A Kansas City, Missouri police officer has been indicted by a federal grand jury on 16 counts. The charges allege that the officer took $300,000 in donations from an anti-crime group and used the funds for personal expenses.
The authorities made the indictment public on Friday following the arrest of Aaron McKie, 46.
McKie faces charges for committing 14 counts of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering.
During his 24-year tenure, he served as a KCMO police officer primarily within the Crime Free Multi-Housing Section.
According to a news release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri, he served as the president of Mid-America Crime Free, Inc. from 2009 to 2023.
The nonprofit organization was established with the aim of providing training to individuals working in the rental housing sector, as well as promoting anti-crime initiatives.
The indictment states that McKie commenced defrauding the donor in July 2009 and continued until October 2023, as mentioned in the news release.
The anti-crime group relied heavily on the annual golf tournament, Fairways 4 Fuzz, as its primary source of funding.
Over 100 donors have been identified.
According to reports, McKie is said to have misappropriated funds from the non-profit organization’s bank account for his personal benefit.
Let’s take a closer look at how the funds were allocated:
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- $125,989 in travel, entertainment, restaurants, and bars;
- $57,278 in retail and luxury;
- $41,040 in transfers to personal accounts;
- $36,874 in cash;
- $27,279 pre-2016;
- $23,298 in household expenses;
- $8,299 in personal tax payments.
The Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department issued a statement regarding McKie’s indictment, stating that they became aware of possible fraud committed by one of their officers in September 2023. Promptly initiating an investigation, they discovered that the alleged fraud pertained to the financial transactions related to a nonprofit organization overseen by the officer, which provided assistance to the Crime Free Multi-Housing program.
The officer involved was promptly placed on suspension while we conducted our investigation. Afterward, we shared the findings with the U.S. Attorney’s office for their review.
