Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy Kevin Rawdon was recently arrested for stealing and embezzling more than $20,000 from the Fraternal Order of Police lodge.
The Florida deputy used the money for personal expenses, golf outings and bar drinks. Rawdon was the treasurer of the lodge and a 14-year veteran of the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office.
The theft unfolded when leaders of the Fraternal Order of Police Gulfstream Lodge No. 26 became suspicious about Rawdon’s management of the organization’s money.
At a July 2015 meeting, Rawdon failed to give a financial report, citing that his computer that contained the reports had crashed. In the past, Rawson had made excuses for not having financial reports.
With leaders of the organization becoming increasingly frustrated at Rawdon’s behavior, they initiated an investigation.
The vice president and secretary of the lodge went to the bank where the organization held its account.
It was there that they discovered Rawdon had made out three Fraternal Order of Police Gulfstream Lodge checks to himself.
Of the three checks, two were made in January 2015 at a total of $15,000 and the third check was made out in May 2015 that totaled $5,000.
Additionally, Rawdon misappropriated the Fraternal Order of Police Gulfstream Lodge’s credit card; making several unauthorized purchases ranging from golf outings, restaurant tabs, gas bills and even excursions to multiple bars totaling $1,200.
Upon the findings of the Gulfstream Lodge leaders, they met with Rawdon, and he confessed to the theft and embezzlement.
Rawdon told the leaders that he needed the $15,000 because he was dealing with financial hardship. However, days after the meeting Rawdon deposited the $15,000 back into the organizations bank account upon getting a loan from a financial institution.
Even with the money being returned, the leaders acknowledged that a crime had still been committed, and pursued arrest warrants against Rawdon; he was subsequently arrested for grand theft and booked into the Palm Beach County Jail.
As a result of his arrest, Rawdon has been placed on paid administrative leave.
But he is still $15,000 in debt and now has to deal with the criminal charges, so perhaps he is one of the few cops that have learned that crime doesn’t pay.
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