By Andria Simmons
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ATLANTA — Lt. David Butler appeared on track to become a senior executive in the Gwinnett County Police Department until allegations of theft derailed his career this summer.
Butler, a 24-year veteran of the department, resigned July 16 after being confronted about an unknown amount of cash that disappeared from a safe. Two-and-a-half months later, no criminal charges have been filed against him, and the Gwinnett County Police Department has yet to release documents pertaining to its internal investigation.
“I have been told that the administration portion of the investigation is complete,” Cpl. David Schiralli, a Gwinnett police spokesman, said in an e-mail Tuesday. “We are waiting on the criminal investigation to conclude. As [in] all criminal investigations, there is no rule of thumb of how long it can last.”
Butler could not be reached for comment because his home phone number has been disconnected. A lawyer who represented Butler in a bankruptcy filing in 2003 did not return calls seeking comment Tuesday.
As a supervisor in the vice unit since 2002, Butler had access to thousands of dollars in cash kept in a safe for investigators to use during undercover drug buys. Police have not yet said how much money disappeared. The alleged theft was discovered when another employee complained to internal affairs.
Butler’s personnel file shows that he began supervising the vice unit in 2002 at a time when drugs were just beginning to inundate Gwinnett County. Vice unit investigators perform undercover operations into narcotics and prostitution. Under Butler’s watch, the Gwinnett County Drug Task Force broke a department record for the seizure of illegal drugs for three years in a row, from 2005 to 2007.
Butler also spearheaded a highly effective effort to eradicate massage parlors that Police Department records show were serving as fronts for prostitution. He helped county leaders craft a new ordinance prohibiting such establishments, which by 2006 had reduced the number of illegal massage parlors from 36 to zero.
Year after year, Butler’s supervisors described him as an exemplary employee --- one whose “knowledge and judgment is always trusted,” according to annual performance reviews that the AJC obtained through an open records request.
He was promoted in 2006 from sergeant to lieutenant and soon took over the entire Special Investigations Section, which includes intelligence and vice operations.
The department’s top officials appeared to be grooming him for an even higher rank. Butler’s latest performance review in December 2008 stated he “has the leadership skills and abilities to be a major in this organization.”
The allegations of theft are only the latest controversy involving the Gwinnett County Police Department and its narcotics investigations. Earlier this year, complaints from the cities of Lawrenceville, Lilburn and Snellville prompted an accounting probe into the county’s drug forfeiture funds. The cities said they were being shortchanged on revenue from assets confiscated as a result of drug investigations and called for a private audit.
Schiralli said the issue of payouts to the cities is not related to the Butler investigation.
Copyright 2009 Atlanta Journal-Constitution