, or wherever, it just can't be tolerated in any form."
Bock said he would cooperate with Perrilloux on any charges he might press, but he does not plan to push for prosecution.
Killian is a town of approximately 1,200 people in southeastern Livingston Parish. Bock said the police department has three officers when fully staffed.
Hill is accused in the audit of billing for 35 hours — equivalent to $994 — from May 2015 to May 2017 of overtime for hours he didn't work. Social media posts and town fuel records indicate he was on vacation in Alabama and Florida during those hours. The overtime was funded by Louisiana Highway Safety Commission grants to conduct seatbelt checks and drunk driving stops.
The audit goes further to say it could not verify that Hill actually worked 487 other hours he claimed for reimbursement because he did not issue any tickets or radio in to the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office, which apparently was standard procedure for the town's officers.
In response to the overtime allegations, Hill told auditors that in one case he billed for hours when a reserve officer covered his shift. Because the LHSC requires officers to be POST certified, the town could not have gotten reimbursed for that officer's shift. With regards to radioing the sheriff's office and writing tickets for overtime hours, Hill told auditors he did not use the dispatch system himself and that other officers wrote the tickets while he performed sobriety tests.
The audit also dives into Hill's pay. Officially, his salary was $18,000 per year. But he was paid about $35,000 annually in salary and got $28,685 in overtime from October 2014 to May 2017, the audit says. That's despite the fact the town did not have an ordinance making it legal for Hill to earn overtime and Hill did not properly record the regular time he worked, according to the audit.
From May 2015 to November 2016, Hill also used the town credit card to buy himself a suit from Men's Wearhouse and to buy gas when out of state, including for a personal vacation, the audit found.
Hill said he bought the suit to replace his dress uniform, which was lost in the August 2016 flood, the audit said. He has since paid back the town for the suit, the audit said.
The allegations in the audit extend also to the town.
The audit cites the town for purchasing $31,119 in scuba equipment for the police department's dive team from David Baylis, a part-time police officer and dive team member, without a competitive bid process, also a potential violation of state law. Baylis told auditors he was unaware that he was legally prohibited as a town employee from bidding on the project. Baylis did not respond to a message seeking comment.
The audit says the town also did not forward 76 traffic tickets to the Mayor's court for disposition from October 2012 to June 2016. It says the former police chief insisted on bringing all handwritten tickets himself to the town clerk. Hill told auditors he did this regularly and could not explain the discrepancy.
McGehee was mayor during the time of the alleged violations. His last meeting as mayor was June 13, when he cast a tie-breaking vote to remove the chief.
McGehee said in an interview he was unaware of the overtime law and was following pay practices already in place for Hill, who had been chief since 2008.
“I messed up, but I didn’t know I was messing up, because previous administrations had done the same thing,†he said.
Bock, a former alderman, was appointed to fill McGehee's position through this November, when an election can be held.
Bock said that since the audit, he has implemented a number of changes.
Alderman Paul Canik has been charged with overseeing the police department, including sitting on a police hiring committee and reviewing purchases. In addition, Canik is expected to present a new policy relating to police salaries and overtime billing practices at the town's monthly meeting on Tuesday night or in February.
Bock said that all traffic tickets are now submitted directly to the town clerk, and the town has cut ties with the dive team and will no longer be responsible for its finances.
