CFO released on $50k bond

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Looking grim and haggard in an orange jail jumpsuit, Davis Cooper walked into U.S. District Court on Monday afternoon with chains jingling around his ankles.

Cooper, chief financial officer for Bowling Green, appeared at a 1:30 p.m. hearing, where U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Goebel ordered a $50,000 unsecured bond. Cooper was arrested by the FBI on Saturday afternoon on charges of embezzling perhaps millions of dollars from city tax receipts.

Goebel asked Cooper if he understood the charges against him.

Yes, your honor, Cooper replied in a subdued tone. His attorney, Alan Simpson, waived a preliminary hearing.

Cooper was released from Warren County Regional Jail at 4:35 p.m., Jailer Jackie Strode said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa Ford asked to restrict Coopers travel to the western half of Kentucky, that his passport be taken, and that he not be allowed access to firearms.

Simpson replied that Cooper has no passport and that guns were removed from his house by relatives, but asked that Cooper be allowed to travel to the eastern part of the state also, since he has an adult child in Lexington.

Ford did not object, and Cooper will be able to travel within Kentucky, but must report to probation officers.

The case will be turned over to a federal grand jury, Ford said. If an indictment is issued, Cooper should be arraigned on embezzlement charges at 10 a.m. May 18.

City Commissioner Mark Alcott, who watched the proceedings, said allowing Coopers release on bond is normal procedure when a suspect is cooperating with investigators. Alcott is an attorney who frequently appears in federal court.

FBI Special Agent Steven Gurley has described Cooper as fully cooperative, and said no one else is suspected of involvement at this point.

Coopers attorney said this morning that Cooper is still working with investigators.

At this point, he will enter a not-guilty plea, but he is cooperating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bowling Green police in every way, Simpson said. Mr. Cooper recognizes that this has hurt a lot of people, and he wants to do everything he can to see that things are made right.

One thing thats been very important to him is for the public to understand that this should not be a reflection on the leadership of the city of Bowling Green. It should be no reflection on the city manager, or the former or current board of commissioners.

A conviction on embezzlement charges could bring 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and restitution. Cooper could forfeit his house on Bentwurth Drive, valued at $319,000, if the charges are proven, according to FBI Special Agent Richard Glenn.

A preliminary guess is that Cooper will get 5 to 6 years in federal prison, Alcott said. But that must be served without any form of early release or home incarceration, so Cooper would serve the full sentence, he said.

Cooper was hired as city treasurer in 1980. He was promoted to chief financial officer at the start of 2002

He is currently charged with embezzling $581,229.40 from the city between Jan. 9, 2004, and Dec. 17, 2004. But US Bank regional President Craig Browning told the FBI on March 11 that since March 2000, about $2.3 million has run through two accounts Cooper maintained there.

And according to City Treasurer Jeff Meisels statements to the FBI, at least one check Cooper may have misappropriated dates back to 1996.

The charges center around misappropriation of payments on the citys insurance premium tax. Thats imposed on each insurance company doing business in the city; most policies are taxed at 2 percent, payable quarterly.

The insurance premium tax was a good target for embezzlement because the amount of revenue it generated was known to be uneven, according to a March 17 affidavit by Glenn.

Cooper is suspected of grabbing unopened envelopes from the citys mail before it was picked up by a courier, and depositing checks into an account at US Bank under his personal control.

The account, opened in 1985, bore a post office box address issued to Cooper in 1983, according to Glenn.

It appears that Cooper used the money to pay off lines of credit at local banks and tens of thousands of dollars in credit card bills, the affidavit says.

City Treasury staff discovered the account March 8, met with bank employees and FBI agents March 10, and told commissioners March 15.

Federal agents and Bowling Green police officers searched Coopers office, house and two vehicles on Saturday, according to an FBI news release.

Cooper has been suspended without pay from his $82,470 a year job, and city commissioners will meet at 2 p.m. today to consider firing him.

 Daily News ·813 College St. ·PO Box 90012 ·Bowling Green, KY ·42102 ·270-781-1700