SHIVELY, Ky.
--
A man sworn to uphold the law stands accused of breaking it.
Officer Steve Hopper is a 19-year veteran of the Shively Police Department. His chief said up until this point, Hopper has been a productive officer. But now, he's accused of stealing from his fellow officers.
"We're in the kind of business where we see these kind of things all the time," said Detective Josh Myers, president of the Shively Fraternal Order of Police.
But usually the suspect's not one of their own. Myers said late last year, Hopper, the FOP's then-president became the target of suspicion.
"Our treasurer started noticing some discrepancies in the funds through the lodge, and we brought questions forward to the president at the time and were not satisfied with the answers that we got," Myers said.
The lodge executive board approached Shively Police Chief Ralph Miller about further investigation. In December, he turned the case over to the Jefferson County sheriff's department Internal Affairs Unit.
"We take everything serious when there's allegations made against our officers, especially of this magnitude," Miller said. "That's one of reasons we felt it should be necessary for an outside agency to conduct the criminal portion of the investigation."
On Tuesday, a grand jury indicted Hopper on 10 felony counts, three theft by unlawful taking charges and seven counts of unlawful access to a computer dating from May 2006 to August of last year.
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney John Balliet said the chief was left with few investigative options since the alleged theft victims were all members of the Shively police department and Shively FOP.
"In counts eight, nine and 10 of the indictment, the listed victim is the Shively Fraternal Order of Police," Balliet said. "So there really were conflicts and they had to go outside the agency."
The prosecutor, the chief and the FOP know this case will be scrutinized. But they assure the public the so-called "good ol' boys network" has no place in this investigation.
"I doubt seriously, having indicted Steve Hopper, that he's thinking I'm treating him like a 'good ol' boy,'" Balliet said.
Investigators refused to say how much money was taken or how it was taken.
On Tuesday, the Shively Police Department began its own internal investigation to see if department procedures and regulations were violated.
Right now, Hopper is on administrative duty, but with no police powers. He deferred comment to his attorney, who never returned our calls.
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