Mississippi Police Chief Kills Self Amid Federal Asset Forfeiture Investigation (UPDATED)
Justice Dept. was trying to track down $300,000 missing from fund
Mike De Nardo, the police chief for Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, apparently turned his gun on himself and committed suicide Thursday, not long after being relieved of his duties over an outside investigation.
According to the Sun Herald, De Nardo was being escorted from the police station by a pair of Hancock County deputies. Witnesses said a commotion broke out in the parking lot, and De Nardo shot himself. He was apparently alive and even conscious while heading to a hospital, where he died.
Mayor Les Fillingame is being deliberately vague about the nature of the investigation that led to De Nardo's suspension. In an interview, Fillingame said the chief was "reeling" from the recent death of his mother along with this investigation. Fillingame said the sheriff's department had uncovered evidence about "something that happened outside the city that involved Mike De Nardo." Fillingame didn't get any more detailed than that, but did say that he believed that De Nardo could clear up whatever the issue was and pointed out that De Nardo had not actually been charged or indicted.
But De Nardo and the city of Bay St. Louis had drawn the attention of the Department of Justice. In reporting from last fall, the Sun Herald noted that both the mayor and the chief signed certified affidavits that the city was in possession of nearly $300,000 in money given to them through the Department of Justice's asset forfeiture Equitable Sharing program. That's the program that allows local law enforcement agencies to partner with the Justice Department in drug raids and other police activities, seize any cash and assets they get, and keep a good chunk of it for themselves.
The problem was that nobody could find the money. According to the Sun Herald's reporting, the money was not kept in a separate account as it was supposed to be, and it remains unclear where that money was spent. The Justice Department apparently wanted either documentation or the money back and sent them a report mandating corrections to their forfeiture program.
None of the reporting specifically states that the investigation into De Nardo was directly connected to the forfeiture auditing, but the mayor did make it clear the suspension was connected to some sort of investigation from an outside agency.
UPDATE: According to the Associated Press, De Nardo was being investigated for illegally selling city-owned firearms.
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Finally, a Reason story with a happy ending.
It really is the honorable thing to do.
We need more Budd Dwyer’s in office
Reinstated after arbitration?
Chief of Police For Life . . . uh, ‘Eternal CoP’ Nardo.
War on cops takes another victim.
DeNardo should be posthumously convicted of a hate crime.
“The problem was that nobody could find the money.”
What they should have done was given half of it to the Clinton Foundation.
America is the Clinton Foundation.
Gary Johnson apologized, just in case De Nardo took something he said out of context.
He was killed by a bullet to the Allepo region.
Hero’s one and all!
I guess some cops really are heroes.
And pretty good marksmen, too!
He was *an hero*.
He’s a credit to his race.
Didn’t he know that Blue Lives Matter???
See, this is why we can’t go around punishing officers. Your calls for “reasonable” punishments and “justice” is going to get more of our police officers killed!
Still not seeing why we can’t go around punishing officers.
Seems more effective than kneeling during the National Anthem.
Stealing money from citizens? Fine. Stealing money from the Feds? You’re in for it.
Yeppers. Wake me up when the feds go after a cop for stealing from a “civilian”.
stealing from a “civilian”.
That’s called “due process”
Or, taxes
Oh wait……..”Diane Reynolds”………….I GET IT……That’s fuggin funny. (Paul)
Can’t go after cop stealing from civilians – who do you think stole the money from the civilians in the first place?
Hey, I stole it first!
‘Now your a good cop’.
I read that in the voice I use with my dogs.
Weird.
He took the other cop’s gun and managed to shoot himself three times in the back of the head.
Clinton style.
Surprised it didn’t happen as the “gun cleaning accident” we occasionally hear about from LE.
I denounce myself for my first thought
RE: Mississippi Police Chief Kills Self Amid Federal Asset Forfeiture Investigation
Let us all mourn the passing of a possible crooked public employee who allegedly stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from the wise and judicious policy of federal asset forfeiture. How sad it is he will not be able to reap the rewards of corruption and arrogance that he worked so hard to attain. Hopefully, other federal, state and local government officials will pick the slack and pick up where he left off.
We can only hope and pray.
They couldn’t find the money. Someone or several someones has that money. Will be interesting to see whether the feds conveniently forget about that or whether they actually pursue that. Also, are the taxpayers on the hook for his pension, insurance, etc?
The money may have already been used to stimulate the economy by who knows how many multipliers.
“You’re thinking of this place all wrong. As if I had the money back in a safe. The money’s not here. Your money’s in Joe’s house…right next to yours. And in the Kennedy house, and Mrs. Macklin’s house, and a hundred others.”
Yahoo has a report that claims the investigation was from the ATF, and had to do with him selling city guns.
Of course, still no answer on where that sweet moolah went.
I updated the story to reflect this new info. Thanks for the link!
Well, good for him. He did the right thing.
“The Justice Department apparently wanted either documentation or the money back and sent them a report mandating corrections to their forfeiture program.”
In my mind’s eye I’m seeing Jerry Lundegaard (movie “Fargo”) taking that painful phone call from the auto distributor.
You know who else offed himself?
Pat Mustard?
Korechika Anami?
Does he get time off with pay while he’s dead?
This is the happiest cop story I have read in a long time.
This ‘legalized’ highway robbery born from the criminally phony war on drugs, is the lowest form of crime.
Preying on the innocent public and who knows what else while they are at it..