By Melissa Manware
The Charlotte Observer
CHARLOTTE-MECKLENBURG, N.C. — For the second time this year, a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer has been arrested and accused of taking money for off-duty work he didn’t do.
Jerome Whitlow, 35, was charged Monday with felony obtaining property by false pretenses. Whitlow, who resigned from the force last month, was booked into the Mecklenburg County jail and released on a written promise to appear in court.
Police Chief Darrel Stephens said Whitlow failed to report to an off-duty security job at a construction site, but filled out a time report reflecting that he was there.
In January, Officer Alan McGraw was arrested on the same charge, accused of lying about security work he’d been hired to do at a county park.
Stephens said Monday he plans to review records and policies for the department’s secondary employment program to find ways to increase oversight.
“While I hope these are isolated cases, they raise questions for me and others in the department,” Stephens said. “We have an obligation to ensure the program has sufficient controls and that officers follow the law and departmental policy.”
After they’ve been on the force for a year, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers are allowed to work off-duty. They are paid by the company that hires them a minimum of $24 an hour for security work. Officers are not allowed to work more than 14 hours a day including on- and off-duty hours.
Whitlow, who joined the force in July 2005, worked as a patrol officer in the Eastway Division. According to a police report, he is accused of lying about security work he was paid to do at the construction site of The Ivey, an adult daycare center in south Charlotte.
Whitlow declined to comment Monday. It’s unclear how long he did off-duty work at the site, but Stephens said the charges stem from one incident.
McGraw, a 25-year veteran of the department, resigned in December and was arrested the following month. The charge against him is still pending, court records show.
McGraw was accused of filing for hours he didn’t work at Derita Creek Park, a 24-acre park in northeast Charlotte. The county paid him $24 an hour to patrol the park during his off-duty hours.
Unrelated arrest of 2nd officer
A second Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer also was arrested Monday in an unrelated case, Stephens said.
LeShunda Austin, 30, was charged with filing a false police report. Stephens said she claimed another individual sent her threatening e-mails but he said investigators determined she sent the e-mails herself.
Austin, an officer since March 1999, also was booked into the jail Monday and released on a written promise. She has been suspended with pay and cited for termination, though Stephens said she has agreed to surrender her law enforcement certification.
The Observer could not reach Austin on Monday.
Stephens said police had arrested a woman for sending the officer threatening e-mails and have since dropped the charges against her.
Maj. Harold Medlock said Austin was in a domestic situation with that woman and another Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer. He would not say more about the e-mails but a police report shows that Austin originally said she’d received an e-mail threatening bodily harm.
Copyright 2007 Charlotte Observer