A Richfield police officer who helped start Shop With A Cop — a now-regional program designed to help low-income youngsters bond with law enforcement by brightening their Christmas — is accused of stealing money from the charity.
Officer Michael Simmons, 41, of Stow has been charged with a felony count of theft in office for allegedly taking more than $25,000 from the Richfield Police Department’s Shop With A Cop account.
Special agents with the state’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) launched an investigation in January at the request of Richfield Police Chief Keith Morgan.
Morgan asked for the assistance after becoming aware of unauthorized financial transactions in the department’s Shop With A Cop bank account, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said. The BCI investigated two police officers who were signers on the account before filing the charge against Simmons in Akron Municipal Court on Monday.
In a 2009 Akron Beacon Journal story, Simmons said he helped start the program in Summit County seven years earlier.
“We were thinking of ways to help children,” Simmons was quoted saying. “It bothered me that kids were waking up Christmas morning with no Christmas presents. We wanted to do something to eliminate that.”
Simmons couldn’t be reached Monday for comment.
On Monday, DeWine said the program was meant to help kids bond with and trust police, “but this defendant violated that trust on so many different levels. Our investigation found that, for years, this officer not only deceived those who generously donated to this charity, but he also stole from the children whom this program was created to help. Many more kids could have benefited from this charity had this defendant not spent thousands of dollars in donations on himself.”
The investigation alleges that Simmons, who was the coordinator of the program, improperly spent $26,709 in program funds on personal expenses from 2010 to 2016.
Simmons is accused of improperly spending the donations on sporting event tickets, electronics, clothing and tools. He also is accused of using gift cards purchased with program funds for his personal use.
Most local police departments participate in the Shop With A Cop program, a holiday tradition that helps financially disadvantaged families by taking children on a shopping trip each Christmas.
In recent years, police officers from up to 30 area police forces have assembled in mid-December in Stow, creating a slow and colorful procession of wailing sirens and flashing lights as they give their young charges a ride to the local Walmart.
Up to 300 children participate each year, each receiving a $110 gift card to spend as they like.
In some cases, police officers spend the better part of a year holding fund raisers and collecting donations to fund the children they will sponsor. They also typically donate their time the day of the event.