Mooneyham arrested

Woodbury Police Chief Kevin Mooneyham was arrested by Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents Friday (April 24) and charged with stealing federal program funds.

Officials from the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee announced the charges Friday following an indictment by a federal grand jury in Nashville.

The indictment alleged Mooneyham submitted false timesheets for overtime hours from 2013 until March 2015, saying he had worked time for DUI enforcement when he had not.

The Woodbury chief was reportedly paid more than $25,000 as a result. Those funds came from a federal grant by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to be used for DUI enforcement - primarily as overtime pay .

"Funds designated for alcohol enforcement programs are made available to local law enforcement agencies with the underlying purpose of deterring drunk driving and ultimately saving lives," said U.S. Attorney David Rivera in a press release. "Mooneyham's scheme to steal these grant moneys prevented the officers of his department from conducting these enforcement programs and placed the community at a greater risk."

The indictment claimed other Woodbury officers had been interested in working the overtime DUI hours, but were told by Mooneyham that no funds were available. He then reportedly told city officials that no officers besides him were interested in working the overtime.
Mooneyham apparently received around 91 percent of the funds provided in 2014, and all of the available funds in 2015.

"Though the arrest of a law enforcement leader is very disappointing, the public rightfully expects that grant money like this will benefit the community, not its police chief," said TBI Director Mark Gwyn.