CLERMONT, Fla. – A former police officer has been arrested on felony charges, accused of stealing nearly $50,000 from a police union while he was its president, officials said.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said in an email that former Clermont officer Jeremy Kevitt obtained an ATM card in 2014 and used it to spend money from the Clermont Police Officers Union bank accounts without approval.
Investigators said Kevitt spent some $30,000 from an account funded by monthly payroll deposits from police officers and another $20,000 from an account set up to help pay medical bills for an injured police officer, the agency said. Money in that account was generated rom donations and fundraising events.
Officials discovered the theft last November when they received an overdraft notice about one of the bank accounts, a department news release said. He was arrested Friday.
When police confronted Kevitt, he “was defensive and complained that he did not have to help managing the account," investigators said.
Kevitt then told them that all of the transactions were authorized and that he didn't keep receipts. When officials reviewed the accounts, authorities said, they found transactions that appeared to be personal.
Kevitt said a $100 supermarket purchase was spent on buying Thanksgiving dinners for the “less fortunate," and a $200 ATM cash withdrawal was given to a food bank, according to officials. When officials inquired about a $112 bill at an Indian restaurant, he ended the meeting, the agency said.
Kevitt was placed on administrative leave during an internal investigation, but submitted his resignation notice in March and left in April before the investigation was completed, the report said.
He was arrested Friday on felony charges of grand theft and organized fraud. Court records did not list an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
Clermont police Chief Charles Broadway said in a statement that Kevitt’s actions “do not reflect the integrity, commitment and professionalism of the men and women of the Clermont Police Department.”