The Associated Press
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- A former state trooper who was fired for misconduct is being accused of fixing tickets in exchange for “donations” to an organization he created.
According to state records, former Trooper Michael Doubleday, a member of the Mount Ayr City Council, also is alleged to have lied about the location of some violations so that money from the fines would go to Ringgold County and the city of Mount Ayr rather than the state of Iowa.
Doubleday worked as a state trooper from July 1988 to July of this year, when he was fired for misconduct, state employment records said. His City Council term expires in January.
According to records from a state investigation, Doubleday stopped Kenneth Teague for some type of violation on Jan. 12. Teague’s father allegedly contacted Trooper William Breshears to ask whether there was some way the matter could be settled without his son being cited.
How old is son?
Doubleday and Teague allegedly met, with Doubleday telling the father he could donate $1,000 to the Mount Ayr Fire Prevention Fund for Kids in exchange for fixing his son’s ticket. Doubleday also is a volunteer firefighter for the city’s fire department.
According to state records, most of the money received by the fund, formed by Doubleday, came from people the trooper had cited for violations while working as a state trooper. The fund was not authorized by the city fire department, the records said.
Doubleday agreed to reduce the amount of Teague’s donation by $500 after the father allegedly complained. The records said Doubleday then destroyed the citation.
A few weeks later, Teague’s father called a Department of Public Safety district office to inquire about a receipt, and that prompted a criminal investigation.
State records indicate that Doubleday used the Fund for Kids to attend two schools and to purchase clothing for himself.
Doubleday is accused of writing approximately 300 tickets in Ringgold County as violations of county ordinances rather than state laws. He also is alleged to have changed the location of certain violations to falsely indicate they took place in Mount Ayr.
Both acts resulted in money from the fines being routed away from the state and into the county and city for the purchase of law enforcement equipment.
During the investigation into Doubleday’s conduct, a search of his patrol car allegedly turned up three accident investigation reports that were several months old and incomplete. Officials also found Hallmark cards from a Mount Ayr city employee that Doubleday allegedly admitted having an affair with over a four-year period.
In 1998, he received a 10-day suspension for having an affair with another woman.
Another woman? So the Halmark cards were from one woman and the 1998 affair was with a different woman? Why was he suspended? Is it illegal to have a relationship with a co-worker?
Doubleday sought unemployment benefits after he was fired in July, but an administrative law judge denied his request last month, saying Doubleday’s “actions were arrogant, if not criminal.” Breshears’ employment status could not be determined over the weekend.
Clarke County Attorney Elisabeth Reynoldson declined to file charges against either trooper.
“I didn’t think there was any criminal intent, and I thought it was more appropriately handled as an employment matter,” she said Friday. “And also there was the fact that there was no personal gain.”
She said the money that went into the fund may have had “an emblem on it about the fire department” and that the training Doubleday attended might have educated him on how to talk to children about fire safety.
Jim Saunders, spokesman for the state troopers, declined to comment on the case, saying he wasn’t familiar with the circumstances.