Arkansas State Police commissioners Wednesday upheld the demotion to corporal of a detective accused of mishandling seized cash.
The disciplinary action would have made Cpl. Scott Pillow -- a former sergeant in the agency's criminal investigations division in Jonesboro -- ineligible to be promoted for a year, according to the agency's policy manual. But commissioners decided Wednesday to allow the law enforcement veteran to be promoted after 120 days if he remained in good standing.
Pillow, who was never suspended, had admitted to his commanders that he broke policies after he used $600 of his own money in returning cash, some of which was counterfeit, to Robert Payne, a man he'd arrested at least four times. Col. Stan Witt, director of the Arkansas State Police, wrote in a July 7 disciplinary letter that the supervisor violated conduct policies, along with those governing property and evidence control.
The trooper, along with other law enforcement officers, had seized $600 and $1,363 on two separate occasions from Payne, whom state police officials called a "meth dealer."
U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes in January sentenced Payne to three years of supervised release after he pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, a federal charge. Once Payne began probation, he had asked to get the seized money back.
Pillow met with Payne at the Greene County sheriff's office and handed off two sealed plastic bags, marked with the amount and Pillow's initials, Pillow testified Wednesday. It didn't seem as though the bags had been tampered with, he said.
"[Payne] didn't count [the money] and I didn't press the issue," Pillow told commissioners.
Payne went home that day and later counted the cash after his son's friend left, said Sgt. Paulette Ward, who works in the agency's Office of Professional Standards. That's when Payne discovered $700 in the bag marked $600 and $1,263 in the bag marked $1,363, he told investigators. The bag with more money also contained six counterfeit $100 bills that Payne's mother identified, Payne told investigators.
Payne then called Pillow to report the counterfeit bills, and Pillow told the man to throw away the fake cash, Ward said. Only after Payne asked if Pillow needed to see the cash did Pillow say he would pick up the fake bills the next day, she said.
Pillow later replaced the counterfeit money with that from his own bank account in part because he wanted to avoid an Internal Affairs investigation, Ward said.
"I just wanted to make it right," Pillow told the commissioners Wednesday. "I should have caught it on the front end."
He said that the money seemed to be earmarked to help Payne's son and that Payne "seemed sincere and seemed to have turned his life around." Pillow also told commissioners he wasn't thinking straight at the time, as he was dealing with personal issues.
State police administrators do not know whether the counterfeit bills were already in the bag or if Payne had exchanged the cash. The state agency gave that money -- all with the same serial number -- to the Secret Service on Wednesday, agency spokesman Bill Sadler said.
Payne had reported the counterfeit cash to his probation officer, along with officials with the Paragould Police Department, the Greene County sheriff's office and Pillow's supervisor, Lt. Brant Tosh, saying he was afraid Pillow was setting him up, Ward said.
Maj. Henry La Mar said he was initially concerned Payne was setting up Pillow. Payne had lodged complaints against Pillow after each arrest.
State police general counsel Greg Downs said Pillow didn't intend to tell his supervisor about the counterfeit dollars, hadn't counted the money -- something La Mar said should have been "a common-sense decision" -- and didn't have another officer witness the cash return and sign a form, according to policy.
"The thing you cannot escape from is he's admitted everything," Downs told the commissioners.
But Pillow's attorney, King Benson of Paragould, said the decorated trooper made one mistake, not repetitive ones.
"It was a lapse in judgment," Benson contended. "His rank should be restored."
Metro on 09/11/2014