PITTSFIELD POLICE DEPARTMENT REPORT TO THE CHI LIEUTENANT MICHAEL GRADY DATE: September 8, 2015 TO Chief Michael Wynn FROM: Lieutenant Michael Grady RE: Officer Jeffrey Coco - 2015-1A-007 Investigative Report: On July 14, 2015 Chief Wynn advised me of the following: © OnJuly 3" Officer Jeffrey Coco told Chief Wynn that he had a1 Jays on personal leave. * On July 14" BPO. jnotified Chief Wynn that there was money missing Irom Mie focal umon accounts and Officer Coco had not paid the IBPO the national union dues in quite some time. > Officer Coco is the president of IBPO Local 447 ~ the Pittsfield Police Patrol Officers Union. © [have been assigned to conduct an internal investigation into violations of department rules and regulations regarding the allegations of the missing union funds and Officer Jefirey Coco is provided to me statements, bank records, analysis of bank records, and other pertinent information. I have provided pertinent information {ARM that Ihave found during my investigation [know how the local union operates. I was a member of the union’s executive board from January 2000 to July of 2007 as president and treasurer. Page 1 of 13,I know how the finances of the union are supposed to be handled in my past role as president and treasurer, I was president of the union in 2001 when we hired certified public accountants Brazee and Huban to assist us in filing the appropriate paperwork with the Internal Revenue Service and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Labor Relations ‘Commission. L know how the fundraiser operates with TCI America. I have handled the finances of the fundraiser in my past role as president and treasurer. During my time on the union executive board the union ran fundraising drives that were limited to 3 to 4 weeks per year, The fundraising drive raised between $11,000 to $17,000 per year for the union. ‘The amounts raised are separate from union member dues and are typically used for the union’s charitable donations. I know that IBPO union dues ané Pittsfield Police Association dues are deducted from ‘our paychecks, The union and association dues are sent to the local union designee ‘monthly in one check from the treasurer's office. ‘The local union designee deposits the check into the union’s bank account. The local union designee writes a check to NAGE/IBPO for the national union dues (IBPO 447 and IBPO 447S) and writes a check to the Pittsfield Police Association for the association dues. This is supposed to occur ‘monthly. 1 know that as of July 2015 the national union dues are now sent by check from the Treasurer's Office directly to NAGEMIBPO. Later in the day on July 14” I spoke ‘a about the status of the union’s bank accounts fe told me he had been in contact with and he has some current bank records showing the bank account in the negative. told me there may be an issue with the union’s fundraising drive. The union was currently conducting one of its annual fundraising drives with TCI America —_ The union currently owes the accountants, Brazce and Huban, approximately $3000. I contacted I 1c explained to me the fundraising campaign this year. Officer Coco had spoken to him early in the year and had told him that the union was considering having the wives and girlfriends run the fundraiser. At some point in the spring he had contact with Officer Coco end Officer Coco wanted TCI America to run the fundraiser. Officer Coco told him that the union needed to raise $15,000 by May 15" for the union’s scholarship program. The contract was designed so that the union would receive the first $15,000 raised and TCI America would make its share of the fundraiser after the union received its $15,000. This wasn’t the normal course of business with the fundraiser but TCI America agreed to the contract as the union had been a long time client. TCI America’s fundraising drive produced the $15,000 by the week ending May 8, 2015. At some point late in June or early in July Officer Coco had contacted him and told him the fundraiser had to be shut down because he was taking. some personal leave time, TCT is still owed an amount of money. Page 2 of 13I was advised that the Pittsfield Police Association may have had money in the union account. 1 spoke with [EEE ho told me that there would be some association money that would be in the account from the way in which the Treasurer's Office delivered the dues to the union and the association. situation regarding Officer Coco. 1k the City had to be close to providing another union/association dues check and I didn’t want it to be sent to Officer Coco. I asked her who the City had been providing the union/association dues check to. She believed the check was getting sent over to the department. IEEE bhocked the city records for the monthly union/association dues checks for 2015. The City had issued the following checks: 01/22/2015 $7,092 02/24/2015 $4,698 03/19/2015 $4,718 04/14/2015 $4,865 05/14/2015 $4,860 06/18/2015 $4,855 07/09/2015 $4,855 Ata later date would provide a record of City issued monthly union/association dues enecks going back to 2011 (see attachment #1 and #2), I followed up with IIo union/association dues check. He said that at one time it showed up in mis Mai Slot at the station but it hadn’t showed up in several months, He assumed Officer Coco was taking care of it. I would later learn from [i had told her that Officer Coco had spoken to her over six months ago and made arrangements for the monthly union/association dues check to get delivered directly to him. Qn July 16" Tmet with discussion on how the investigation would move forward, arrangements for statements. from officers involved with the union (past and pre: ent), st < From other individuals, and the release of union banking records from At the meeting reported that the national union hadn't been paid in 8-10 months and is owed approximately $45,000 to 50,000. He is waiting on an exact number from the national union. The person that can supply the number was on vacation, No one is sure how much money is missing from the local union accounts but there was an estimate of $40,000 to $60,000. After the meeting I contacted a: the telephone, He was a past president of the union (2010 — 2012) and Officer Coco served as treasurer on the Page 3 of 13executive board while he was president the theft. I provided this information to On Joly 17° at approximately 1020 hrs I received a telephone call fom notified me that Officer Coco had made attempts to contact him and IBPO attorney this morning At approximately 1026 hrs I received a telephone call from Officer Coco was trying to contact him. He didn't answer te non = me that he was calling him from his "known number” and an "unknown Tumber", He went on to tell me that he was i) IE signing the release of records paperwork and found out that Officer Coco was on the phone with re ee. him that Officer Coco was trying to check on the union account and that he was on his way home. I contacted Chief Wynn and advised him of the information. Chief Wynn told me that had told him that Officer Coco had been trying to contact him. At approximately 1036 hours I received a telephone call from an “unknown number”, 1 answered the call and immediately recognized the caller as Officer Coco. The telephone call lasted approximately two minutes. The summary of the telephone call was: Officer Coco asked me if l knew where he was and I told him that I knew he was had wied calling MMM 1 old Officer Coco that we were aware that the ‘money was missing from the union bank account and that he had not paid our national union dues for several months. Officer Coco asked me if he needed a lawyer. I told Officer Coco that Thad been assigned the internal affairs case and I couldn't have this conversation with him over the phone. Officer Coco asked me if I thought he could just pay the money back and keep his job. T again told Officer Coco that we couldn't have this conversation over the phone, I told Officer Coco Lknew we were friends but I wasn't going to put me or him in a bad spot I notified Chief Wynn on my conversation with Officer Coco. | met with Captain Granger and Chief Wynn and told them of my concem about Officer Coco’s well being and him possibly coming back to Pittsfield. Captain Granger and I went to Officer Coco’s house to see if he was home and to conduct a well being check. No one answered the door at the house. I called Officer Coco on his cell phone at approximately 1558 hrs and left a message for him to call me. Officer Coco called me Page 4 of 13,s. 1 explained to Officer Coco that I was concerned for his Lasked him where he was well being and asked him if he was alright. He told me he On July, =i me that Officer Coco had called him and that home from On July 20" Chief Wynn notified me that Officer Coco had been served with orders placing him on administrative leave pending the conclusion of th investigation back at approximately 1613 h " Twas notified byl that the two local unions, IBPO 447 and IBPO 4475, had failed to pay a total of $57,962 in dues BPO 447 has failed to pay IBPO 4475 has failed to pay $11,730. I'spoke with hnd he told me that he had spoken with Officer Coco several times over several months about the national union not receiving the dues check. On August 5 look a statement from peronlowing lsasummary ore starement (see attachment On August 12 #4): * He was president of the union for approximately four years (two terms) and vie president for one year (¥4 term). He believes his involvement with the union stopped in 2011 or 2012. © The union has an executive board that consists of a president, vice-president, seoretary, and treasurer Duri ssident he thinks was the treasurer, + The union bank accounts were held 2 III ‘Tre union had a savings account and a checking account, He was not aware of any credit cards or debit cards associated with the union account. © When he was president he looked at the finances frequently. He always knew what funds were in the accounts, © Right before he left the executive board he was alerted > A= Jeff Coco had withdrawn approximately $5000 from the union account. He confronted Jeff about the money. Jeff told him that he was getting married and he was having trouble paying his bills. © He told him to pay the money back immediately. He believes Jeff's futher paid the money back for him. Jeff told him he messed up and he believed him, of 13 Page© He was not aware of Jeff having any financial difficulties. Jeff has child support payments and recently bought a new home. Jeff constantly worked overtime and he never would have suspected him of having financial difficulties. © The union accountants looked at the finances once a year. © The fund: ing effort was conducted by TCI. The fundraiser took in approximately $13,000 a year. They conducted one fundraiser a year. He knows they were discussing condueting two fundraisers a year after he left the executive board, His last year they went with a different company for fundraising called All American. © The union often gave out scholarships for education and funded youth teams. When they did scholarships the applicants were immediate relatives of members of someone interested in law enforcement as a career. The most he ever gave out as a scholarship was $800, The scholarships were not intended for wives or girlfriends. © He believes they ran an average balance in both union accounts of approximately $10,000. The only times he would make a cash withdrawal was to pay for toys for kids Christmas party or they were hosting someone on union business. ‘© They used to need two signatures on the checks but overtime they somehow got away from that. He doosn’t remember ever signing a blank check. ‘© While he was president he didn’t ever remembering writing checks to local businesses except for trophies or team shirts, Sometimes after softball or football ‘games against other police departments or fire departments he wrote a few checks to local restaurants for food. This happened once or twice a year. He knew that Jeff purchased a computer that was for the union. Jook a follow up On August 26th" fi The following is a summary of the statement + jr I 016 him that ot? Coco had taken a large sum of money from the union account, approximately $5000, he confronted Jeff about it, © Jeff told him he took the money for his impending wedding. He doesn’t remember if he looked at the union accounts to verify the information. He told Jeff he would give him two days to put the money back. ¢ Jeffassured him he was going to immediately put the money back. He confirmed with Hee the money had been put back in the account. Page 6 of 13© Jefftold him that his father had written him a check for the money and he was going to pay his father back. He does not know if his father really gave him the money or the money came from somewhere else. It possibly could have been from union fundraising. * He did not specifically look at the accounts to verify where the money came from. Officer Covo ried LEITII ccording to the certificate of marriage on record with the City of Pittsfield. I have reviewed the union’s bank records for July, August, and September of 2012. There were only three checks deposited that were in the $5000 range. They are as follows: July 19" $4950 August 14" $4355 September 20" $7536 A further review of the records shows that the City distributed the union/association dues deduction checks on or about the following days: July 10" $4950 August 3% $4955 September 10" $7536 ‘There doesn’t appear to have been a check deposited to cover the alleged $5000 theft. In the middle of August I had contact va ‘Cl America. I had requested that he provide details on the amount of money raised by the Pittsfield Police Union from 2011 to 2015, He provided to me with the following information (see attachment #6): 2011: $22,665 two drives for a total of 10 weeks 2012: $28,702.10 — two drives for a total of 15 weeks 2013: $12,985.35 one drive for a total of 10 weeks I know that there was a second drive in 2013 run by All Pro Productions. 2014: $28,568.75 two drives for a total of 24 weeks 2015: $15,000 one drive for a total of 10 weeks (drive suspended) Total funds raised by TCI America for the Pittsfield Police Union from 2011 through 2015 were $107,921. Page 7 of 13,[also requested copics of the fundraising contracts between TCI America and the Pittsfield Police Union from 2011 to 2015. He provided to me the contracts and they reflect the following (see attachment #7) + 2011 signed by SII 2s President 2 signed by I +s President © 2013/2014 signed by EEE President (2 year contract) + 2015 signed by I 2s President On August 31%. Lspoke with [EEE ( the tr, Thad previously leamed > ‘amember of her staf had told her that Officer Coco had spoken to her over six months ago’ ace Jements for the monthly union/association dues check to get delivered directly to him. old me that approximately nine months ago Officer Coco had contacted her at the office and asked her when the union/association dues check was cut. She explained to him they ‘were cut around the same time each month. She told me that Officer Coco would call at that time to see if the check was available. There were some months that he would call two to three times a week to see if the check was ready. © 20 lysis of the union’s bank records that he preliminary analysis shows that Officer Coco has made an inordinate amount of cash withdrawals and has written out an inordinate amount of checks to himself. checks to his current wife and numerous businesses throughout the City. The analysis shows the following January 1, 2015 to June 25, 2015 Officer Coco had 67 transactions (cash withdrawals/checks written to Jeffrey Coco) totaling $28,220.00. Page 8 of 13January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2014 Officer Coco had 178 transactions (cash withdrawals/checks written to Jeffrey Coco) totaling $53,165.00. January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013 Officer Coco had 171 transactions (cash withdrawals/checks written to Jeffrey Coco) totaling $52,313.32. The following facts are of note: * Thice scholarship checks were written to INI curing the year 2011 © No other scholarship recipient ri single college semester. -eived multiple che ‘ks during © No other recipients were awarded a $1000 scholarship (May 2010). * A check of the IBPO 447 checking account show NO checks written to any other to spouses or significant others for scholarships. Officer Coco has made several point of sale check purchases from the union checking account. Some notable transactions are: [Date Check # ‘Amount [orm 1452 $486.53 [riovi2 1469 2/26/12, 1652 12272 1653 o1/14/i3 1611 03/01/13 1616 03/04/13 1617 (04/30/13 1692 05/29/13 1741 $99.80 08/26/13 1646 [876.86 Page 9 of 13,$194.71 [06/03/14 3142.92 (06/26/14 2.90 11/28/14 04/21/15 (05/22/15 2032 $165.14 .er Coco has cashed several checks from the union checking account at local businesses. Some notable transactions totals are: $3950 $1370 $730 $685 $270 $224.11 $200_ $200 S190 367.65 $51.99 $50 $34.67 $24.50 Officer Coco has cashed three checks made out to PF They are the following: Date Check # Amount 11/09/12 1560, $700 12/21/1. 1630 $788.53 1 O1/g/13 [1613 $756.45 Page 10 of 13At some point early in 201 5 IIE sked me what he had to do to for his daughter to apply for a local union scholarship. She was going to be graduating from high school in June. He asked me because he knew I was familiar with the scholarship program because of my past association with the union. | explained to him that he needed to see Officer Coco to get a scholarship application. His daughter would have to fill it out, have the guidance department fill out a portion of it and sign off on it, and she would have to write a paper on why she should be a recipient of a scholarship. [recently had a conversation with [IEEE egarding his daughter and the scholarship, He told me that he had spoken with Officer Coco about what I had told him regarding the application process, He told me that Officer Coco told him I didn’t know what I was talking about and all he had to do was let him know about his daughter. a: me with a copy of an email dialogue that he had with re frwes dated June 1, 2015, The summary of the email was (see attachment #15) ror —_—_—a Jet Just checking to make sure you put my daughter in for the scholarship from PPD. Thanks, = From Officer Coco. Yes.....you are all set....1'll be writing checks at the end of June rn Thanks Jeff I know that Officer Coco hired TCI America to conduct fundraising for the Pittsfield Police Unignig 2015 and required $15,000 by May 15" specifically for the scholarship oom MMM 8 reco ote Un scholarshipuret Rewing the union’s bank records it does not appear any scholarships were awarded. I know that the Pittsfield Police Union has been the sponsor of the instructional league basketball program at the Catholic Youth Center (CYC) since the early 2000’s. Ihave been coaching at the CYC on and off since 2000. I was the president of the union when the sponsorship started. The sponsorship allowed the union to have Pittsfield Police Union printed on all of the children’s uniforms and the union was recognized every year at the annual awards ceremony. ‘The sponsorship had been for $500. In the past couple of years I would contact Officer Coco at the request of the CYC to ask that the sponsorship continue. Officer Coco told me that the union fundraising hasn’t been going Page 11 of 13as well as in years past, they didn’t have much money in the union accounts, | would have to ask repeatedly about the sponsorship request and ultimately he reduced the donation to $300, Conclusion: The facts and circumstances of my internal affairs investigation show that Officer Coco committed a larceny over two hundred fifty dollars by single sche during the time that he was a member of the IBPO Local 447 Executive Board (2011 —2015). Although the total monetary amounts are not available at this time, a preliminary tally shows that Officer Coco has stolen in excess of $150,000 dollars from the union. ‘The segpe of Officer Coca’s mismanagement of the union bank accounts were not only improper! ¢ cash withdrawals made by Officer Coco and the checks written out to Officer Coco and his wife show that the money withdrawn from the union account was not for legitimate union business but instead for Officer Coco’s personal use. Officer Coco has acknowledged his involvement by asking me personally during a telephone and if he could keep his job. 1 supports the fi was unbecoming a police officer. Findings: Based on this investigation | find that Officer Jeff: and regulations of the Pittsfield Police Department: Coco violated the following rules RULE 11.12 - CRIMINAL CONDUCT Employees shall not commit any criminal act or omission (felony or misdemeanor), or violate the regulatory or criminal laws or statutes of the United States or of any state or local jurisdiction (by-law/ordinance), whether on or off duty. NOTE: An officer may be guilty of violating this rule regardless of the existence or outcome of any criminal charges or court ease. Conviction for the violation of any law is presumptive evidence of a violation of this rule. However, even in the absence of a conviction (which requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt), an officer may still be disciplined under this rule for the conduct that was involved. Page 12 of 13RULE 4,02 - CONDUCT UNBECOMING AN OFFICER Officers shall not commit any specific act or acts of immoral, improper, unlawful, disorderly or intemperate conduct, whether on or off duty, which reflect(s) discredit or reflect(s) unfavorably upon the officer, upon other officers or upon the Police Department, Officers shall conduct themselves at all times, both on and off duty, in such ‘a manner as to reflect most favorably on the Department and its employees. Conduct Unbecoming an Officer shall include conduct, whether on duty or off, that tends to indicate that the officer is unable or unfit to continue as an employee of the Department, or tends to impair the operation, morale, integrity, reputation or effectiveness of the Department or its employees. Conduct Unbecoming an Officer shall also include off-duty conduct where there is a nexus or connection between the act or acts committed by the officer and that individual's continued fitness or ability to effectively perform his or her required duties and responsibilities and/or the impact or adverse effect said conduct may have on the operation, morale, integrity, reputation or effectiveness of the Department and ability of the officers not involved in said act to effectively perform their required duties and responsibilities. 2a MAL An Lieutenant Michael Grady Respectfully submitted, Q Page 13 of 13Coco - 2015-IA-007 Attachments