BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (AP) - A Mississippi mayor says the FBI has confirmed that a police chief who killed himself after being suspended last year had committed the crimes he was accused of.
Bay St. Louis Mayor Mike Favre told The Sun Herald on Wednesday that the FBI found that Chief Mike De Nardo defrauded the city of $47,000 over two years and illegally sold firearms twice.
A bonding company had insured De Nardo in his official capacity for $50,000, and the city will file a claim against that insurance, he said.
De Nardo was suspended was suspended because investigators were looking into an anonymous tip that he’d sold city weapons for personal gain and had put his wife on the payroll for work she didn’t do. Favre said the FBI did not hold De Nardo’s wife accountable, and found that he alone committed the payroll fraud.
He shot himself Sept. 8, 2016, in the police department parking lot, after being relieved of his duties.
Officials have said he told authorities that he’d bring city-owned guns from his car, but grabbed a police rifle from the trunk and shot himself.
The Hancock County Sheriff’s Department temporarily took on supervision of the police department and assisted the FBI in the investigation.
Favre said the FBI notified the city in a meeting four to six weeks ago, but did not provide a written report. The mayor updated the City Council Tuesday night.
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Information from: The Sun Herald, http://www.sunherald.com
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