WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Five West Palm Beach Police Officers are accused of working paid overtime during the same hours as their regularly scheduled shifts for approximately 600 hours over a 10-month period, according to a newly obtained audit.
This audit, which WPTV received from a public records request, is the first time the extent of the alleged “double dipping” scheme has been publicly reported since the city of West Palm Beach placed seven officers on paid administrative leave for time theft. The record also shows former West Palm Beach Police Chief Frank Adderley investigated time theft from members of his command staff, including assistant chiefs and multiple captains.
Then, West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James said he partially fired Adderley after he became aware of command staff allegedly involved in numerous “financial improprieties” within the department. However, new footage WPTV obtained from a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office body camera shows Frank Adderley telling a deputy that he knew about the “double dipping” allegations and that the city paused his investigation.
“The mayor was going to bring in somebody from the outside,” Adderley said to a deputy. “Then that was change. It was we were going to do it in internal affairs. Then we were told to stop…It was kind of like stop and go, stop and go, stop and go.”
The city of West Palm Beach said it wouldn’t respond to our questions about Adderley’s claim.
WATCH HERE:
According to the audit, Captain Joseph Ahern “double dipped” for 318 hours over 37 days during 10 months. Ahern told WPTV’s Ethan Stein he didn’t have any comment. The audit said Captain Troy Marchese “double dipped” for 157 hours over 22 days during 10 months. Attempts to reach Marchese and his attorney for comment weren’t returned by publication.
According to the audit, Captain Theadore Swiderski “double dipped” for 91 hours over 12 days during a 10-month period. Attempts to reach Swiderski and his attorney weren’t returned by publication. The audit also said Assistant Chief Tameca West “double dipped” for 56 hours over 10 days during a 10-month period. West told WPTV she had no comment to the audit.
Another captain, whose name was redacted, was accused of “double dipping” for 31 hours over four days during 10 months. The audit also found Assistant Chief Anthony Spatara, Major Michael Deighan and Captain Brain Kapper had no overlapping times in the systems used to track officers’ daily schedule and their hours.
The Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office found no probable cause existed to charge any of the seven officers accused of stealing time in April.
Four officers (Swiderski, Ahern, Marchese and Dennis Wobbel) along with the Florida State Lodge Fraternal Order of Police, the union representing West Palm Beach Police Officers, are suing the city of West Palm Beach to pause the internal affairs investigation. They are asking a judge to stop officers from answering questions related to the city’s internal affairs investigation and forcing the city to force West Palm Beach to hold a Compliance Review Hearing. The attorney for the officers said they believe the city violated the state’s officer bill of rights because it waited 180 days to investigate the claims of misconduct.
“It is the FOP’s position that during the investigation, the city violated the 180-day time limitations period required under the Bill of Rights, violated the conflict investigation subsection of the BOR and failed to properly notice the accused officers of the allegations against them under the BOR.”
According to state law, the compliance review hearing board could remove the internal affairs investigator from the case if a violation of the bill of rights was considered intentional. The board could then forward the complaint to the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission, a part of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, for review as an act of official misconduct or misuse of position.
An assistant city attorney for West Palm Beach filed a motion to dismiss the union’s lawsuit, saying it didn’t break the law.
Deputy Police Chief Tony Shearer told Palm Beach County Sheriff Deputies he believed officers double-dipped on overtime, according to body camera footage WPTV recieved from a public records request in April. He said the captains were referred to within the department as “Seal Team Six” and contributed to a toxic environment within the department.
"Many people that have come forward and say, 'You know, we're so glad that change is happening,' because it appears that many were under the assumption that 'Seal Team Six' were not only stifling careers, ruining careers," Shearer said. "And if you get in the way of their efforts, if you try to openly complain about what they were doing, your career would be in danger."
FOP President Adam Myers didn’t return WPTV’s request for comment.
